The Unique Components of the West Branch Wetland Restoration Area—DuPage County, Illinois

There have been many wetland mitigation and restoration projects completed over the years, but very few have as many unique aspects as this particular project or have been as complicated in terms of design, permitting and construction. Located in northeastern Illinois in western DuPage County, the West Branch Forest Preserve (WBFP) is a 811 acre preserve that contains several miles of walking paths, three fishing lakes that were once quarries and 1.6 miles of the West Branch DuPage River. The preserve is located in a well defined U-shaped valley formed during the last glacial period. The northern third of the preserve consists of the main parking area, river, the lakes, forest and some old fields. To the south are approximately 350 acres consisting of old agricultural field, floodplain forest, forest, wet prairie, scrub shrub and remnant fen habitats. Design of this project required the development of many unique and creative solutions to achieve project goals of wetland creation and restoration, habitat improvement and river restoration. Following input from various stakeholders the design contains the following elements: Over 350 acres restored to native habitat; of which approximately 140 acres of wetland created and enhanced, including rehydration of a 25 acre remnant hillside fen. The hydrologic restoration of the wetlands is driven by disabling the extensive field tile system and re-infiltration of surface water. Additionally the project includes the restoration of 6,000' of the West Branch DuPage River to raise the base flow elevation to re-access the historic flood plain, and nearly 100 acres of tree and brush removal (mainly buckthorn and other non-natives); and implementation of a 10 year management and monitoring program.