There was a time, more than three generations ago, when thousands of tourists and sportsmen traveled to two lakes near the confluence of the Spoon and Illinois rivers. The visitors couldn’t resist the abundant wildlife — and enough bass, yellow perch, paddlefish and carp to give the area the reputation as the fishing capital of Illinois.
That era ended in the 1920s, when Thompson and Flag lakes were drained to make room for farmland.
Now, after twenty years of planning and fund-raising, the Nature Conservancy is nearing its goal of re-creating the two lakes. The Conservancy, which has spent $18 million so far to buy up the land for the project, expects to begin filling up 5,000 acres of lake bed in the spring of 2005.
Thompson and Flag lakes were two shallow bodies of water — no more than six feet deep — near the town of Havana, about an hour northwest of Springfield. In the early 20th century, the lakes supported more than 200 commercial fisheries. President Benjamin Harrison and fat cats such as J.C. Penney and Joy Morton, founder of the Morton Salt Company, made the region around the two lakes famous for its hunting potential. University of Illinois scientists became interested in the region and in 1894 set up an ecological research center in Havana, the first of its kind in North America inside the coasts. Archaeologists also have been busy, uncovering artifacts dating back 6,000 years belonging to Native American tribes that once thrived there.
But the attraction the lakes held for sportsmen and naturalists couldn’t resist the march of commerce. That wasn’t unusual in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Of the roughly 400,000 acres of low-level lakes within the Illinois River watershed, nearly half is now farmland, according to Stephen Havera, director and senior scientist of the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Forbes Biological Center in Havana. When the two lakes were drained, the process was delayed when more than 600,000 pounds of fish got in the way of the pumps, according to a recent report by the Illinois Natural History Survey that reviews the history of the project.
Since the 1920s, ownership of farmland covering the lakes has changed numerous times, according to the report. The crops farmed there have also changed through the years. When the lakes were drained, they were initially replaced by rice marshes, then by corn, soybeans, wheat and tomatoes. More recently cattle, elks, and bison have been introduced. When the farmland went back on the market in the 1980s a group of local residents and scientists formed a commission to study restoring the two lakes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service joined the effort and eventually purchased about 2,000 acres. The Nature Conservancy also started buying up land and now owns about 7,000 acres. The goal is to secure about 2,000 more.
While environmentalists are praising the project, the reasons aren’t solely based on good stewardship. In Fulton County, where most of the land targeted for restoration sits, property tax revenues from farmland have been decreasing and the unemployment rate — always a few percentage points above the state average — remains high. Many locals hope the lakes will draw tourists, renew the recreational industry in the region and create more jobs. For the short-term, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nature Conservancy have agreed to make up for the loss of any property tax revenues when the farmland is gone, Havera says.
“We have to diversify our economic base,” Havera says. “Restoring the lakes certainly could provide some opportunities. It’s going to be largely successful because it was successful to begin with, going back to what it was.”
In the ’20s, many residents whose income depended on the lakes, opposed draining them. Now there are those who oppose filling the lakes back up, mainly farmers and public officials, who rely on the farmers’ taxes. In the late 1980s Fulton County board members successfully stalled state funding for a study examining restoring the lakes.
“That’s prime farm land,” says Fulton County Board Member and farmer Dennis Turner. “Somebody spent a fortune making good farmland out of it. It’s not going to be a lake where people can go to water ski. It’s going to be a swamp. There are lots of other nature areas around here to go to.”
Since the 1990s, numerous studies have backed the project for environmental and economic reasons and public support has grown. Turner, for example, said his views were personal and had nothing to do with his role as a county board member. He was even concerned that his remarks would get him in trouble back home.
Doug Blodgett, director of the Nature Conservancy’s office at the site, says many issues remain before the lakes are restored. The Conservancy has to get rid of the commercial buildings, grain factories, livestock facilities, and underwater storage tanks on the property and reroute gas lines. Blodgett says the Conservancy wants to raise an endowment between $24 million and $26 million that will pay for more property purchases and maintenance of the area, now called the Emiquon Reserve, its Native American designation. Currently, the organization, one of the largest non-profits in the world, has raised about $7 million.
The lakes won’t look exactly like they used to, Blodgett says. The levee constructed to protect the farmland from flooding will remain to keep the lakes free from non-native species introduced into the Illinois River. The levee will also protect the lakes from sewage and pollution that come down the Illinois. Ever since the Chicago River was reversed about 100 years ago, sewage and pollution that was sent to Lake Michigan now flows downstate.
Without using Illinois River water, the only other way to refill the lakes is to cease pumping away groundwater that comes from the watershed that covers much of west-central Illinois. Because the lakes sat below much of the watershed, they should fill back up quickly, Blodgett says. He says the Conservancy plans to cease pumping in the spring of 2005.Farmers leasing the land from the Conservancy are allowed to continue farming until then. He says by that summer Thompson and Flag lakes will be back, probably in the form of one big lake.
The levee will be an obstacle for aquatic species that used to travel from the Illinois River and back to the lakes for breeding, such as the paddlefish. Scientists are studying a similar area — the Spunky Bottom preserve about 50 miles south of the lakes — to find solutions for migrating marine life.
But the main thing is, according to Havera, the lakes will be filled by groundwater
filtered clean by the watershed. The levee, once built to keep a prestigious
wetland dry, will become its best defense from pollution. Emiquon Reserve might
be as teeming with life as it ever was, Havera says. “Essentially, it will be
a time capsule.”
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Copies of an Illinois Natural History Survey’s report, “The
Lake Thompson/Emiquon Lake Story,” are available for $1.50 at the Forbes Biological
Station, P.O. Box 590, Havana, IL 62644. Checks should be made payable to the
University of Illinois.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2003.
