In case you didn't know like me. A close river is CLOSED to canoes & kayaks, & I guess swimming too.
I got a warning ticket by Illinois dept of Conservation for paddling across the closed Illinois in my canoe! I thought I was legal.
May keep someone from similar fate.

Roger

OK, why do they close a river anyway? This is a serious question, I just cannot think of how that makes sense.

I can see closing it to swimmers, for health reasons. Or closing it to heavy traffic, to save the banks. But why is the Illinois river closed to canoes?

Interesting.

In our area, one of the biggies when we have high water is the Potomac River as it makes its final drop from the Shenandoah escarpment to the coastal plain, which happens to be just about at the point where D.C.'s northwest border meets Maryland and Virginia. Great Falls is a raging torrent after spring rains and the authorities are always warning the canoeists and kayakers to stay the heck away. We have at least one fatality every year and have had one kayaker, one 12 year old fishing from a rock with his Dad (no vest) and the fisherman who jumped from shore to try to help the boy, in the last month.

It might also be of interest to know that we have several areas on the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay where the military practices regularly with guns that are a lot bigger than our flare guns. They always put out patrol craft when the zones are 'hot' to keep us ignorant civilians away from harm's way.

Well, you've never seen me rowing!

Not being a midwesterner, I sure can't address it except out of curiosity - maybe it's dangerous shorelines in high water or debris coming downriver with heavy runoff?

The Coast Guard does have a Q&A section on their site, I've written a couple times in the past and have received fairly timely answers...