Illinois NLRS Program and Project Narratives

This site features NGO partner program and project narratives, searchable by title, date, and categories. These narratives have been reported in the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS) annual reports and updates. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all nutrient loss-related initiatives across Illinois.

The NLRS is a statewide, collaborative effort aimed at reducing the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus entering Illinois waterways. This page specifically highlights NGO-led efforts that have contributed to the strategy since 2023.

  • Franklin Research and Demonstration Farm: 2015-16 Update

    Dec 1, 2017 12:00 pm by Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Team2017 Biennial ReportAgricultureResearchWatershed Based Planning

    For more than 20 years, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), in conjunction with researchers at the Uni­versity of Illinois, has worked with partners along the Mackinaw River watershed in central Illinois to reduce nutrient pollution through the targeted implementation of BMPs. These efforts have yielded three projects. The first used targeted outreach to encourage local agricultural producers to implement BMPs and identified the barriers preventing producers from doing so. Water monitoring that accompanied BMP implemen­tation in these watersheds indicated that surface BMPs such as grassed waterways did not effectively reduce the nutrient loads carried by subsurface tile drainage. However, a pilot study on a nearby experi­mental farm did indicate that treatment wetlands that intercepted tile drains removed approximately 19-48 percent of nitrate-nitrogen and 47-57 percent of the total phosphorus from water. Consequently, TNC is pursuing a new initiative with industry, state, federal, and non-profit partners to strategically place treat­ment wetlands throughout targeted watersheds in the Mackinaw River Basin. This project will not only reduce the amount of nutrients leaving the state but will also contribute to safe drinking water for the City of Bloomington.

    TNC is also reestablishing functional floodplains at two model restoration projects along the Illinois River: the 2,000-acre Spunky Bottoms Project in Brown County and the 6,600-acre Emiquon Project in Fulton County. While the main purposes of these projects are restoring and sustaining natural plant and animal communities and contributing to the health of the Illinois River, reestablishing natural floodplain habitats and ecological processes will provide water quality improvements. Wetland processes contribut­ing to improved water quality include denitrification, sequestration of phosphorous in sediments, sediment cycling, and the breakdown of other pollutants. In addition, these projects will improve groundwater recharge, stormwater storage, carbon sequestration, and opportunities for education, recreation, and com­patible economic development. Based on a wide variety of ongoing scientific research and monitoring, lessons learned at these sites are being shared broadly and are influencing restoration and management of other large floodplain rivers locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.