. Critical trends in Illinois ecosystems. Ecological assessment (Biology); Environmental impact analysis; Nature; Pollution; Conservation of natural resources; Environmental quality. Fox River Basin The Fox River, the third largest tributary of the Illinois River enters Illinois in the northwest corner of Lake Count)- and flows 115 miles south, empr\'ing into the Illinois River at Ottawa. Its basin is about 130 miles long and rarely exceeds 25 miles in width. The basin encompasses l.~20 square miles and includes portions of eleven counties: McHenr\. Lake. DeKalb, Kane, Cook, DuPage. LaSalle, L
. Critical trends in Illinois ecosystems. Ecological assessment (Biology); Environmental impact analysis; Nature; Pollution; Conservation of natural resources; Environmental quality. Fox River Basin The Fox River, the third largest tributary of the Illinois River enters Illinois in the northwest corner of Lake Count)- and flows 115 miles south, empr\'ing into the Illinois River at Ottawa. Its basin is about 130 miles long and rarely exceeds 25 miles in width. The basin encompasses l.~20 square miles and includes portions of eleven counties: McHenr\. Lake. DeKalb, Kane, Cook, DuPage. LaSalle, Lee. Kendall. Will, and Grund)'. The portion of each county within the basin varies from less than 1% (Crunch" Count)') to 74% (Kane Count)). Within these counties is a diverse land cover; 19 of the 20 major state land cover categories are represented (only swamps are not found here). At one extreme are DeKalb, Kendall, and LaSalle coun- ties which have 89-94% of their land in agricultural uses and 4-6% in urban uses. At the other extreme is Lake Count); where agriculture takes up less than 25% of the land and urban de\"clopment encom- passes 42%. Despite its urban character. Lake Count)' has more wetland acreage than all but three counties in Illinois. Compared to the rest of the state, the Fox River area has less forest and agricultural land and more wetland. Sevenn-two percent of the state's graminoid bog communities and all of the low shrub bogs and forested bogs occur here, as well as four of the states five fen communir\" t)'pes. Geological hmdforms such as kames, eskers and moraines have also contributed to the areas natural communities — 65",. of Illinois' dr)- gravel prairies and 86"c, of the gnnel hill prairies arc tbund here. Other significant features: • the S,S06 acres of high qualit)- sites represents 0,5% of the land in the basin and 2l"« of the total undegradcd natural commiuiities in Illinois, • the watershed has 63 miles of
Size: 1189px × 2101px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorillinoisnaturalhistorysurveydivisi, booksubjectnature
