Great Lakes Basin Transportation Corporation Documentation

Read Entire Cover Letter Here — View Entire List of Documents in Alphabetical Order

Excerpt:

There is a slate of documents in accompaniment of this cover letter. These documents represent the District’s and community’s efforts to plan and strategize conservation work – including public land acquisition and strategies for private stewardship. There are scientific studies of flora and fauna occurring in Boone County and surrounding areas within the bounds of the Kishwaukee River Watershed and its tributary creeks and streams. Some of these references are included to provide you and your peers with information that indicates further research is needed to assess and protect critical and sensitive lands – including areas that are likely contributing substantial groundwater recharge due to the highly permeable geologic materials located at or near the land surface (see Geology for Planning in Boone and Winnebago Counties and the associated plates). There are documents affiliated with land acquisition grants that describe the character and quality of the land and water resources that these acquisitions are striving to preserve. The District can provide additional documentation if you and other reviewers seek that input. There are wetland inventory maps of key segments of the proposed railroad route that utilize the United States Fish & Wildlife Service’s 1987 National Wetland Inventory – which are now incorporated as a GIS layer in the Boone County GIS database. There are several studies of flora and fauna completed by state and local agencies and organizations; inventories completed by BCCD Natural Resources Department; and other natural resource assessments. There are local and regional planning initiatives focused on greenways, green infrastructure, and efforts to address issues and concerns detailed in the Illinois State Wildlife Action Plan.

The following is a complete list of documents provided on a thumb drive on this web site (there are 64 documents included):

1. 1987 United States Fish & Wildlife Service’s National Wetland Inventory data – digitized by Boone County GIS and imposed on aerial photo background. There seven maps showing wetland complexes in key watershed areas. view these maps
2. Boone & Winnebago County Regional Greenways Plan (2015 Edition). There are two map files and one narrative document file. view documents
3. A copy of the Boone County Conservation District 2006 Master Plan. view document
4. A copy of the Boone County Regional Stormwater Management Plan, adopted in 2011. There are a group of accompanying maps that are associated with this document. These maps are available online and a link to the Boone County Web page is included. view document
5. A copy of the 2002 Coon Creek/Mosquito Creek Natural Communities Assessment is included as a PDF file. view document
6. A copy of the Crow’s Foot Conservation Area Feasibility Study – prepared as in the format of a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. view document
7. The BCCD has 16 inventory/assessment documents of species observed at various BCCD sites. Each of these is provided in a PDF file format. view documents
8. The BCCD has created a grid map of Boone County that is linked to a brief narrative and table detailing the location of a list of known occurrences of critical species in Boone County. The data table also includes an extrapolation of potential, privately owned habitat, where these species might also occur. This data set is included with this cover letter. view document
9. There are three geology references included.
   • 9.1. Geology for Land Use Planning in Boone and Winnebago Counties, Circular 531 view document
   • 9.2. Water Quality in the Glacial Aquifer System, Northern United States, 1993-2009, Circular 1352. view document
   • 9.3. Geological Society of America Position Policy Statement: Integrating Geoscience with Sustainable Land-Use Management, adopted May 2009, Revised October 2014. view document
10. There are four Illinois Natural History Survey Reports submitted:
    • 10.1. Post-Construction Avifaunal Monitoring of the I-90 Corridor, 25 February 2016. view document
    • 10.2. Post-Construction Monitoring of Stream Fish Assemblages Along the I-90 Corridor, 8 February 2016. view document
    • 10.3. Biotic Integrity of Macroinvertebrate Communities Along the I-90 Corridor, 5 February 2016. view document
    • 10.4. Post-Construction Monitoring of Freshwater Mussel Assemblages Along the I-90 Corridor, 16 March 2016. view document
11. Kishwaukee River Ecosystem Partnership – Request to Expand Boundary of the Kishwaukee River Watershed’s Conservation Opportunity Area. There are nine documents that were submitted to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in support of expanding the COA boundary. In conjunction, IDNR officials were invited to participate in a tour of the proposed expansion area to observe first-hand the character and quality of habitat in the expansion area. The supporting documents are:
    • 11.1. The Beaver Creek Watershed Action Plan, September 2008 view document
    • 11.2. Belvidere Dam Fish Passage Alternatives Analysis view document
    • 11.3. A Proposed Kishwaukee COA boundary map view document
    • 11.4. Fish Assemblages and Stream Conditions in the Kishwaukee River Basin: Spatial and Temporal Trends 2001-2011 view document
    • 11.5. Lawrence Creek Watershed Plan, September 2008 view document
    • 11.6. Report on the Natural Resources and Habitat in the Kishwaukee River Watershed view document
    • 11.7. Kishwaukee River Watershed – Strategic Plan for Habitat Conservation and Restoration, January 2006. view document
    • 11.8. Upper Kishwaukee River Watershed Plan, November 2008 view document
    • 11.9. Kishwaukee River Ecosystem Partnership – Letter to IDNR requesting expansion of COA boundaries. view document
12. Land Acquisition Grant Application for the “Holland Site,” which is now part of the Kishwaukee Valley Conservation Area – directly on the GLBT Route.
    • 12.1. Grant Application to Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation view document
    • 12.2. Site Development and Management Plan – PDF of Cover Page, and PDF of document view document
13. Additional Mussel Inventories:
    • 13.1. PDF format of Final Report – 2011 Kishwaukee River Biological Inventory Project, funded by the Oberweiler Foundation view document
    • 13.2. Freshwater Mussels of the Rock River, Illinois Natural History Survey Technical Report 2012 (17), May 29, 2012. view document
    • 13.3. Freshwater Mussels of the Rock River Tributaries: Pecatonica, Kishwaukee, and Green River Basins in Illinois, Illinois Natural History Survey Technical Report 2013 (13), March 19, 2013. view document
14. Vision for a Kishwaukee River Water Trail – PDF file of map. view document
    The information contained in these documents is also used to support comments included in this cover letter.

Additional information can be found on the Boone County web site – http://www.boonecountyil.org/page/great-lakes-basin-railroad.

The Boone County Government is receiving and distributing information from other parties regarding the Great Lakes Basin Railroad project and is not responsible for its content and accuracy.