Reopening week in the upper Midwest: The apt analogy is squeezing water balloons

A file photo of a wide view of North Point Marina, which is listed by the IDNR as scheduled to reopen on Friday, May 1. | Dale Bowman

[NOTE: Even in these very fluid times, the past few days and the coming few days are even more variable than ever, so there may be ongoing adjustments.]

If you ever played water balloons, you know when squished, they bulge. Squeeze hard enough, they bust, spraying water everywhere.

A thought for the week where the outdoors come to the fore as the stay-at-home stretches on. A wonderful spring weekend is forecast. People are ready to bust out.

While I’m glad the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is opening some sites on a limited basis Friday, the more I think about it, the more I wonder.

On any good weekend, Kankakee River State Park is packed. With nearby Des Plaines State Fish and Wildlife Area and Mazonia SFWA remaining closed, it will be beyond packed. Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, too, is packed on any good weekend. With Silver Springs SFWA and Rock Cut SP remaining closed, Shabbona will be swamped.

All the good advice and intentions on the coronavirus will not change massive numbers of people descending on those reopened IDNR sites.

• On a related matter, inland trout season draws people shoulder to shoulder in northeast Illinois, which is why it has not been open so far. Well, one forest preserve considered a soft opening earlier this week. If one forest preserve district opens up, anglers will descend. Chicago area forest preserves and conservation districts should coordinate and open trout on the same day to spread out the pressure. As it is, Rock Creek will be a zoo with trout anglers Friday when KRSP reopens.
• Saturday signals opening weekend in Wisconsin. It is hard to decipher whether it is acceptable to travel north or not. Truth is Illinoisans have already been packing the Wolf River and Geneva Lake in Wisconsin.

“They are here without restriction, except social distancing,” a Wisconsin guide emailed. “However, a pissed-off hillbilly took video at Lake Geneva and sent it to the news of all [the Illinois] license plates [last weekend], I don’t know if that will change anything. Doing good has no end!!”

As to Wisconsin DNR guidelines, communications director Sarah Hoye emailed, “Non-residents should check with their state’s emergency orders and travel restrictions. Under Gov. [Tony] Evers’ Safer at Home order we encourage the public to stay in your local community.’’

Chicago anglers consider their “local community” as between the Mississippi River, Minocqua, Wis., St. Joseph, Mich., Webster Lake in Indiana and Rend Lake.

• There will be no turkey hunting at reopened IDNR sites. So foragers for morel mushrooms and birdwatchers may go in at dawn, rather than waiting until 1 p.m.

As to hunters with site-specific permits, IDNR deputy director Rachel Torbert emailed, “Understanding closure and fee concerns raised by permit holders, IDNR is reviewing all possible solutions, including refunds for all spring 2020 turkey permits issued by the Department.”

• Click here for the listings of what IDNR sites are scheduled to reopen Friday, May 1.

An artful collection of ramps and morel mushrooms in northern Illinois.

WILD THINGS: Jeff Norris texted an artful photo of white ramps and morel mushrooms and promised, “I’ll go for the red ones in a couple days.” . . . “Monty and Rose,” Bob Dolgan’s documentary on the Montrose piping plovers, will be broadcast at 5:30 p.m. Saturday on WTTW.

STRAY CAST: Remember when a Clorox solution was for sanitizing the fish-cleaning board?