| Designations | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin & Hopper Lakes |
| Designated | 2 February 2012 |
| Reference no. | 2042 [1] |
The Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge is a 3,100-acre riverine wetland in Putnam County, Illinois. Located just south of the county seat of Hennepin, it occupies the former site of Hennepin Lake and adjacent Hopper Lake. The reclaimed wetland is a Ramsar treaty site, a wetland of international importance. [2]
Historically, the banks of the Illinois River were lined with shallow lakes and wetlands, through which a broad shallow river flowed in a slow, braided course. The broad, bluff-lined river basin was rich in fish, shellfish, waterfowl, and peltry, exploited by Native Americans and by 1800s pioneers. [3] The Hennepin area was so rich in wetland productivity that the New York City-based American Fur Company operated a fur-trading post here in the 1810s. Illinois pioneer Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard traded for furs on the banks of Hennepin Lake in 1818-1819. [4]
In the early decades of the 1900s, the invention of the steam shovel seemed to make it possible to commoditize and exploit much of the river lowlands, including Hennepin Lake and Hopper Lake. In 1908, local landowners formed the Hennepin Drainage and Levee District. Financial institutions lent money for levees, ditches, tile lines, and drainage pumps. [3] Soon the watery, muddy ground was remapped as arable cropland. [5]
With recurring crop surpluses in the closing years of the 20th century, many of the Illinois River drainage districts came to be seen as mistakes. In some cases, including the Hennepin Drainage and Levee District, landowners found the ongoing cost of maintaining and repairing the levee as well as the energy cost of the necessary pumping difficult to support from farming receipts. In 2000 eight farm families agreed to sell most of the Hennepin drainage district to a young not-for-profit conservation organization, The Wetlands Initiative. In 2001 the organization turned off the pump, began plugging or removing agricultural drainage tiles, and initiated various types of restoration work. A complex pattern of wet meadows, wet and dry prairies, marshes, and small waterbodies emerged in addition to the historic backwater lakes. [3]
In December 2014, The Wetlands Initiative purchased 417 acres of adjacent upland, the Hickory Hollow parcel adjoining Illinois Route 26. [6] The parcel, of which 283 acres will be kept as a permanent addition and restored to a mix of habitats, includes the primary groundwater drainage zone into the Refuge's Dore Seep, [7] a 26-acre dedicated Illinois Nature Preserve [8] located near the site's southern end. [2]
In 2004, the Illinois Audubon Society designated the Hennepin Lake site as an "Important Bird Area of Illinois". [2] Birdwatchers joined other biology observers in logging species sightings in the Refuge. The pied-billed grebe, listed before 2001 as threatened in Illinois, increased in numbers, leading the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to successfully delist the bird. [3] In 2005 the refuge was named in honor of donors Sue and Wes Dixon. [3]
In February 2012, the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge was designated as the United States' 35th Wetland of International Importance. It joined the Emiquon Complex, downstream on the Illinois River, in this designation. [3]
Dixon Waterfowl Refuge is open daily to the public. Access is from Hennepin Farms Road, which intersects Illinois Route 26 two miles south of Hennepin, Illinois. The Wetlands Initiative maintains multiple boardwalks, trails, and a 30-foot-high birdwatching tower, and a 2.7-mile-long trail was expected to open during 2015. [9] Naturalists and volunteers remove invasive species such as common carp in the backwater lakes and invasive plants in the wet meadows and in Dore Seep. [10]
The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately 273 miles (439 km) in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of 28,756.6 square miles (74,479 km2). The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers in the Chicago metropolitan area, and it generally flows to the southwest across Illinois, until it empties into the Mississippi near Grafton, Illinois. Its drainage basin extends into southeastern Wisconsin, northwestern Indiana, and a very small area of southwestern Michigan in addition to central Illinois. Along its shores are several river ports, including Peoria, Illinois. Historic and recreation areas on the river include Starved Rock, and the internationally important wetlands of the Emiquon Complex and Dixon Waterfowl Refuge.
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as "The Convention on Wetlands", an international environmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, under the auspices of UNESCO. It came into force on 21 December 1975, when it was ratified by a sufficient number of nations. It provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands, and wise sustainable use of their resources. Ramsar identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat.
Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge is a 13,450-acre (5,440 ha) U.S. National Wildlife Refuge located in northwestern Colorado. It is located in Moffat County in the extreme northwestern corner of the state, in an isolated mountain valley of Browns Park on both sides of the Green River, approximately 25 miles (40 km) below Flaming Gorge Dam. Established in 1965, the refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service office in Maybell, Colorado. The refuge is approximately 53 miles (85 km) northwest of Maybell on State Highway 318. The refuge consists of bottomland and adjacent benchland. The western border of the refuge is the Colorado-Utah state line. The refuge is surrounded by adjacent lines of the Bureau of Land Management. The refuge contains the site of the former Fort Davy Crockett that was constructed in 1837 to protect trappers against attacks by Blackfoot Native Americans.
The Cache River is a 92-mile-long (148 km) waterway in southernmost Illinois, in a region sometimes called Little Egypt. The basin spans 737 square miles (1,910 km2) and six counties: Alexander, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, and Union. Located at the convergence of four major physiographic regions, the river is part of the largest complex of wetlands in Illinois. The Cache River Wetlands is America's northernmost cypress/tupelo swamp and harbors 91 percent of the state's high quality swamp and wetland communities. It provides habitat for more than 100 threatened and endangered species in Illinois. In 1996, the Cache was designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.
The Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge is located on the Illinois River in Mason County northeast of Havana, Illinois. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as one of the four Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuges.
Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of South Dakota and is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Created in 1935, it is a wetland of international importance and a Globally Important Bird Area. Over 260 bird species are found in the refuge, including many migratory bird species and the world's largest breeding colony of Franklin's gulls.
Horicon Marsh is a marsh located in northern Dodge and southern Fond du Lac counties of Wisconsin. It is the site of both a national and a state wildlife refuge.
Senachwine Lake is a 3,324-acre (13.45 km2) riparian lake that forms part of the valley of the Illinois River. It is located in Putnam and Marshall counties, Illinois. Its elevation is 439 feet (134 m) above sea level. Senachwine Lake is connected by a shallow channel to adjacent Goose Lake, also a backwater lake of the Illinois River.
Anderson Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 2,247 acres (909 ha) in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. A small part at the southern end extends into Schuyler County. Anderson Lake is located in the area.
Des Plaines Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) in Will County, Illinois, United States. It is located on floodplain adjacent to the confluence of the Des Plaines River and the Kankakee River to form the Illinois River.
Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) in Marshall County, Illinois, United States.
Sanganois State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 10,360 acres (4,190 ha) in Cass, Schuyler, and Mason County, Illinois, United States.
Woodford State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 2,900 acres (1,200 ha) of area Woodford County, Illinois, United States. Most of this protected area is over the Goose Lake and Upper Peoria Lake sections of the Illinois River.
The Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge is a 11,122-acre (45.01 km2) wetland wildlife refuge located in Waterford Township in Fulton County, Illinois across the Illinois River from the town of Havana. Only 3,000 acres (12 km2) are currently managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuges Complex. It is in the Central forest-grasslands transition ecoregion.
Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge, located in east central Louisiana, United States, 12 miles (19 km) east of Jena, was established in 1958 as a wintering area for migratory waterfowl. The refuge contains 25,162 acres (101.83 km2) divided into two units. The 6,671-acre (27 km2) Headquarters Unit borders nine miles (14 km) of the northeast shore of Catahoula Lake, a 26,000-acre (110 km2) natural wetland renowned for its large concentrations of migratory waterfowl. The 18,491-acre (74.83 km2) Bushley Bayou Unit, located 8 miles (13 km) west of Jonesville, was established May 16, 2001. This acquisition was made possible through a partnership agreement between The Conservation Fund, American Electric Power, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The habitat found at the refuge is primarily lowland hardwood forest subject to seasonal backwater flooding from the Ouachita, and Red Rivers. The refuge is located in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Southern Backswamps ecoregion.
Cheyenne Bottoms is a wetland in the central Great Plains of North America. Occupying approximately 41,000 acres in central Kansas, it is the largest wetland in the interior United States. The Bottoms is a critical stopping point on the Central Flyway for millions of birds which migrate through the region annually.
The Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge is a 5,255-acre (21.27 km2) national wildlife refuge located along the Illinois River in Cass County and Morgan County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The refuge is adjacent to Meredosia, Illinois, but is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from a headquarters located in Havana, Illinois.
Pointe Mouillee State Game Area is a state game area in the U.S. state of Michigan. It encompasses 7,483 acres (30.3 km2) of hunting, recreational, and protected wildlife and wetland areas at the mouth of the Huron River at Lake Erie, as well as smaller outlying areas within the Detroit River. Pointe Mouillee State Game Area was established in 1945 and is administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The Wetlands Initiative (TWI) is a non-profit conservation organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The Wetlands Initiative works with nonprofit and government partners and local communities to advance wetland restoration and science in the Midwestern United States. The organizational vision of TWI is: "A world with plentiful healthy wetlands improving water quality, climate, biodiversity, and human well-being."
41°13′12″N89°20′17″W / 41.220°N 89.338°W
