The Illinois River flows diagonally across the State of Illinois, beginning southeast of Chicago and then joining
the Mississippi River at Grafton, near St. Louis. Waters flow into the Illinois River from Lake Michigan, the Chicago
River, and eight major tributaries:

*   Des Plaines River
*   Kankakee River
*   Fox River
*   Vemillion River
*   Mackinaw River
*   Spoon River
*   Sangamon River, and
*   LaMoine River.

PAST: -During the last 100 years, the state's population, industrial and agricultural sectors, forests and prairies, rivers and streams, and the Illinois River itself experienced profound changes. In the 1800s, the bounty of the river was shared by all -- unlimited hunting for waterfowl and forbearing animals, harvesting mussels for a booming button industry, and carving out slabs of ice in winter for refrigeration. In 1908, more than 2,000 commercial fishing operations harvested nearly 25 million pounds of fish.  In subsequent years, as land along the river came into private ownership, conflicts arose, with historical accounts describing vigilante stand-offs on armed barges. Because the laws determining ownership of land were clearer than those involving water, landowners built levees and drained their property. By the 1930s, more than 100,000 acres of floodplains had been separated from the river and converted to agricultural production.    In the early 1900s, industrial and residential wastes from the Chicago region were directed south toward the Illinois River. The burgeoning growth in Chicago and other downstate cities resulted in releases of vast amounts of waste into the river from cities, industries and stockyards. This pollution decimated much of the river's fish, wildlife and vegetation. Modifications to the river to accommodate the growing navigation industry began with construction of dams in Henry, Fulton, Brown and Calhoun counties in the late 1800s.  Dams were built to maintain a 7-foot deep navigation channel for large steamboats. From 1919 to 1939, the "Illinois Waterway" was built, which provided a 9-foot deep navigation channel through the Chicago River, Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, the Des Plaines River, and through a lock and darn system on the Illinois River, with eight navigation pools from Lockport to Alton.
 

         Backwater Lakes and Sloughs are now farmfields, prone to flooding and useless to wildlife.

By the 1950s, virtually all aquatic vegetation had vanished from the Illinois River and its backwater lakes, due to water pollution and modified water levels. As a result, fish, mammals, waterfowl, clams and other related life forms declined drastically. Without the vegetation, sediment was no longer anchored to the bottom of the riverbed and lakes, but rather stirred up in the water by wind and boat movement. To this point in the state's history, agricultural productivity soared, as did population growth and urban
growth. The increasing movement of soil from the land, due to channelized streams, eroding streams, and land conversion
greatly increased the amount of sediment reaching the Illinois River.  Since the 1950s, agricultural practices have been
modified to keep more of the productive soil in place. Industries and municipalities have markedly improved sewage and wastewater treatment methods under the Clean Water Act.
 

                                                                    Commercial Uses of the Illinois River

         More than 60 million tons of commodities are shipped on the Illinois River annually; more than one third are
farm products. Coal, iron, petroleum products, chemicals, steel, sand and gravel are also shipped on the river. Over
50 percent of the commercial traffic on the Mississippi above St. Louis comes from the Illinois Waterway. Illinois
ranks third among the 50 states, behind Alaska and Louisiana, in domestic waterborne commerce.   As of 1995, more than three-fourths of the state's farmland is at "T," the tolerable rate of soil loss where soil-building processes replace the amount
of soil lost. Nearly half of the state's agricultural land is in the Illinois River Basin, where the rate of soil loss is below the state average. In the Upper and Lower Illinois River Basins, more than 4.2 million acres of cropland are in conservation tillage
systems. The Illinois River and its backwater areas occupy about one-third of the floodplain (105,000 acres), of which 47,000 acres are in state and federal ownership and 34,000 acres are owned by private sporting clubs. Forests along the Middle and Lower Illinois River are among the largest remnant forest ecosystems in the state north of the Shawnee National Forest.
Today, more than 20 communities rely on the waters of the Illinois and its tributaries for their drinking water, and sportfish
and waterfowl populations are growing.
 

   Despite the seemingly remarkable recovery, the future of the watershed and river corridor are truly imperiled.
 Each year 14 million tons of sediment are transported through the watershed. More than half of this sediment load is deposited in the Illinois River Valley, and the balance is carried to the Mississippi River. Most backwater lakes have lost more than 70 percent of their storage capacity, destroying wildlife and recreational areas. In northeastern Illinois, during a recent 20-year span, land conversion for residential purposes grew by nearly 50 percent while population increased by less than five percent. Erosion control is needed on 4.1 million acres of cropland in the Upper and Lower Illinois River Basins. Stormwater management is a vexing problem throughout the watershed. Sudden flooding, from both large and small storm events, occurs due to past alterations to speed water from the land. Swiftly moving waters take more sediment, carving away at streambanks. The sediment, coupled with
unseasonal flooding, yield a river system less capable of "managing" its sediment through a natural pattern of deposition,
drying and compaction. Operation and maintenance of the navigation system is increasingly difficult, due to accumulation
of sediment in the channel and rapidly fluctuating water levels.   The diversity of interests and stakeholders throughout the watershed is evident in reviewing the history of the region. When issues and interests overlap and compete, disagreements
often arise about which management approaches to take. Yet there is agreement that the future condition of the watershed
of the Illinois River and its tributaries will greatly influence the region's capacity for navigation, recreation, economic
prosperity, and ecological balance.
 

ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY PARTNERSHIP
During the last several decades, concern about the future of the watershed and the river has increased. The need for
a sustained, focused effort, involving diverse public and private interests, became apparent. In 1994, Lt. Governor
Bob Kustra launched the Illinois River Valley Partnership, saying:
     "Phase One will focus on the selection of innovative and reproducible model projects. It is my hope that these efforts will be repeated throughout the Illinois River Valley . . " to enhance the river's capacity as a recreation, transportation, and wildlife habitat resource. [This initiative resulted in the publication of the Directory of Model Projects and Model Approaches for the Illinois River Valley in July 1995.]

"Then we will get on with developing an ecosystem restoration plan for the entire Illinois River system. We will consider alternative management strategies for ecosystem recovery and sustainability, and examine the economic constraints or benefits." [These statements refer to the development of this Integrated Management Plan for the Illinois River Watershed.]

Lt. Governor Kustra convened the Illinois River Strategy Team, a group of leaders in business, agriculture, and conservation. They adopted the vision of "A NATURALLY DIVERSE AND PRODUCTIVE ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY THAT IS SUSTAINED BY NATURAL ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND MANAGED TO PROVIDE FOR COMPATIBLE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES."

     THE INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT PLAN:
An integrated management plan considers and balances the needs of human communities and ecological resources, seeking solutions and remedies that are healthy for both. People who live and work in the watershed contributed to the plan with decision-making by consensus.  During 1996, nearly 150 Illinoisans participated in a year-long effort to develop and reach agreement on specific actions that now constitute this plan. Participants included members of the Illinois River Strategy
Team Illinois River Planning Committee, and six Action Teams (see Appendices).
     The Plan contains 34 recommendations and is divided into six sections. In the Corridor addresses the Illinois River
and its associated backwater lakes and floodplains. The other sections address issues through- out the watershed:
Soil & Water Movement, Agricultural Practices, Economic Development, Local Action and Education. Each
recommendation includes brief summaries of the implementation steps associated with it. A separate technical
report is also available from the Office of Lt. Governor Kustra, which contains the full detail of the implementation
steps, benefit and cost estimates for many recommendations, a summary of existing programs and Action Teams'
participants.

· The Illinois River is a national treasure.
·  Long-term economic health and ecological health are interdependent.
·  Each generation desires a better quality of life for its children and successive generations.
· Understanding our relationship to the landscape shapes our concerns for it.
· Natural resources are intrinsically valuable.
· Responsible stewardship is key to our future quality of life.
· Natural processes provide guidance for ecological improvement.
·  Education with sound information provides a foundation for wise decisions.
·  Progress from committed group effort can surpass any individual results.
· Individuals are responsible for their actions.
· By their actions, individuals make a difference.

•  Efforts must be based on planning and grassroots coalition-building that includes local citizens and all levels of government.
•  Both the public interest and private property rights must be recognized, and all actions must strive to maintain a balance between the two.
•  All actions must appropriately reflect scientific and economic data, as well as possess practical applications.
•  Efforts should focus on areas that currently possess the highest ecological integrity and hold the greatest potential for recovery. It also must be recognized that great benefits to the system may arise from addressing stresses in highly altered areas.
•  Priority should be given to voluntary and incentive-based actions.
• Actions should be consistent with ecosystem-based management strategies that are being developed at the local, state and regional levels; as well as serve as a template on a broader scale with the ecological and economic needs of the upper Mississippi River Basin.
• Efforts should capture the natural and free energies of the system.   All efforts must be based on the recognition of the importance of ecological phenomena.

F U T U R E: In considering the future of the watershed of the Illinois River and its tributaries, participants identified the greatest threats and opportunities:

Threats:
* the prior alteration of natural patterns of water and sediment movement, and
* the previous lack of commitment to the long-term shared interest of the people and the land.

Opportunities:
* the fact that the river still has the ability to "heal," with our help, and
* the belief that we possess the collective will to solve environmental and economic problems

Following this Integrated Management Plan, Illinoisans are invited to engage in local planning and look anew at the resources that we share upstream and downstream from one another, and how our actions affect the landscape. Realizing that changes throughout the watershed occurred over many years and as a result of the activities of millions of people, the solutions require a concentrated approach, with broad support and recognition of the need for change. This plan is a call for a new concept of our home, our town, our county and our role in the watershed as stewards not only of the landscape, but also as stewards of the water.
    The Flood of '93 and flooding again in '95 made the tremendous power of nature evident to all of us. While massive amounts of rainfall contribute mightily to flood events, it is our altered landscape and channelized streams throughout the watershed that strongly influence what happens to the rainfall. The key to reducing our susceptibility to other flood events is to better understand the factors that contribute to such events and to manage water when it is less powerful and more diffuse. Voluntary actions across the watershed, with technical assistance and incentives, occur one parcel at a time and one stream segment at a time.

                                      Flooding on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers 1993 and 2000
 

    Participants determined that the success of this plan can be measured against these objectives:

1) Healthy levels of abundance, distribution, and diversity of plant and animal communities.
2) Restoration of highly-eroded streams: one percent by the year 2000; ten percent by the year 2010.
3) In all stream segments, the attainment of water quality standards and, every ten years, a ten percent improvement in the
Index  for Biotic Integrity (a state index of biodiversity related to water quality).
4) Reduce the river's deviation from the natural hydrograph (volume, depth, and duration of water flows).
5) For floods with 2-5 year frequencies, reduction of peak flows to the river by 2-3 percent.
6) A viable economy that enhances the ecological value of the watershed through high-quality job creation.
7) A measurable reduction of the amount of sediment entering the Illinois River and its tributaries.

Completion of this report is just the beginning. The Illinois River Strategy Team is committed to implementation of the plan and future evaluation of progress throughout the watershed of the Illinois River and its tributaries, from Chicago to Alton.

Now we must see that these written recommendations become reality. Seize those that are important to you, as a developer ... farmer ... city planner ... elected official ... scientist ... parent ... landowner ... conservationist ... entrepreneur ... volunteer ... educator ... or whatever your vocation or avocation may be. Be a partner with individuals and organizations that share the opportunities and responsibilities that this plan offers. As a starting point, please turn the page to key recommendations identified by the Illinois River Strategy Team.

Watershed facts

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