New Program To Restore 230,000 Acres Of Floodplains And Buffers On Illinois River

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) praised the approval today by US Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman of the Illinois River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. The program will restore 230,000 acres of wetlands, forested floodplains and rapidly eroding lands around the Illinois River and its tributaries.

“This program provides the funds to restore more of the flood plain forests, marshes and buffer zones around a river than any program in the nation’s history,” said EDF executive director Fred Krupp. “It can remake the Illinois River as one of the country’s greatest natural resources.” “Lieutenant Governor Bob Kustra deserves great credit for launching the state’s effort to restore the Illinois River and Governor Jim Edgar and Secretary Glickman have shown vision by proposing and approving this restoration plan,” said Krupp. The Illinois River Enhancement Program follows a 100,000 acre program on the Chesapeake Bay approved last October and a 190,000 acre program on the Minnesota River approved in February. Enhancement Programs combine state funds with the $2 billion annual federal Conservation Reserve Program to follow scientifically based plans to restore habitat and filter polluted runoff for a river or bay. EDF senior attorney Tim Searchinger first suggested the concept of Enhancement Programs to the US Department of Agriculture in the spring of 1996 and started working with state officials in Illinois, Maryland and Minnesota at that time to develop model plans.

“The Illinois and Minnesota River plan announced last month together launch the large-scale restoration of the Upper Mississippi River system,” said Searchinger. “They will result in cleaner rivers and nearly double the habitat for fish, ducks and other wildlife in the entire ecosystem. And because they target flood prone, marginal cropland, they should help farmers and reduce the annual costs to taxpayers for flood damages.”

“The Illinois River once supported 2,000 commercial fishermen, but today, two thirds of the river’s fish barely survive because of pollution by sediments and fertilizer,” said Searchinger. “Wetland preservation under this program should help clean up the river habitat.”

A fact sheet is available from EDF describing the program in greater detail. Fact sheets are also available about the Minnesota and Maryland Enhancement Programs and about Enhancement Programs generally.