WILDLIFE AND FISHERY VALUES OF 
BOTTOMLAND LAKES IN ILLINOIS 
Frank C, Bellrose 
and 
Clair T. Rollings* 
Along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers in Illinois are numerous bottomland areas, 
formerly lakes and marshes, that have been leveed and drained for agriculture, figs. 1, 2, and 3, 
In the past two decades it has been a matter of public policy to maintain these lands for agricul- 
ture, even though this policy required the expenditure of large sums of public money in attempts 
| 
: 
: Fig, 3,--View from bluff that overlooks drained lake basin bordering 
the Illinois River, A drainage ditch is visible near center of picture, In the back- 
ground is a levee, Water is pumped from drainage ditches into the river, 
to prevent flooding of the areas, Raising and improving levees, blocking off about half of the 
- flood plain of the Illinois River valley, have resulted in increasing flood heights (Bellrose 1945) 
_and causing greater damage than previously to cities and towns and unleveed lands in the 
valley, 
On levees protecting about 190,000 acres of agricultural land in the Illinois River 
_ valley, the state of Illinois spent $1,317,171 ($6.93 per acre) in 1926-1927 and the Corps of 
Engineers, Department of the Army, $5,405,494 ($28.45 per acre) from that time to 1946, In 
1946, the Corps of Engineers’ flood control report on the Illinois River Basin outlined addi- 
tional levee improvements that would total almost $15,000,000 ($78.95 per acre) at 1940 con- 
struction costs, 
*Frank C, Bellrose. Associate Game Specialist, Illinois Natural History Survey; Clair T, 
Rollings, Refuge Manager, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Puxico, Missouri, 
