Illinois River Recreation Management Vision Plan and Lower Delaware Visitor Use Collaborative Action Plan

A collaborative, multi-jurisdiction planning effort creates management guidelines to safely and sustainably accommodate increasing recreational use and interest for two river corridors.

Under an on-call contract for the National Park Service, Biohabitats provided technical support on two collaborative vision planning projects that developed conservation-based management frameworks to communicate a shared set of goals and values across multiple jurisdictions.

The Illinois River Watershed Partnership’s Recreation Management Vision Plan for the Illinois River struck a delicate balance between respecting the preferences of local landowners and recognizing that recreational use is increasing and driving the need for a management framework. During this project, Biohabitats led the ecological planning for a 21-mile corridor of the Illinois River, a 145-mile-long tributary to the Arkansas River. Biohabitats identified ecological sensitivity, highlighting priority areas for special protection or recreational development guidelines that focus on preservation of habitat and water quality. The team also launched a GIS platform for the Partnership, with customized access and input portals to support future planning stages.

The Lower Delaware River Wild and Scenic River Collaborative Action Plan was initiated to address a dramatic increase in the number of visitors who come to enjoy a wide range of outdoor activities along 78 miles of river from Pennsylvania’s Delaware Water Gap to Trenton, NJ. With management responsibilities split between two states, dozens of local jurisdictions, and multiple parks and private owners, there is also ongoing need to coordinate expectations, rules, and experiences for visitors and to address challenges at scale. Biohabitats worked closely with community leaders and assimilated large amounts of information to identify priority issues for near-term actions. Key issues focused on Safety, Coordination & Access Management, and Outreach & Education. An example action, which was based on engagement with the local Latin American community, included developing a multicultural communication strategy to improve visitor safety and recreation management along the river.

TAGS

• Analysis+Planning
• Assessment+Monitoring
• Conservation
• Ecological Restoration