Unlimited Ducks Traditional Cache
Hidden : 8/31/2007
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is located in Moraine Hills State Park. The coordinates take you to a spot from which you can enjoy a great view of a restored wetland habitat populated by a wide variety of birds.

Historical Background

Prior to the turn of the 20th century, the area before you was a floodplain.

Black Tern
That means that when the Fox River got high, this area took excess water - it flooded. Around 1900, settlers decided that this floodplain would make good farmland if only they could keep it from flooding. So they built a system of levees around and within the floodplain to manage the floodwaters and to allow farming. The area was farmed for several decades, likely until the 1960's when this land became the property of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Under IDNR management, the property served as a habitat for many creatures, some with wings and some without. Around 1990, representatives from Ducks Unlimited contacted the IDNR about funding a project somewhere in Northern Illinois. Moraine Hills State Park has a unique set of conditions for the creation of a particular kind of wetland that could serve as a breeding area and a resting area for a number of different threatened and endangered species of birds. Together, the IDNR and Ducks Unlimited chose Moraine Hills State Park as the site of a collaborative effort resulting in the creation of "Black Tern Marsh."

A Special Kind of Marsh

Certain kinds of birds prefer an environment known as "hemi-marsh." This type of environment has about equal amounts of vegetation and open water. These hemi-marshes occur naturally but as more land is developed for housing and industry, these marshes become more rare due to the impact of development on the natural flow of water over a landscape. As a result of the loss of hemi-marshes, a number of species of birds dependent on this kind of habitat have become threatened and endangered.

Sandhill Cranes - photo by geognerd

Here at Moraine Hills State Park, there exists a unique set of conditions for creating a hemi-marsh. First, the nearby dam divides the Fox River in to upper and lower "pools." Second, in close proximity to these two pools of differing elevations, we have that floodplain around which the farmers had created the levees. The third condition making the creation of the marsh possible is the levees themselves. Those levees created a sort of "bathtub" in which farmers could cultivate the land to produce crops. Those farmers who built the bathtub in this floodplain wanted to keep the water out. But the project planners from IDNR and DU realized that they could also use the levee system here to keep water in.


Green Heron
In 1991, a group of Life Donors from Ducks Unlimited funded an engineering study to determine the feasability of filling up the bathtub from water in the upper pool of the Fox River and then providing a drain for the bathtub into the lower pool of the river. After determining that this idea was feasible, construction started on the creation of "The Black Tern Marsh," a hemi-marsh serving numerous threatened and endangered migratory birds. The cache site affords an excellent view of the marsh. The construction of the marsh was a collaborative effort between the Ducks Unlimited and the IDNR but the funding came entirely from the small group of Ducks Unlimited donors whose names appear on the nearby plaque.

The project involved installing around 800 feet of 3-foot diameter pipe underground to connect the upper pool of the Fox river with the basin of the former floodplain. A second pipe connects the marsh with the lower pool. A gate valve between the basin and the lower pool is used to manage the water levels. At other sites along the Fox, and other rivers, hemi-marshes are created by moving water with massive diesel-powerered pumps that run twenty-four hours a day. At this site the water flow is powered by a force much cheaper and cleaner than pumps: gravity.

Managing the water levels in this marsh is critical to preserving the ratio of vegetation and open water which makes the marsh a hemi-marsh. The IDNR has a management plan which responds to different conditions in the marsh. Part of that plan neccessitates an annual drawdown of the water level to mimic the naturally occurring changes essential to the balance of vegetation and open water unique to hemi-marshes.

The Birds of Black Tern Marsh

The Black Tern is a summer resident of the marsh. Also, great blue and green herons feed in the marsh during the summer. It is also possible to see migratory waterfowl such as Canada Geese and numerous kinds of ducks. In the spring, sandhill cranes breed here.



Great Blue Heron




Ducks Unlimited is an organization that promotes waterfowl habitat throughout North America. In fact, DU does more to protect, restore and manage habitat than any other private organization in the world.





Illinois Department of Natural Resources required statement:
  • 1. Geocache is placed on Department-managed property with permission.   

  • 2. Do not place the following items in the Geocache:
           Food items, inappropriate, offensive, or hazardous materials.

  • 3. It is the visitors' responsibility to orient themselves with policies
           and rules pertaining to this Department-managed site.


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