Piasa Creek Watershed Project (photos)
The Piasa Creek Watershed Project reduces sedimentation in the 78,000 acre watershed located in portions of Jersey, Madison, and Macoupin counties in Illinois. Positive effects of the project include stormwater control, reduction of flash flooding, enhanced fish and wildlife habitat, and protection of sensitive ecosystems. The project has met and exceeded all of its goals to date. Interest and participation of the project has been embraced on a local, regional and national scale.

Land Protection
Great Rivers Land Trust protects thousands of acres of open space and wildlife habitat through ownership or conservation easements. 

The Palisades Preserve
The dramatic bluffs between Alton and Grafton, Illinios are renowned for their scenic beauty and views of downtown St. Louis. Now these bluffs and the ecologically significant lands on which they stand have been protected through the creation of the Palisades Preserve. Described as one of the best remaining examples of undisturbed, biologically important lands in Illinois, the preserve’s oak and hickory forests look much as they did 100 years ago. The land is environmentally essential to the protection of eleven endangered or threatened species of plants and animals and is located in the largest flyway in North America for migrating birds. The unfragmented forest provides essential breeding habitat for a suite of songbirds. The preserve also contains an undisturbed limestone cliff community and Native American Burial Grounds. This 430-acre parcel of bluff top land will be protected for environmental, scenic and educational purposes forever.

Boy Scout Lake
The land trust has restored the 40-acre Boy Scout Lake at Camp Warren Levis. The lakebed had filled with silt and become useless. Through conservation strategies employed by the land trust, half of the lake has been restored for recreational purposes; half of the lake has been converted to an enhanced wetland; and the 283-acre camp is protected by a conservation easement. The restored lake will provide the Scouts with a variety of recreational activities and the wetland area will trap sediment and detain stormwater. The Trails West Council of the Boy Scouts credits the lake restoration for an increase in summer enrollment at Camp Warren Levis.

Riverview House Restoration (photos)
Great Rivers Land Trust has completed restoration of a historical home built in 1847. It first began as a cabin and later operated as the “Riverside Hotel”. The Riverview House experienced damage from fire in 1999, and extensive flood damage in 1993. The building is located in the Village of Elsah Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Streambank Project (photos)
Great Rivers Land Trust has participated in two streambank stabilization projects located along West Little Piasa Creek, a sub-watershed of the 78,000-acre Piasa Creek Watershed. Funding for the projects was provided by grants from the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Streambank Stabilization Program. The program provides 80% of the funding while GRLT adds 15% and the landowner supplies the remaining cost. One of the project sites is located at a bend in the creek that was loosing mature trees, threatening a county road, a private drive, a sewage system lateral field, and washing away tons of sediment. The second site has significant streambank erosion that is damaging cropland and threatening two field access points. Each project will stabilize 500 ft of streambank by reshaping the streambank, applying peak stone protection at the base of the streambank, incorporating stream barbs, and re-establishing necessary vegetative cover. Both of these projects will save 694 tons of sediment annually. GRLT hopes to complete other stabilization projects in the future.

Missouri Expansion
Great Rivers Land Trust has partnered with the Bridlespur Hunt Club to protect property in Missouri. The hunt club currently owns approximately 1400 acres in Lincoln County, Missouri on Sandy Creek. The property is protected by a conservation easement. Great Rivers is working with a group of conservation buyers to acquire additional properties to serve as a buffer and expand the conservation corridor. As part of that effort, GRLT has established a conservation buyer program and has already completed a land acquisition effort that has protected 100 additional acres. Ultimately, the undertaking could result in a conservation macrosite of over 2000 acres.

Filter Pond Project
The filter pond project was implemented as part of the Piasa Creek Watershed Project. Sediment is trapped by constructing a series of two tiered basins in the watershed and both cells serve as stormwater retention structures. This project assists agricultural producers throughout the watershed by reducing soil loss and increasing yield on row crop farms. 

Piasa Wetland (photos)
Much has changed since the start of the Wetland Restoration Project during 2003. Great Rivers Land Trust was instrumental in making this project happen. GRLT helped the city of Alton meet federal and state regulations in regards to wetland preservation. The wetlands are preserved for wildlife habitat, recreation, and erosion control, while federal and state regulations are being met.

The wetland design is an intermittent wetland that reflects the same conditions in an adjacent wetland and the wetland at the Indiana Avenue site. High school students from Student Pride, a student group from Alton, assisted GRLT staff in tree planting. Earlier plantings were made possible by Jerseyville High School students.

Illinois Buffer Partnership (link)