MLHis^msm )1.U5 M Hx ^C/. '4- ''^* 8 s^^ JANUARY 1987 " Viofv^ .^^• MAR THE LOWER CACHE RIVER BASIN OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS JOURNAL OF THE ILLINOIS NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY ILLINOIS NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY ERIGENIA (ISSN 8755-2000) Coordin itor IMPS Flora Update Project: Editor: Mark W Mohlenbrock Aarl-werk Graphic Design, Inc Dr. Robert Mohlenbrock P O Box 24591 Dept of Botany Tempe.AZ 85282 Southern Illinois University Photography Editor: Dave E Mueller Aart-werk Graphic Design, Inc THE HARBINGER P Box 24591 Quarterly Newsletter of the Society Tempe.AZ 85282 Editor: Dr Robert Mohlenbrock Editorial Review Board: Dept of Botany Southern Illinois University Dr Donald Bissing Dept of Botany Southern Illinois University Dr Dan Evans Biology Department Marshall University The Illinois Native Plant Society is dedicated to the Huntington, West Virginia preservation, conservation and study of the native plants and vegetation ol Illinois. Dr Donald UgenI Dept, ol Botany Membership includes subscription to ERIGENIAas Southern Illinois University well as to the quarlerly newsletter THE HARBINGER, ERIGENIA (ISSN 8755-2000) the official journal of Dr, Donald Pinkava the Illinois Native Plant Society, is published Dept, of Botany & Microbiology occasionally (one to tour issues annually) by the Arizona State University Society Single copies of this issue may be pur- Dr John Ebinger chased for $3 50 (including postage) ERIGENIA is Department of Botany available by subscription only For current Eastern Illinois University subscription rales or information concerning the Society write Illinois Native Plant Society Department of Botany Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL 62901 Layout, graphics and design by Make checks payable to I.N.P.S. Aart-werk Graphic Design, Inc., provid- ing science and business with original TO CONTRIBUTE: See inside back cover for illustrations and graphics guidelines Cover Photo: View of original Cache channel looking east from the Kamak Belknap road; this road crosses on fill placed in the channel to divert the lower Cache water flowing east past the Main Brothers sawmill at Karn ERIGENIA NUMBER 8 ^ JANUARY 1987 THE LOWER CACHE RIVER BASIN OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS by Max D. Hutchison-'- PREFACE 3 INTRODUCTION 6 PRESETTLEMENT CHARACTER 9 Geologic History 9 Natural Character Just Prior To Settlement 14 USE AND DISTURBANCE HISTORY 20 Early Settlement 20 PRESENT CHARACTER 37 Landscape 37 Geology 37 Hydrology 37 Climate and Soils 43 Natural Communities 44 DEGRADATIONAL AND DETRIMENTAL ACTIVITIES 47 Soil Erosion and Degradation 47 Sedimentation 48 Pollution 48 Flooding 49 Loss of Water in Natural Wetlands 49 Declining Populations of Plants and Animals 50 Loss of Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Habitat 51 Exotic Species 51 1 Mr. Hutchison is Field Representative for the Natural Land Institute. This special issue is excerpted from "Lower Cache River Plan", prepared for and funded by The Nature Conservancy through the Natural Land Institute. It is used by permission of The Nature Conservancy. ERIGENIA EDITORIAL At long last Erigenia 8 has rolled off the presses, and I trust that after reading this issue you will agree that it has been worth the wait. In the pages that follow, we have devoted an entire issue to the unique and fragile Lower Cache River Basin in Southern Illinois. The text of this issue first appeared in a technical report prepared by the Natural Land Institute for the Illinois Nature Conservancy by Max Hutchison, Field Representative for the Natural Land Institute. It is reprinted here in a slightly shortened form. Continued destruction of this habitat would indeed be very unfortunate. After reading this account or after having visited this habitat, one can understand the importance of the preserva- tion of the Lower Cache River Basin for our children and their children yet to come. I would like to remind our readers of the need for manuscripts to be published in this journal. Erigenia 7 was a milestone issue, in that it was the first issue in which every article printed was unsolicited by the editor. If you have an idea for an article, please feel free to call me at my office: (602) 820-0800. "Desk Top Publishing" is soon to come to Erigenia. The eminent arrival of a Macintosh Plus computer with a laser printer will enable us to abandon the archaic cutting and pasting method of assemblage of this journal for a more efficient and professional looking journal. Watch for these improvements in Erigenia 9 or 10. Mark W. Mohlenbrock ERIGENIA Preface I have known the Cache River for more than 40 years. As a boy four years of age, I caught my first fish in Dutchman Creek, the stream behind the house where we lived in the early 1940 's. When I was five, I sat on a pile of boxes with my sister, high on the dresser in our living room, and watched the flood waters of that same stream rush in the windows and doors of our home. I still remember how my sister's doll swirled around and around as it floated out the front door. Later, while growing up, we lived several other places in southern Illinois, but we were never very far from the Cache River, or "creek" as we called it. I spent what seemed like endless days in the swamps following my dad as we picked up hickory nuts, slipped on squirrels, trapped for mink, treed "coons", set out bank poles, and swam in the Cache. I can also remember what seemed like endless summer nights, slapping at mosquitoes and trying to sleep in houses with- out screens. When I was 12 years old, I thought there was no end to the bottom- land forests around Belknap. But, as I wandered a little farther each year, it came to me that the woods and swamps didn't just go on and on. There was a field on the other side of Heron Pond, and somebody did live beyond the "Section 5" woods. This bothered me a little, but still, there seemed to be a lot of "wild" country left. Then, in the 1950 's and 1960 's, I watched the bulldozers move in and begin clearing bottomland on a grand scale. It took a while for me to comprehend what was happening. Entire sections of timberland were cleared in a single summer. It was with sadness that I watched cypress swamps like Turkey Pond, where I killed my first fox squirrel, disappear. It was also quite a shock to see how small it looked as a soybean field. Now, when I try to describe the places I used to roam and play, where I swung on grapevines, caught crawdads, built rafts, stepped on snakes, and "hogged" fish, I realize that most of them are gone. My children don't have the woods to grow up in that I did, and I can't help but wonder what it will be like when they are my age. ERIGENIA It appears that most area residents assume that the changes are inevitable, a necessary part of progress. I don't agree. I believe that we will all be a little poorer when there's little left to see along the Cache but buildings, roads, and cropland. We need to save some of the last remnants of the original wilder- ness, the forests and swamps that were so much a part of our history, for future generations to learn to know and appreciate. My objective in preparing this report is to support the current efforts to preserve one of the largest and most significant natural areas in the state, the Lower Cache River Swamps. This wetland is over 3,000 acres and includes a 10-mile segment of the lower Cache River. For many years it has been a noted natural area in southern Illinois, and in several other parts of the state as well, because of its popularity as a place to hunt ducks and catch fish. But, it was not until the 1970 's that Illinois scientists really became aware of the area's unique natural features and ecological significance. As continued drainage efforts and land clearing activities threatened to destroy this area, as they had so much of the original swampland in the Cache Valley, concerned individuals began to organize and encourage the acquisi- tion of key parcels of the property by conservation agencies. Many of the private landowners along this part of the Cache have actively supported public acquisition for the purpose of preserving it. A few farmers and local landowners have opposed the preser- vation efforts because they fear that keeping water in the swamps will hinder farmland drainage. Some excellent newspaper and magazine articles have been written and several scientific reports have been published that contain good descriptions of the area's character. Among the agencies and institutions sponsoring recent studies that discuss various aspects of the Cache River watershed problems are the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Soil Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, the Natural Land Institute, the Illinois Department of Conservation, the Illinois Natural History Survey, the Illinois State Geological Survey, the University of Illinois, and the Citizen's Committee To Save The Cache. With the involvement of so many, it soon became evident that a coordinated plan to guide acquisition and determine long-term management for the preservation of natural areas was needed. Following discussions among members and staff personnel of The Nature Conservancv. the Illinois Department of Conservation, and ERIGENIA the Natural Land Institute, the Natural Land Institute agreed to prepare a preservation plan for the Lower Cache River Swamps Natural Area. The Nature Conservancy provided funding in the form of a grant to the Natural Land Institute.