Annual progress report.

Title from cover.

Assessment of created wetland performance in Illinois /

Wetlands are extremely valuable natural features that have decreased significantly in number over time in Illinois and the United States ... Their important functions include flood protection, water conservation in times of drought, groundwater recharge, improvement of water quality through sediment reduction and contaminant removal, and providing habitat for native animals and plants, including many sensitive and state-listed threatened and endangered species ... Due to a federal "no net loss" policy on wetlands adopted through executive order by President George H. Bush in 1990, as well as a prevailing heightened interest in conservation in general, there is currently considerable interest in the restoration and creation of wetlands. Both Section-404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Swampbuster Provision of the Food Securities Act of 1985 require compensation or mitigation for the loss of wetlands. A number of federal and state programs such as Section 319 of the Clean Water Act and the Conservation Reserve Program within the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) encourage wetland restoration and creation. In addition, various conservation organizations, such as The Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited are very active in wetland restoration. Despite wetland restoration efforts and the national goal of no net loss, wetlands and wetland functions continue to be lost due to degradation of existing wetlands ... Unfortunately, no reliable information exists on the quality of existing wetlands or on trends in wetland quality over time ... The functional quality of existing wetlands is likely decreasing in many areas due to the combined effects of habitat fragmentation, alteration of hydrology, invasive species, and continued input of nutrients and pollutants. Furthermore, it is still debatable whether created or restored wetlands can adequately replace the suite of ecological functions provided by natural wetlands ... and the failure of many wetland compensation projects contributes to a continued national net loss of wetland functions ... The need for post-construction site monitoring and assessment of created and restored wetlands to evaluate functional success is widely recognized. ... At this time, there is little agreement on how to assess the success on quality of wetland restorations or creations.

Geology for planning in Winnebago and Boone counties : workshop /

"Conducted by the Illinois State Geological Survey in cooperation with the Boone County Board, Winnebago County Board, Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District, Winnebage County Soil and Water Conservation District and Rock Valley College."

Groundwater protection field day : Waterloo Sportsman's Club, Waterloo, IL, May 25, 2006 /

Cover title.

Illinois First.

"The Illinois First Program was established by the Governor of Illinois and funded by the General Assembly in Fiscal Year 2000. Funding from this program was approved for a number of projects which were allocated to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Water Resources. The Office of Water Resources is administering a number of these projects under the authorities granted in the Flood Control Act of 1945 (615 ILCS 15), and one of the requirements of the Act is that a report be filed with the Illinois General Assembly describing the projects being undertaken. This report fulfills that requirement."

Illinois SWCD directory /

Latest issue consulted: 1988.

Monthly newsletter.

Mode of access: Internet.

Progress report of P.L. 566 watershed projects, State of Illinois /

"Progress report on Illinois watersheds."--Cover.

Stream monitoring manual /

"EcoWatch Network"--Cover.

Stream monitoring manual /

Introduction: Illinois RiverWatch is a volunteer stream monitoring program coordinated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Through RiverWatch Illinois citizens are trained as Citizen Scientists to conduct biological monitoring of the state's rivers and streams in order to identify long-term trends in stream health. RiverWatch provides citizen volunteers a hands-on opportunity to learn about stream ecology and the condition of Illinois streams, while helping scientists monitor stream conditions across the state.

[Upper Crab Orchard Creek Watershed] : [watershed plan - environmental impact statement, Williamson County, Illinois.]

Includes statistical tables.

Reduction in the plant uptake of Sr-90 by soil management treatments

Bibliography: p. 29-30.

Report

Mode of access: Internet.

A sustainable supply chain study of the Indian bioenergy sector

In India, more than one third of the population do not currently have access to modern energy services. Biomass to energy, known as bioenergy, has immense potential for addressing India’s energy poverty. Small scale decentralised bioenergy systems require low investment compared to other renewable technologies and have environmental and social benefits over fossil fuels. Though they have historically been promoted in India through favourable policies, many studies argue that the sector’s potential is underutilised due to sustainable supply chain barriers. Moreover, a significant research gap exists. This research addresses the gap by analysing the potential sustainable supply chain risks of decentralised small scale bioenergy projects. This was achieved through four research objectives, using various research methods along with multiple data collection techniques. Firstly, a conceptual framework was developed to identify and analyse these risks. The framework is founded on existing literature and gathered inputs from practitioners and experts. Following this, sustainability and supply chain issues within the sector were explored. Sustainability issues were collated into 27 objectives, and supply chain issues were categorised according to related processes. Finally, the framework was validated against an actual bioenergy development in Jodhpur, India. Applying the framework to the action research project had some significant impacts upon the project’s design. These include the development of water conservation arrangements, the insertion of auxiliary arrangements, measures to increase upstream supply chain resilience, and the development of a first aid action plan. More widely, the developed framework and identified issues will help practitioners to take necessary precautionary measures and address them quickly and cost effectively. The framework contributes to the bioenergy decision support system literature and the sustainable supply chain management field by incorporating risk analysis and introducing the concept of global and organisational sustainability in supply chains. The sustainability issues identified contribute to existing knowledge through the exploration of a small scale and developing country context. The analysis gives new insights into potential risks affecting the whole bioenergy supply chain.

Decadal Change in Vegetation and Soil Phosphorus Pattern across the Everglades Landscape

Wetlands respond to nutrient enrichment with characteristic increases in soil nutrients and shifts in plant community composition. These responses to eutrophication tend to be more rapid and longer lasting in oligotrophic systems. In this study, we documented changes associated with water quality from 1989 to 1999 in oligotrophic Everglades wetlands. We accomplished this by resampling soils and macrophytes along four transects in 1999 that were originally sampled in 1989. In addition to documenting soil phosphorus (P) levels and decadal changes in plant species composition at the same sites, we report macrophyte tissue nutrient and biomass data from 1999 for future temporal comparisons. Water quality improved throughout much of the Everglades in the 1990s. In spite of this improvement, though, we found that water quality impacts worsened during this time in areas of the northern Everglades (western Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge [NWR] and Water Conservation Area [WCA] 2A). Zones of high soil P (exceeding 700 mg P kg−1 dry wt. soil) increased to more than 1 km from the western margin canal into the Loxahatchee NWR and more than 4 km from northern boundary canal into WCA-2A. This doubling of the high soil P zones since 1989 was paralleled with an expansion of cattail (Typha spp.)-dominated marsh in both regions. Macrophyte species richness declined in both areas from 1989 to 1999 (27% in the Loxahatchee NWR and 33% in WCA-2A). In contrast, areas well south of the Everglades Agricultural Area, including WCA-3A and Everglades National Park (ENP), did not decline during this time. We found no significant decadal change in plant community patterns from 1989 and 1999 along transects in southern WCA-3A or Shark River Slough (ENP). Our 1999 sampling also included a new transect in Taylor Slough (ENP), which will allow change analysis here in the future. Regular sampling of these transects, to verify decadal-scale environmental impacts or improvements, will continue to be an important tool for long-term management and restoration of the Everglades.