Mud to Parks & the Illinois River Project

The Illinois River provides commerce, recreation, and environmental
habitat for a major portion of the state of Illinois. However, the River
has been filling with sediment for the past century to the point that
few areas outside the main channel are more than two feet deep. The
result is a significant decrease in recreational use and fish and
wildlife populations.
John Marlin of the Illinois Sustainable
Technology Center (ISTC) is one of the leaders in the Illinois Rivers
2020 effort to revive the Illinois River. One project element was looking at how
to remove sediment from the Illinois River in a cost effective and safe
manner. Study teams investigated dredging and transport techniques,
the quality of the sediment and a variety of potential uses. The
removed sediment was used to restore habitats such as islands and
may prove suitable for use as landscaping soil, especially at strip
mines and abandoned industrial sites near navigation channels.
Project
cooperators included a number of divisions of the Illinois Department of
Natural Resources, the Illinois Scientific Surveys, the University of
Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, numerous private companies,
and a variety of federal, state, and local organizations.
Restoring
the greatness of the Illinois River provided recreational and
economic opportunities for Illinois citizens and help make the state
more attractive to potential employers and their workers. ISTC is proud
to be part of this successful effort, and as a result, the Mud to Parks program was formed to expand these efforts to other locations besides the Illinois River.