Indian Creek Watershed’s updated watershed-based plan is complete!

The Lake County Stormwater Management Commission and Applied Ecological Services have recently upgraded the Indian Creek watershed plan to meet the USEPA requirements of a "watershed-based plan" or WBP. The Indian Creek watershed is the first EPA compliant WBP in the state of Illinois. Having a WBP allows continued access to Section 319 and other EPA cost-share funds to construct best management practice projects in the Indian Creek watershed.

Those interested in reviewing the Indian Creek watershed plan, may follow this general link:
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/icplan.asp

For specific sections of our plan, these are some direct links:

Executive Summary/Contents
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/EXECSUMMTOC.pdf

Introduction
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC1_INTRO.pdf

Goals and Objectives
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC3_GOALSOBJECTIVES.pdf

Watershed Conditions
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC4_ASSESSINGWATERSHED.pdf

Watershed Best Management Suggestions
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC6_BMPTOOLBOX.pdf

Prioritized Action Plan http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC8_PRIORACTIONPLANWTABLES.pdf

Educational Suggestions http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC10_INFOEDUCPROGRAMSWTABLE.pdf

Funding Sources
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/SEC11_FUNDINGSOURCES.pdf

The plan has been through public comment and is due to be adopted by the Lake County Board in April or May of 2008. The planning process has enabled Indian Creek watershed partners to be the recipients of over $2 million in funds from various grant sources. We are asking for every village, township, park district and local community to adopt our updated watershed plan and implement components of its’ proposed action plans. We are proud to be a leader in watershed protection and improvements in the state of Illinois and we thank all of our partners who have worked so hard in the watershed.

Link to recent grant projects chart
http://www.co.lake.il.us/smc/planning/indiancreek/IC%20BMPProj.asp