Cache River Symposium

Climate Change in Illinois and Baldcypress Swamps

Beth Middleton — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:27:06 PST

Research on Wildland Visitor Inventories for Management Communications

Ken Chilman — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:39 PDT

Recreation visitor studies were conducted at Heron Pond and Barkhausen Wetlands Center in 2006. These studies were part of a series of studies to develop methods to obtain representative samples of visitors to large and diverse wildland areas. The focus of the studies is to develop methods that are inexpensive and easy to apply, so that visitor data may be readily obtained and communicated by area managers in various decision meetings. The two studies reported here are called Rapid Assessment Visitor Inventories (RAVIs) and obtained visitor numbers and one-page surveys about their visit experiences.

Drivers and Constraints Affecting Community Capacity for Watershed Management

Mae Davenport — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:38 PDT

A report released by The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005 explicates the interdependence of healthy ecosystems and societal well-being because of the multiple services ecosystems provide human communities. Still, development practices and land uses continue to degrade hydrologic systems and water quality on which humans depend for services like drinking water, stormwater regulation, and recreation. Decisions at the local level have the greatest impact on water resources. Landowner compliance with regulations, enrollment in cost-share or easement programs, and perhaps most important, voluntary adoption of sustainable land use practices are fundamental to the future of water resources in Illinois and nationwide. Furthermore, local governments have a central role in promoting, incentivizing and regulating sustainable development and land use practices at a watershed scale. Three questions emerge: (1) What drives communities to engage in sustainable watershed management? (2) What constrains communities from engaging in sustainable watershed management? (3) How can resource professionals, policy-makers, and citizens build community capacity to protect watershed health? This paper investigates these issues, presents a theoretical model of community capacity for sustainable watershed management, and describes “lessons learned” about the roles human communities play in watershed management. The insights presented are based on an extensive literature review, empirical research, and ongoing dialogue with water resource professionals and policy-makers across the Midwest. Most notably, a lack of organizational capacity including problems with coordination and long-term visioning in community planning is identified as a primary constraint.

Bird Responses to Bottomland Forest Restoration in the Cache River Watershed

Jeff Hoover — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:38 PDT

Birds serve as a useful group of organisms for measuring the effects and success of bottomland forest restoration activities. This presentation will highlight how restoration activities such as off-channel wetland restoration and re-forestation that reduces forest fragmentation benefit breeding birds. In addition, I will discuss how long-term songbird research in the Cache River watershed is allowing us to answer some challenging questions including: If you build it, will they come?; and Do migratory songbird kids produced in the Cache return to breed in the Cache? Finally, I will briefly mention some of our ongoing research including bird use of canebrakes and how 17 years of land acquisition and conversion to forest is affecting the abundance, diversity and nesting success of birds.

Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling of the Cache River for Evaluating Alternative Restoration Measures

Mike Demissie et al. — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:37 PDT

The Cache River basin, located in southern Illinois, has characteristics unique to the State of Illinois and nation, with diverse physical, chemical, and biological features that produced a great diversity of natural communities. Because of these unique characteristics, the Cache River basin contains some high quality bottomland hardwood forests and wetlands that have been recognized nationally and internationally. Changes in land-use practices and hydraulic modifications during the last century have significantly threatened the ecological integrity of some of these valuable habitats and wetlands. Therefore one of the key goals of resource managers working in the area is to restore the Cache River’s natural hydrologic character to a level that can sustain a viable ecology throughout the river corridor. An essential component of the restoration effort for the Cache River has been the development of detailed hydrologic and hydraulic models to determine water levels associated with proposed restoration measures. These models assist the Cache River Wetlands Joint Venture Partnership (JVP) in the decision-making process of selecting and implementing restoration projects that improve the hydrologic conditions for the natural ecosystem. Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling also allow the JVP to satisfy all regulatory requirements and ensure that natural, agricultural, and social resources are not damaged by flooding induced by modifications to the river system. Hydrologic and hydraulic models were developed by the Illinois State Water Survey for the Lower and Upper Cache River and are published in two reports (Demissie et al., 2008, 2010) located on the ISWS website http://www.isws.illinois.edu/pubs/search.asp (Contract Reports 2008-01 and 2010-06). This presentation summarizes the results for some of the modeling scenarios.

Big Creek as a Laboratory for a Virtual Watershed

Christopher Lant — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:36 PDT

Based on the Big Creek portion of the Cache Watershed, Virtual Watershed is a model that evaluates, through agent-based programming, how farmers will respond to economic opportunities and the policy environment to select land uses. These land uses then feed the SWAT watershed model to evaluate the agricultural outputs and ecosystem service provision of a land use pattern. Through genentic algorithms, possible land use pattern can be evaluated to generate an ecological-economic production possibilities frontier.

Predicting Ecological Responses to Reconnection of the Cache River

Heidi Rantala — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:36 PDT

It has been suggested that reconnection of the lower and upper portions of the Cache River will have ecological benefits. To assess potential responses and guide reconnection efforts, we have developed models predicting the ecological responses of potential increases in flow in the lower Cache River. Preliminary data suggest that duckweed cover, which is associated with lack of flow, is an important factor governing oxygen availability in the stream. We predict that small increases in discharge will reduce duckweed cover and result in exponential increases in dissolved oxygen. We also hypothesize that increases in discharge will alter macroinvertebrate communities. In particular, increased flow will shift macroinvertebrate community composition from dominance by collector-gatherers to filter-feeders such as hydropsychid caddisflies and black flies. Our model also suggests that macroinvertebrate production on snag habitats may increase up to 10% due to the increased contribution of filter-feeders. Collectively, our analyses suggest that reconnection may have tangible, positive impacts on physical and biological components of the lower Cache River.

Quantifying the Water Quality Benefits of Riparian Buffers in the Cache River Watershed

Karl Williard et al. — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:26:35 PDT

In agricultural watersheds across the U.S. and world, many woody and herbaceous species of riparian vegetation have proven to be effective filters of nutrients and sediment. Over the past decade, we have investigated the water quality impacts of giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea (Walt.) Muhl.) riparian buffers in the Cache River watershed. Giant cane is a native bamboo-like grass species that once thrived in southern Illinois and has received considerable attention from federal and state agencies for reestablishment into its native range. A series of three field-scale studies evaluated giant cane’s ability to attenuate sediment and nutrients in surface runoff and groundwater. The initial study monitored nutrient and sediment concentrations in surface runoff and groundwater in Cypress Creek watershed, while two subsequent studies focused on groundwater quality and added riparian buffer plots along Big Creek and Cache River. Overland flow collectors and groundwater monitoring wells were used to collect water samples at fixed distances from the edge of three agricultural fields (i.e., 0m, 1.5m, 3m, 6m, 9m, and 12m). Results showed significant nutrient and sediment reductions within the first 3m of the giant cane buffers, whereas equivalent reductions were observed at ~6m in adjacent forested buffers. Nutrient reductions in overland flow in the cane buffer were 80%, 80%, and 68% for phosphate, dissolved ammonium, and dissolved nitrate, respectively. Further, sediment (97%) and groundwater nitrate concentrations (90%) were significantly reduced in the initial 3m of the cane buffers. Microbial denitrification was likely the most important groundwater nitrate loss mechanism, given the relatively deep ground water depths (> 2 m) at the study sites. High stem density and infiltration rates promoted deposition of sediment and sediment-bound nutrients in the first 1.5 to 3 meters of the buffers. Currently, a paired watershed experiment is being conducted on SIUC farms properties to quantify the water quality benefits of giant cane and deciduous forest buffers in row-crop agricultural watersheds with no artificial drainage. Further, a giant cane nursery has been established to help provide propagules for future restoration efforts.

Status of the Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership

Nate Caswell — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 06:55:04 PDT

The Ohio River basin is of national significance both in its geographic scope and the fish and mussel resources contained within it. The Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership was developed to help focus conservation, restoration, and enhancement efforts on priority habitat for fish and mussels in the watersheds of the Ohio River Basin for the benefit of the public. During the partnership’s planning process participants from across the basin were asked to assemble a list of early action sites that possessed key conservation targets and/or outstanding aquatic biodiversity. The Lower Cache River watershed was identified as one of these sites. Early action sites currently serve as ORBFHP interim focus areas until a basin-wide habitat assessment can be completed and used to identify long term Priority Areas for the partnership.