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The Illinois wetlands are the land’s natural filters, cleaning and purifying water and delivering nutrients to the soil. People all over the world rely on wetlands not just for food and water, but also for their natural abilities to moderate the environment—such as the wetlands’ natural ability to offset droughts by storing groundwater. Wetlands provide valuable habitat for hundreds of native plant and animal species which rely on the naturally water-drenched lands for their survival.
The natural functions of wetlands used to be poorly understood, and the lands were frequently drained to provide drier land that was suitable for agriculture and considered more beneficial to the growing population. Manmade retention ponds were sometimes built to replace them, but they lack the filtering abilities of natural wetlands. As a result, Illinois wetlands have been reduced to only 4 percent of their original acreage, too small to perform the filtering processes vital to healthy natural lands. In Illinois, wetlands are deeply threatened by unchecked land development, and the people and the wildlife who depend on wetlands are also at risk. Only a few wetlands remain in the state, and those wetlands need to be restored—for wildlife, for nature, and for us.
What is The Nature Conservancy Doing?
The Nature Conservancy in Illinois is a leader in wetland restoration. In 2000, The Nature Conservancy purchased 7,100 acres of corn and soy bean fields southwest of Peoria. Known as Emiquon, these lands are being restored and reconnected to the Illinois River. In only a few months of active restoration work, Emiquon has given concrete evidence to the resilience of wetlands. Water returned to a historic lake bed that had been dry for 83 years, and seeds that had lain dormant in the banks began to push through the earth.
Emiquon is now a model for wetland restoration across the world, and the information and innovative conservation techniques gathered here are helping inform projects along the Yangtze River in China, the Zambezi River in Africa, and the Paraguay-Pantanal River in Brazil.
Spunky Bottoms, another Conservancy preserve in Illinois, has responded impressively to restoration work. In less than five years after discontinuing agricultural production on 2,026 acres, Spunky Bottoms now hosts more than 250 species of plants and animals.
Action starts when people talk.
In the midst of dire warnings about the loss of wetlands, there are messages of hope and things we can do as individuals. First, start a conversation about the issue with friends, family and colleagues. Take a look at our Conversation Starters. And, learn more about our work by visiting related projects on the Conservancy’s Web site, nature.org.
