Anderson reservoir is a bad idea

If Don Cochran says it’s a bad idea, it’s a bad idea.
Cochran, professor emeritus of archaeology at Ball State University, recently weighed in on the advisability of creating an enormous reservoir along the White River basin in Delaware and Madison counties.
Why does his opinion matter? Because there is probably no one on the face of the earth with a greater understanding of the Native American earthworks at Mounds State Park.
It was Don Cochran, who at one time lived between Dunkirk and Albany, who first determined that the Great Mound at the state park served as an agricultural calendar for the ancients who once called this part of America their home.
In normal times, the entire proposal for a nearly $500 million reservoir gobbling up something like 400 homes and vast amounts of real estate would have been laughed out of town.
But we’re not living in normal times.
Madison and Delaware counties have seen tens of thousands of jobs disappear. Meanwhile, Marion County — where the state’s political power lies — is seeing the kind of growth that gets folks worried about things like resources and infrastructure.
The idea of having yet another reservoir to supply the capital city has an easy appeal.
Then there’s the whole matter of the money to be made in real estate development along the shorelines, the ancillary opportunities for business growth, the simple power of greed to be considered.
But what Don Cochran, the Indiana Archaeological Society and environmental groups like Heart of the River point out is the fact that development comes with a cost. And in this case, the costs far outweigh any potential benefits, except perhaps for the folks who want to see their pockets lined.
Cochran pointed out last week that there is simply no way that a reservoir development at this location on this scale could be accomplished without endangering the adjacent archaeological sites. Mounds that were constructed by ancient peoples using the most basic of techniques would be affected adversely.
A state park would become a fraction of itself; and if that should happen, every Indiana state park would find itself at risk. The state’s essential promise that those lands would be held in trust for future generations would have been broken, and once that promise is broken it is broken forever.
Don Cochran is right. The Indiana Archaeological Society is right. Heart of the River is right.
The reservoir is a bad idea. —J.R.