HOW YOU CAN HELP SAVE JOHNSON COUNTY'S STREAMS:
Please see the link at the bottom, after you've viewed the photos.

1/18/10 Letter to IDEM opposing (illegal) Little Sugar Creek work.

6/21/10 Letter to IDEM Commissioner charging corruption,
& violations at Little Sugar Creek

Stupidity never ceases in Johnson County, it seems. I went out on Jan. 14 to check on this proposed project:

http://www.in.gov/idem/files/2009-555-41-DDC-A.pdf

Below is some of what I found. I counted at least 65 trees cut, although evidence shows that many more had already been removed or burned. Even though Surveyor Lechner recently applied for PERMISSION to work his black magic on this section of Little Sugar Creek, I found that work has already been undertaken WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION. Which, of course, is ILLEGAL. The documents and photos illustrate the situation. Also, please click this link to view my letter to IDEM about this debacle:

http://www.ccjcin.org/IDEM011810.pdf

Aerial photo, not recent, probably a few years old, of the area of Little Sugar Creek where illegal work was done in 2009. Owner info is at upper left. Source: Johnson County GIS.

Page 5 of “Basic Specifications for the Maintenance and/or Reconstruction of Legal Drains in Johnson County, Indiana.” SOURCE: JC Surveyor.

Looking south from the bridge. The riffles etc. are very nice habitat for aquatic critters.

West bank looking south: Material on right is fill.

Same area viewed from the south. The cut on the left was made by a bulldozer.

Surveyor's marker at base of tree on left.

One of two areas that have been cleared, debris burned, fill dumped or dozed over the bank. Bulldozer route at bottom.

Close-up of the fill on the west bank.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the east side.

Area on west bank where trees and roots have been removed.

Tree cut on west bank. Note fill on the right.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the east side.

Tree, which was stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

Roots of a tree on the east side, top center, have been cut.

Tree, was stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the east side.

Tree roots cut on the east side. Picture some idiot standing at water's edge, doing all that with a chain saw. Similar to what Franklin street dept. idiots did in 08-09, but that's another story. Same mentality though. Or lack of mentality.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

East side. Hard to tell from this pic, but again, some nitwit cut these roots, one by one.

Detail of the 2nd previous pic.

Another area, west side, further south, that has been cleared, debris burnt, & fill dumped/bulldozed over the bank.

What's left of the trees from this clearing.

I can't even describe this crazy mess.

Remnants of one of the bonfires.

Trees, which were stabilizing the bank, cut on the west side.

East side. This is what happens to the banks when the trees that formerly held it in place are removed. So the farmer can get more rows of corn. Then the Surveyor uses tax dollars to armor the bank with riprap. And repeats it every few years, forever. Whereas the trees did that better, for free, forever.

Up close with the carnage on the east bank. Imagine how it got from wooded and stable, to this. That's a lot of hard, expensive, and witless work.

Detail of the previous pic.

More detail.

This was cleared as the "staging area" for the project - BEFORE the application for a permit was even submitted!

Large tree on the east bank that was pushed or pulled over.

2nd large tree on the east bank that was pushed or pulled over.

East bank - more elaborate chainsaw work by some idiot.

Area of the bend on the east side, showing signs of work by heavy machinery.

Pit dug in the bend on the east side, after trees were removed of course.

The bend was apparently reached by equipment using the bulldozed route on the west bank.

PLEASE READ, CLICK, AND COMPLAIN!

UPDATE 3/18/10: Photos from IDEM showing their staff inspecting Little Sugar Creek violations in NOVEMBER 2009!!

Note that most of these IDEM pics are of specific areas of unauthorized work.

The bulldozed "staging area" near the road.

Looking north at the as-yet undisturbed areas.

Bulldozed route through stream bank.

2nd bulldozed route through bank, plus fill.

IDEM's survey of the Little Sugar Creek violations is duly noted, and documented!

UPDATE: Photos taken 3/17/10 of Little Sugar Creek violations.

One of the two large trees pushed over by machinery, recently cut up.

As in the their previous rampages, limbs and brush are also burnt - for fun, apparently.

View from the bridge of the bulldozed "staging area."

Hard to make out, but the ridges in foreground are bulldozer tracks.

Dozing was done up to and over the stream bank.

Protruding tree roots left from bulldozed trees.

Tree roots cut off at waterline.

The denuded, bulldozed, and excavated bend in the creek.

Areas of fill on right.

Heavy equipment route from road.

Heavy equipment route bulldozed through stream bank.

Another route bulldozed through stream bank.

Fill on left, with eroding bank material on right.

Spot where trees (or their limbs) which previously covered this area were burnt.

Splintered tree trunks and root balls bulldozed into the creek.

Note fill at bottom.

Trees stumps and severed roots at water line.

How trees do the job of holding and stabilizing stream banks. Area at left is eroded because trees were cut at or too close to the banks.

Tree cut at water line.

Area from near the bank, to foreground, where wood was burned.

Remaining tree roots severed one at a time by some nitwit.

Trees cut at waterline. Note fill.

County Surveyor's marker nailed to tree.

What Doug Lechner wants every creek he can get his hands on to look like: One of his ditches.

The fate of a tree next to one of Lechner's ditches: Exactly as he's done on Little Sugar Creek.

It has to stop.