Illinois River Basin Restoration

 
The fish ramp helps fish swim over the low-head dam on Waubonsie Creek to reach spawning grounds from the Fox River. The Waubonsie Creek Restoration project completes one piece of the Waubonsie Creek Watershed Plan that was created by the Oswegoland Park District, along with the Village of Montgomery, the Fox Valley Park District and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. It is also one of sixteen critical restoration projects in the Illinois River Basin Restoration 519 Program authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 2000.
The Illinois River Basin has experienced the loss of ecological integrity due to sedimentation of backwaters and side channels, degradation of tributary streams, increased water level fluctuations, reduction of floodplain and tributary connectivity, and other adverse impacts caused by human activities.  As a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District (Corps), and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) entered into a cost-sharing agreement in August 2000 and, with other agencies, identified opportunities for ecosystem restoration in the Illinois River Basin.

The resulting draft Comprehensive Plan for the Illinois River Basin combined  information from both the Illinois River Ecosystem Restoration Study and efforts undertaken through the Illinois River Basin Restoration (Section 519), authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 2000.

The draft Comprehensive Plan provides the overall plan for the restoration of the Illinois River Basin, including system needs and recommendations describing the restoration program, long term resource monitoring, computerized inventory and analysis system, and innovative dredging technologies and beneficial use of dredged material.  The study team identified six ecosystem restoration goals and evaluated eight alternatives, including the no action alternative.  The plan includes the study team’s final recommendation of Alternative 6.