Restoration in the Cache River Watershed

After a century and a half of ditching, draining, over-logging, soil erosion, sedimentation and habitat loss in the Cache River watershed citizens and agencies formed the Joint Venture Partnership (JVP) and began the work of restoration. As affirmation that the long road ahead to recovery was worth the effort the Cache River region was designated…

The Cache: A Disconnected River

At the point where the Post Creek Cutoff diverted the Cache directly south into the Ohio River, a floodgate was installed. When water levels were high enough, the floodgates were opened and water flow from the upper Cache continued west through the Lower Cache Channel. However, the Cutoff continued to deepen and widen until eventually…

The Post Creek Cutoff Ditch Changes the Cache River Forever

In 1905, 250,000 acres in the Cache River watershed were described as wet and worthless for farming. The Cache River Drainage District was created in 1911 with specific purpose of construction the Post Creek Cutoff. By 1916 the 4.8 mile long Cutoff was completed, diverting the 60% of the Upper Cache due south of Belknap…

The age of ditching and draining and devastating damage to the ecosystem of the Cache River watershed

When the upper Cache River emerges from the Shawnee Hills it intersects a wide, relatively flat valley stretching from the Ohio River on the east to the Mississippi River on the west. The Cache intersects the Ohio River not far upstream from its junction with the Mississippi River. When early French explorers first encountered the…

Cache River Watershed Before the Dawn of Ditching and Draining

The Ohio River runs clear, thousands of Carolina parakeets are roosting in hollow trunks of large sycamore trees, wolves and panthers are plenty, bear, buffalo and beaver abound, and giant cane grows 30 to 40 feet high in brakes up to a mile wide.  Cypress-tupelo swamps and floodplain forests cover over 250,000 acres, while the…

Canoeing the upper Cache

Recent flooding in southern Illinois has led to many opportunities to play in the many rivers and creeks. Posted here are a few shots taken during a short paddle in a tributary of the Cache River. The brown line above the surface of the water is the level of the water from just a few…