Driftless area assessment

Submitter: Steven Mccauley

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/13878 Copy

Description

Title

Driftless area assessment

Issue Date

1998

Keyword(s)

• Natural resources surveys --Galena River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Natural resources surveys --Apple River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Natural resources surveys --Illinois --Plum River Watershed.
• Natural resources conservation areas --Galena River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Natural resources conservation areas --Apple River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Natural resources conservation areas --Illinois --Plum River Watershed.
• Galena River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Apple River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Plum River Watershed (Ill.)
• Natural resources surveys --Illinois
• Natural resources conservation areas --Illinois

Geographic Coverage

Illinois

Abstract

"The Driftless Area Assessment covers an area ofapproximately 632,685 acres in the extreme northwestern part ofthe Dlinois. It encompasses nearly all ofJoe Daviess County, the western half and north-eastern quarter ofCarroll County, the northwestern comerofWhitesideCounty,andasmallportion ofStephensonCounty. Theassessment area is formed by the Galena, Apple, and Plum River systems and occupies a unique part ofthe state that escaped Pleistocene glaciation. It is bordered by the Mississippi River on the west, Wisconsin on the north, and the Rock River Basin on the east and south. There are twenty-two sub-basins in the assessment area, as recognized by the Dlinois Environmental'ProtectionAgency. Ofthese,theMississippiRiverUpper,theAppleRiver Lower, Rush Creek, and the Mississippi River Central sub-basins (a total area of 191,814 acres) have been designated as ""Resource Rich Areas"" because they contain significant natural community diversity. The Driftless Area Ecosystem Partnership was subsequently formed around this core area ofhigh quality ecological resources. This assessment is comprised offive volumes. In Volume 1, Geology discusses the geology, soils, and minerals in the assessment area. Volume 2, Water Resources, discusses the surface and groundwater resources and Volume 3, Living Resources, describes the natural vegetation communities and the fauna ofthe region. Volume 4 contains three parts: Part I, Socio-Economic Profile, discusses the demographics, infrastructure, and economy ofthe area, focusing on the two counties with the greatest amount ofland in the area -CarroU and Jo Daviess; Part II, Environmental Quality, discusses air and water quality, and hazardous and toxic waste generation and management in the area; and Part III, Archaeological Resources, identifies and assesses the archaeological sites, ranging from the Paleoindian Prehistoric (B.C. 10,000) to the Historic (AD. 1650), known in the assessment watershed. Volume 5, Early Accounts of the Ecology ofthe Driftless Area, describes the ecology ofthe area as recorded by historical writings ofexplorers, pioneers, early visitors and early historians."

Publisher

Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources

Series/Report Name or Number

Critical Trends Assessment Program

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/13878

Copyright and License Information

These documents are a product of the Illinois state scientific surveys and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and has been selected and made available by the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They are intended solely for noncommercial research and educational use, and proper attribution is requested.

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