| CONSERVATION 2000 Govenor Edgar's Conservation 2000 initiative seeks to maintain and enhance ecological and economic conditions, especially in Illinois' most resource-rich landscapes. But which landscapes are especially rich in resources? CTAP investigators compiled a statewide inventory of Illinois'"Resource Rich Areas" or RRA's. The search was guided by scientists at the Illinois Natural History Survey with their extensive knowledge of ecosystem concepts and Illinois biota, drawing again on existing databases and GIS technology. ECOSYSTEMS PROGRAM Another of the specific tasks set for CTAP under Conservation 2000 is providing scientific support for IDNR's Ecosystem Program. That program provides for public-private partnerships that merge natural resource stewardship with compatible economic and recreational development, such as outdoor recreation and tourism. CTAP will help these partners assess the ecological resources in their areas in a number of ways: by making accessible to them existing data on local recreation, natural resources, or economics; by developing local landcover and/or land-use maps, using available satellite images; and by taking inventories to fill information gaps about local flora and fauna. The local partners may use such data to set project priorities and design their own projects-say, habitat protection. Site-specific research in support of adaptive land management plans will also be funded through Ecosystems Projects. For example, CTAP investigators will produce a "technical report" or detailed inventory of the geologic, hydrologic, and biologic resources of each Local Partnership area. A typical example is the technical report published in 1996 describing the middle stretch of the Rock River. The scientific assessment drew upon the expertise of 18 authors from the state's scientific surveys. This information was coupled with detailed descriptions of the Rock River county's ecological and social resources compiled by IDNR's Office of Realty and Environmental Planning. What emerged was a troubling (if familiar) picture of the consequences of massive habitat change. Savanna remnants along the Rock have been degraded by cattle grazing. Wetlands have disappeared when local water tables were altered by field tiles. Where fires have been stopped, shade-tolerant plants have taken over once-open woodlands. Overexploitation is one consequence of ignorance about the fragility of the resource. Here's one example of many: The lake sturgeon that residents in the 1840s described taking from the Rock in Ogle County weighed 70 to 100 pounds; the lake sturgeon was last seen in the Rock River in 1934 and probably is gone from the river. | A similar fate may have befallen the river redhorse, as the fish's presence in the area has not been recorded since 1901. Several mussel species-the slippershell, higgins eye, the sheepnose-have not recently been found alive in the Rock River country, in some cases for more than 80 years. Once Ecosystem Partnerships get their programs up and running, CTAP can also set up on-going monitoring of the areas involved, using a monitoring protocol developed with each partnership and implemented by IDNR. That data could test the effects of stewardship projects, for example, or guide habitat restoration and enhancement. FROM CLOSE-UPS TO THE BIG PICTURE When CTAP is in full swing, data will flow into computers from satellites (through landcover mapping), from the EcoWatch volunteers, and from scientists conducting state-wide and regional monitoring. The monitoring regimes will be set up to collect and store data in such ways that it may be readable at different scales-statewide, ecosystem, natural division, local watershed-and for different purposes. Existing data makes it easy to, say, gauge trends in fish populations in different streams; for example, the new approach should enable one to analyze trends to better track ecological cause and effect. In short, because every ecosystem is part of a larger system, what CTAP learns about any part of Illinois adds to our grasp of the whole. In addition to providing answers, more data can do something equally as useful to science-they can suggest questions. Before one can undertake the study of why a fish population is in decline, one must know that it is in decline. "Within three years, I foresee several new research projects, each seeking to determine the cause behind a population trend for some plant or animal species," says William Ruesink, Assistant Chief at the INHS. Also, CTAP data will provide the context in which more targeted investigations can be carried out. This saves time. It also saves money, since invetigators don't have to spend precious research funds to obtain what might be termed backgound information. "It will be several years before we have enough data from these programs to be directly valuable to scientific inquiry," says Ruesink, "but, in the short term, we expect several indirect benefits." Both Plan-It Earth and EcoWatch programs expose the public to how ecological science works. "The public also learns that state government wants management decisions to be based on sound science," Ruesink adds. Wider visibility for the Surveys and public knowledge of their important role in state science is another plus. |