About GLBP Funded Projects in Illinois

The Great Lakes Basin Program has supported a two-phase soil erosion and sediment control project in Illinois with a total sum of $59,500, with an additional $71,667 being leveraged from non-federal sources.

The focus of the project in Illinois has been on controlling erosion problems due to urbanization around several ravines in Highland Park, Illinois which exit directly into Lake Michigan. The increased impervious serfaces in these ravine basins has led to high velocity storm surges, which are quickly eroding ravine banks. More than 3,000 tons of sediment erodes annually from these ravines. About 1,350 feet of this ravine system have been armored with a variety of erosion control mechanisms to test their efficacy at slowing the erosion. Estimates for soil savings due to these demonstration projects are still being calculated, but one of the study sites has been shown to save 13.6 tons of sediment annually. If such treatments were applied to the entire ravine system, the erosion could be reduced by more than two-thirds.