A request for injunction filed by the State of Illinois in April 2024 on behalf of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission has yet to be resolved. 

The original complaint alleges eight counts of misconduct against Tony Fuller of Waterloo individually for his actions involving the Storment Hauss Nature Preserve in rural Monroe County near the 3300 block of Reed Road, just east of the Paul Wightman Subterranean Nature Preserve and the Fogelpole Cave Nature Preserve.

Storment Hauss is protected in perpetuity as a “Grade A or B dry-mesic upland forest,” one of only four such sites in Illinois.

Shortly after additional land was dedicated to the preserve in October 2020, construction equipment and mounds of dirt were observed on property owned by Fuller which abuts the Storment Hauss boundary. 

During an investigation Oct. 20, 2020, members of the preserve commission reported “encroachments into Storment Hauss,” including a large excavation area on Fuller’s property, trees from Fuller’s property which had been pushed over the preserve boundary line, brush piles and sediment deposits and two large rocks in the northern boundaries of the preserve.

A 20-foot-tall dam “which had been constructed within inches of the boundary line” was observed, and it was noted the dam obstructed a waterway “which would have naturally flowed from the watershed or defendant’s property into a creek on Storment Hauss.”

The filing alleges the dam crosses into Storment Hauss in multiple locations.

Over the next several months and as late as February 2022, further encroachments and additions to the dam were noted despite the commission notifying Fuller of the alleged encroachments in October 2020. 

The filing also states the additions to the dam resulted in it “sliding further into Storment Hauss.”

The filing requested permanent enjoinment from further violations and actions by Fuller “that will result in a final and permanent abatement of the violations.”

The suit also requested a civil penalty of up to $10,000 to be assessed for each violation.

The eight counts of violating the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act include intrusion into a nature preserve, introduction of material into a nature preserve, introduction of plants into a nature preserve, altering natural water levels, unauthorized entry into a nature preserve, injury to vegetation in a nature preserve, movement of soil and natural objects in a nature preserve and operation of motorized vehicles in a nature preserve. 

Court documents state the parties were in negotiations as of Nov. 25, 2024, but the case has since been reset for a status and case management conference on April 17.