Lower Des Plaines River basin: an inventory of the region's resources

Siewers, Alfred

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/14155 Copy

Description

Title

Lower Des Plaines River basin: an inventory of the region's resources

Author(s)

Siewers, Alfred

Issue Date

2003

Keyword(s)

• Natural resources --Des Plaines River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Natural resources --Illinois
• Environmental protection --Des Plaines River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Environmental protection --Illinois
• Nature --Effect of human beings on --Des Plaines River Watershed (Wis. and Ill.)
• Nature --Effect of human beings on --Illinois

Geographic Coverage

Illinois

Abstract

The Lower Des Plaines watershed extends from north central Cook County down through eastern DuPage County and western Cook County into northern Will County. Major waterways include the Lower Des Plaines River (from the point where the Salt Creek joins it near the Brookfield Zoo), Salt Creek, and portions of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Calumet-Sag Channel. Smaller drainages include Addison Creek, Flag Creek, Sawmill Creek, and Long Run Creek. This 357-square-mile area unites some of Illinois’ most affluent suburbs and historically important industrial towns. Twenty-eight Superfund sites, one of them on the National Priority List, are reminders of the area’s heavily industrial past. While the leading economic sector today is services, manufacturing is still prominent. Human development now covers two-thirds of the area’s surface. Preglacial bedrock supplied the material for this growing metropolis. The area is famous for its old limestone buildings and also supplied the stone for Chicago landmarks such as the Water Tower. The basin’s one million residents comprise 9% of the state’s population and at least one of every ten employed Illinoisans works here.

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/2142/14155

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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