THE ILLINOIS RIVER MANAGEMENT PLAN 1999

GOALS OF IDENTIFIED MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Corridor Values

• Create constructive relationships with landowners by providing information and assistance regarding the full range of voluntary private land protection techniques.

• Minimize the impacts of development and construction within the Illinois River basin by encouraging local governments to adopt regulations to control development in floodplain areas; monitor population and growth trends in the basin.

• Seek voluntary compliance with private landowners to establish and maintain a vegetated buffer of 60-100 feet along the river and its tributaries and to utilize existing cost-share programs and grant opportunities to conserve riparian areas.

• Evaluate causes of streambank destabilization and determine the best possible actions for restoration by identifying and monitoring bank erosion and exploring opportunities to enter cooperative agreements with riverfront property owners.

Recreation Resources

• Provide a high-quality recreation opportunity, in a quiet setting with opportunity for privacy, while protecting the river's outstanding resources and recognizing the needs of river outfitters and individual users. Place the highest priority on recreation opportunities requiring quiet and high-quality natural ecosystem. Evaluate the authorized OSRC float areas and maintain ongoing research programs to track visitor patterns.

• Provide all visitors with the proper orientation to types of activities available, river safety information and expected behavior. Educate visitors on the outstanding natural, cultural, and historical values of the Illinois River basin.

• Encourage river users to respect the resources available to them through education and proper facility placement, thus reducing trespass on private lands. Develop a management plan for public access areas for day use and camping.

Water Quality

• Minimize alteration of stream habitat and sedimentation due to destabilization of stream beds; work with Arkansas to designate the Illinois River and its tributaries in that state as "outstanding resource waters."

• Reduce nutrient and chemical loading, in accordance with state laws, into the basin from commercial nursery tailwater and pollutant loading into the river from urban runoff.

• Reduce nutrient pollution due to animal waste by requiring contracted producers to complete and implement approved conservation plans.

• Protect riparian areas from the impacts of livestock by educating livestock producers on negative consequences and promoting cost-incentive programs.

• Implement training and utilize volunteer labor to collect water quality data. Help with public education.

<<Introduction Section       Top       Resources Section >>