Illinois River, Illinois
(Spunky Bottoms)

A century ago, the Illinois River was one of North America’s most ecologically and economically important river systems, supporting the most productive inland commercial fishery and greatest mussel population per mile of any stream on the continent. Though it has undergone significant land conversion, the Illinois River was identified by the National Research Council as one of only three large-floodplain river systems in the U.S. with the potential to be restored to some semblance of its past ecological splendor.

The Spunky Bottoms project is part of The Nature Conservancy’s effort to restore and protect floodplain habitat in the Illinois River Valley. It provides an opportunity to restore approximately 800 acres of uplands and river bluff and more than 1,200 acres of Illinois River floodplain habitat, including open water, marsh, wet prairie, mesic prairie, and bottomland hardwood forests that support native plant and animal communities that existed in pre-European settlement days (communities were different before Native Americans settled here).

River otter © Jack Mills

Ecological Importance: The Nature Conservancy’s main objective for the Spunky Bottoms Project is to restore natural ecological processes and habitats that promote and sustain native species and communities in this region of the Illinois River Valley.  With proper planning and implementation, this effort will serve as a model for restoration and management of large floodplain river systems, demonstrating their tremendous capacity for regeneration.

Partners: Illinois Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resources Conservation Service-U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Wetlands Initiative, Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, University of Illinois Springfield, MacMurray College, and Illinois College.

Conservation Action: Restoration and stewardship at the Merwin Preserve at Spunky Bottoms has included the planting of 110 acres of upland prairie and more than 7,500 hardwood trees. The replanted species are thriving, as are other wetland plant species that have re-emerged from a seedbank that survived during the decades that the preserve was farmed. Native animals are returning to the preserve in impressive numbers—peaks of over 16,000 waterfowl, 16 state and/or federally endangered or threatened species, and 10 new county distribution records have been documented since restoration began.

In addition to the planting of native plant species, an important part of our stewardship work is the control of invasive species. We are also directing the re-establishment of wetlands and open water habitats, by reducing the amount of water being pumped out of the area.

Learn more about the Spunky Bottoms Project.

Spunky Bottoms © Tharran Hobson

Illinois River Facts

• Location: The Illinois River is formed at the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee Rivers approximately 50 miles southwest of Chicago, IL and flows 273 miles across the state where it joins the Mississippi River near Grafton, IL, approximately 25 miles north of Saint Louis, Missouri. The Illinois River drains approximately 30,000 square miles and its drainage extends slightly into Wisconsin and Indiana.
• Size: river length: 273 miles; project area: 2,026 acres
• Plant Species: Big and little bluestem, Indian grass, black-eyed Susan, prairie coreopsis, prairie cordgrass, river bulrush, white water buttercup, American lotus, arrowhead, coontail
• Animal Species: Eastern bluebird, Henslow sparrow, American bittern, black-crowned night heron, black and sora rails, bald eagle, river otter, muskrat, beaver, mink, bog lemming, prairie king and Western ribbon snakes, plains leopard, northern cricket frogs

Davis and Sharon Merwin © The Nature Conservancy