Building on relationships established through a 2-year county-wide water resource management planning effort and coordinating with and feeding into a parallel IEPA-supported Galena River Watershed planning process, the group organized 12 workshops and facilitated discussions to establish broad consensus and active participation in the watershed. During the pandemic, the group even learned how to do PowerPoints, webinars and took video in their fields so they could do on-line field tours of their farming practices. Members of the group and partners are sampling tributaries to the Galena River to determine contaminant sources for educational purposes and to inform the strategic placement of best management practices such as no-till, cover crops, prairie strips, riparian buffers, stream bank stabilization, and managed grazing. Galena or Fever River is considered a cool-cold or cool-warm stream that has smallmouth bass. The smallmouth bass distribution is expected to expand in the coming years due to warming stream temperatures.

Human Interest/Community Benefit:

Galena IL is a small (pop. 3,300) historic community that attracts more than a million visitors each year. Boating, canoeing, kayaking, board paddling, and fishing are among the activities enjoyed by both residents and visitors. The City of Galena created a boat ramp and has plans to install a canoe launch area. Fever River Outfitters, a private operation, offers canoes, kayaks and paddle boards for rent. The Galena Boat Club uses the river. The high school has a smallmouth bass fishing club.
The idea of creating a farmer-led group was first floated by Galena, IL resident Beth Baranski, who had an interest in local land and water issues. The Galena group expanded countywide as the Jo Daviess County Soil & Water Health Coalition, a circle of friendship and a public forum chaired by farmer, Mel Gratton. Farmers in the group, like Greg Thoren, share decades of knowledge about soil health. Fishers & Farmers created a podcast on their website where you can meet Greg Thoren and the group’s organizing secretary, Beth Baranski, who are building connection and watching a northern Illinois community come alive with interest in its land and streams.
Project Timeline: Project was funded by Fishers & Farmers in 2017 and completed in 2019. Farmers are still collaborating on improving practices to improve soil health, water quality and fish habitat.

Partners:

Jo Daviess County Soil & Water Health Coalition, Farmers, League of Women Voters of Illinois, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, City of Galena, Illinois Extension, Jo Daviess County Soil & Water Conservation District, Farm Bureau, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Fishers & Farmers Partnership.