The 1,400-acre Keithsburg Division is located in Mercer County, Illinois. The entire division lies within Pool 18, immediately north of Keithsburg, Illinois.
Keithsburg Division averages 0.75 mile in width and has a three mile long levee separating it from the Mississippi River. The north end of the division is bounded by a levee, but a spillway allows water from the Edwards or Mississippi Rivers to flow into the division during flood events. Its eastern boundary is a sand escarpment which rises quickly from the floodplain.
The Keithsburg Division was previously an agricultural levee district in private ownership. The expense of trying to drain the area for farming became too much and the area was purchased in 1942 by the Army Corps of Engineers for the navigation project. In 1945, the area was transferred to the Service for management. Attempts continued at farming small fields, but were finally abandoned in 1984.
The division, established for protection of migratory waterfowl has been managed accordingly since its establishment. Two water control structures permit water levels to be lowered by gravity during summer months (allowing wetland plants to grow and mature) and flood in the fall in preparation for use by migratory waterfowl. A permanent pump station situated on the river levee, was once used to facilitate lowering and raising water levels. However, this unit was damaged by the "Flood of 1993" and is currently non-functional. Besides the water level control concern, there is now cause for a water quality concern for the Keithsburg Division. A recent contaminant investigation has indicated significant delivery of nitrogen and ammonia from neighboring watersheds into the northern portion of the division.
Fishing is the primary public use on this division, offering a diverse resource to bank and boating fishermen. However, when the area is drawn down through the summer to promote wetland vegetation, fish can be stranded and oxygen levels may be too low for game fish to survive. The area is closed to public entry from September 16 - December 31 as a refuge for migratory waterfowl.
Keithsburg Division is similar to Big Timber in forest habitat composition. The division is a mosaic of wetland and bottomland forest habitat complex including sloughs surrounded by bottomland timber stands. As with Big Timber, the forested stands suffered from the Flood of 1993 and subsequent wind storms, and many snags now exist. Dead and dying trees are used by woodpeckers, wood ducks, hooded mergansers and prothonotary warblers. Bald eagles also use the area during migration, and several nesting attempts have occurred on the division.
Regulations
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