Kaskaskia River, Illinois - Managing water levels to create benefits for people and nature
USACE’s St. Louis District has found that slight variations in water level management in reservoirs along the Kaskaskia River in Illinois can generate major benefits for water quality, fish, waterfowl, and outdoor recreation.
Carlyle Lake - A dense carpet of vegetation covers pool areas exposed during a managed drawdown of Carlyle Lake on the Kaskaskia River. Wetland vegetation in pool areas has been documented to lessen erosion, improve water quality, and provide habitat and forage for fish and wildlife (USACE photo).
Carlyle Lake - Area of Carlyle Lake, Muskrat Flats Access, after 14 days of drawdown. This location was the most diverse site visited with teal lovegrass, spikerush, round-leaf water hyssop, and sessile-flowered spring cress being most abundant, and numerous other species filling gaps between low-profile plants.
The site also had shallow slope and exposed mudflats in several areas that attracted foraging shorebirds (photo by Lane Richter, USACE).
Jerry F. Costello Lock and Dam - Area of the Kaskaskia River, river mile 14, after 46 days of drawdown. The most dominant species at the site consisted of sprangletop and nutsedge, both of which provide important forage for migrating waterfowl
(photo by Lane Richter, USACE).
Jerry F. Costello Lock and Dam - Area of the Kaskaskia River, river mile 7.5, after 46 days of drawdown. The relatively flat slope of the areas exposed by the drawdown in this oxbow resulted in a mostly uniform plant response due to the similar germination timing, duration of drawdown, and moisture levels
(photo by Lane Richter, USACE).
Lake Shelbyville - Drone imagery taken at Lake Shelbyville site 11. Vegetation in most recently exposed areas (green area) included spikerushes, flatsedges, and Teal lovegrass. Higher elevation areas (above normal pool levels; between tree line and green area) included smartweeds, beggarticks, and asters. Water channel on right side of picture shows area where Whitley Creek flows into Lake Shelbyville
(USACE photo).
Carlyle Lake - Aerial image of Carlyle Lake shoreline with normal and drawdown water levels shown in blue and pink, respectively. Area between the blue and pink lines is exposed by a 0.5 ft drawdown.
Lake Shelbyville - Drawdown aerial imagery for a section of Lake Shelbyville with normal (blue) and 0.5 ft drawdown (pink) waterlines delineated. Area between the blue and pink lines is exposed by a 0.5 ft drawdown.
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Story
The Kaskaskia River is Illinois’s second-longest and one of the state’s major tributaries to the Mississippi. It begins near Champaign and flows south and west to the Mississippi, joining the river downstream of St. Louis.
The landscape is largely agricultural, but the Kaskaskia watershed still has some of the most intact forests remaining in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Nature Conservancy have protected thousands of acres of natural lands along the river corridor.
Many U.S. communities boast that an American president is part of their heritage. Vandalia, a small town in the upper reaches of the Kaskaskia watershed, was Illinois’s second capital and where Abraham Lincoln in 1834 assumed his first statewide elected office. In 1837, Lincoln made his first public anti-slavery speech at the Illinois statehouse in Vandalia, which still stands. Read More
Partners
- USACE St. Louis District
- Kaskaskia Watershed Association
- Illinois Department of Natural Resources
- Waterfowl hunting groups
- The Nature Conservancy
Resources
How Environmental Pool Management Works - YouTube
Publications