EAST ALTON - The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) is celebrating the success of the NGRREC Wetlands Collaborative in obtaining funding for research, education and outreach.
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NGRREC received $1,457,000 and collaborated with the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) for an additional $444,000, bringing the total amount of funding approved over the past two months to $1,901,000.
“We’re excited by the early success of the Wetlands Collaborative in obtaining funding from a variety of external sources aimed at evaluating wetland quality on public and private lands across Illinois,” Terrestrial Wildlife Ecologist John Crawford said.
Crawford said the primary focus is to provide actionable information on wetland sustainability and conservation to land managers, policymakers and the general public. This funding will help jump-start those efforts.
Project Title: Assessment of Populations and Management Techniques for the Threatened Floodplain Species, Boltonia decurrens (decurrent false aster).
Amount Awarded: $394,000, United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Principal Investigator: Paige Mettler-Cherry, NGRREC
Co-Principal Investigators: Jenny Mullikin, NGRREC; Ethan Kessler, NGRREC, and INHS.
Project Description: Boltonia decurrens (decurrent false aster) is on the federal list of threatened species; it is currently listed as a species of concern in Missouri and a threatened species in Illinois.
Populations of B. decurrens are restricted to a narrow band of floodplain along the Illinois River and at the area of the confluence of the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Previous research has shown that population decline is a direct result of alterations in the flood regime, the life cycle of the plant
evolved in concert with the historic flood regime, characterized by a late winter/early spring flood followed by flood recession, typically by June.
The goals of this project are as follows:
Project Title: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) FY24 Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (MAE) Opportunity
Amount Awarded: $828,000, Natural Resource Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Principal Investigator: John Crawford, NGRREC
Co-Principal Investigators: Ethan Kessler, NGRREC and INHS; Paige Mettler-Cherry, NGRREC; Jenny Mullikin, NGRREC; Justin Shew, NGRREC
Project Description: Significant public and private funds are currently used to create and restore conservation habitat across the United States. Very little investment, however, is allocated towards understanding and assessing the short- or long-term impact of these practices on the natural ecosystems they are supposed to benefit.
The overall goal of the proposed project is to evaluate CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) wetland conservation practices using multiple indices of biological integrity and relate population-level variables of endangered and threatened species that are dependent on ephemeral semi-permanent wetlands to various land management practices and current wetland conditions in the Illinois River (IL) valley.
Our objectives are to:
This research will provide implementable conservation opportunities, prioritize conservation planning efforts, and identify additional information gaps in a large river floodplain wetland ecosystem.
Project Title: Legacy Effects of Surface Mining on Wetland Quality Across Reclaimed Natural Lands
Amount Awarded: $235,000, United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 5
Principal Investigator: John Crawford, NGRREC
Co-Principal Investigators: Ethan Kessler, NGRREC and INHS; John Sloan, NGRREC
Project Description: The primary purpose of our study is to evaluate the quality of wetlands on former surface-mined lands in Illinois, reclaimed under various regulatory requirements.
To this end, we will utilize multiple assessment methodologies, including:
Completion of this proposed work will result in maps of wetlands on focal study sites, completed assessments of water and soil quality, heavy metal contamination, and PFAS contamination and biotic assessments of focal sites using the aIBI.
Project Title: Monitoring and Assessment of SGCN Herpetofaunal Species and Assemblages
Amount Awarded: $444,000
Principal Investigator: Michael Dreslick, INHS
Co-Principal Investigators: John Crawford, NGRREC; Ethan Kessler, NGRREC and INHS; Andrew Kuhns, INHS
Project Description: Our project aims to continue the Illinois Department of Natural Resources focused monitoring efforts for amphibian and reptile species on a multi-tiered approach ranging from conservation guidance to the population, site, and landscape levels.
The specific objectives will focus on status assessments for state-listed species, population ecological work on Ornate Box Turtles, site-level inventorying of Pyramid State Recreation Area, and landscape-level work in the western Illinois sand prairie regions. All work will focus on a monitoring-assessment framework to provide adaptive management strategies to promote healthy populations and communities.
About National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC)
NGRREC is dedicated to the study of great river systems and the communities that use them, facilitating the efficient implementation of science into policy and practice. Founded in 2002 as a collaborative partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lewis and Clark Community College, the center aspires to be a leader in scholarly research, education, and outreach related to the interconnectedness of large rivers, their floodplains, watersheds, and their associated communities.
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