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19031 East County Road 2110N E-mail: IllinoisRiver@fws.gov |
Ecosystem Management
Wetland Management | Prairie Management
Bottomland Forest Protection | Law Enforcement
Cultural Resources Protection | Disease Monitoring
Many different tools and techniques are used in the management of a wildlife refuge. Although we attempt to restore and manage the entire ecosystem so that natural processes can occur, ecosystem management does not mean "hands off." In modern floodplains, it is necessary to work with erosion, sedimentation, and the flood cycle in an attempt to manage and guide these processes to mimic the former natural system.
Using historical records of the pristine Illinois River as a guide, we use a "mitigative management strategy" to promote native fish, wetland-dependant plant communities, and wildlife populations. Plant and animal species evolved to depend on the pristine structure and function of the river-floodplain relationship. Each plant community has a specific moisture tolerance and occupies its own niche, which is influenced, or even dictated by, the water regime. Human modifications to the structure of the floodplain, such as navigation locks and dams, stream channelization, the diversion of Lake Michigan water, and agricultural levees, ditches, and field tiles, have changed the floodplain function. With these changes have come changes in the diversity, abundance, and general health of plant and animal communities.
The pristine floodplain of the Illinois River
and the plant communities associated with it.
The current condition of the floodplain.
The refuges are managed to mimic the historic flood cycle, a strategy which creates the conditions necessary to support native plant and animal communities that are reminiscent of a large river-floodplain ecosystem. We attempt to mitigate the human-induced changes to the flood cycle in order to promote biological diversity, stability, and resilience in an altered system.
References for the Management Section
Betz, R.F. 1986. One decade of research in prairie restoration at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), Batavia, Illinois. In The prairie - past, present and future: Proc. 9th N. Amer. Prairie Conf., ed. G.K. Clambey and R.H. Pemble. Tricollege University Center for Environmental Study. Fargo, ND, pp 179-185.
Fredrickson, L.H. 1991. Strategies for water level manipulations in moist-soil systems. Waterfowl Management Handbook, Fish and Wildlife Leaflet 13.4.6. 8 pp.
Fredrickson, L.H. and T.S. Taylor. 1982. Management of seasonally flooded impoundments for wildlife. Fish and Wildlife Service Resource Publication 148. 29 pp.
Hands, H.M., R.D. Drobney, and M.R. Ryan. 1989. Status of the Henslow's sparrow in the northcentral United States. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Twin Cities, Minnesota.
Harris, Larry et al. 1984. Bottomland hardwoods: Valuable, vanished, vulnerable. University of Florida.
Havera, S.P. 1992. Waterfowl of Illinois: status and management. Final report to Illinois Department of Conservation. W-110-R-2. 1,035 pp.
Havera, S.P. (Illinois Natural History Survey). November 1, 1996. Personal Communication with Susan B. Julison.
Minnesota Audubon Council. 1993. Minnesota Wetlands: A primer on their nature and function. Ed. Cheryl Miller. Saint Paul, Minnesota. 23 pp.
Solecki, M.K. and T. Toney. 1986. Characteristics and management of Missouri's public prairies. In The prairie - past, present and future: Proc. 9th N. Amer. Prairie Conf., ed. G.K. Clambey and R.H. Pemble. Tricollege University Center for Environmental Study. Fargo, ND, pp 168-170.
Swanson, George A., M.I. Meyer, and J.R. Serie. 1974. Feeding ecology of breeding blue-winged teals. Journal of Wildlife Management. 38(3):396-407.
