Phase I of this program lasted from 1991 to 1994 and culminated in The Changing Illinois Environment: Critical Trends, a seven-volume report summarizing existing information on the condition of Illinois ecosystems. While it concluded that the discharge of regulated pollutants had drastically declined since 1970, it pointed to continuing decline of ecosystem condition due to habitat fragmentation and introduced species. The most important finding, and one that prompted a phase II of CTAP, was that available data were insufficient to accurately assess ecosystem condition on a statewide basis. This lack of standardized information initiated four distinct components:
* Land-cover mapping of the entire state to document the extent of several target ecosystems and land-use patterns and to develop a protocol for choosing random sample locations within the target ecosystems.
* Establishment of a team of professional scientists at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and a larger network of dedicated, well-trained "citizen scientists" (with coordinators and trainers, part of the Illinois EcoWatch Network) to sample the state's forests, wetlands, grasslands, and streams using standard, scientifically valid protocols. The professional scientists would carry out detailed sampling at a relatively few sites each year, while the citizen scientists would sample many more sites, repeating them every year but with less detail than their professional counterparts.
* Additional professional scientists from the Illinois State Water Survey, the Illinois State Geological Survey, and INHS accumulate existing data in the form of regional assessments designed to inform citizen-led and IDNR-facilitated ecosystem partnerships across the state on how to protect, enhance, and restore their natural setting while dealing with ever-present growth and development issues.
* The development of a Web-based information delivery system, the Illinois Natural Resources Information Network (INRIN, http://dnr.state.il.us/orep/inrin/ctap/), that provides the public, land managers, and municipalities with an easy and informative way to gather data on their own back yards.
This special issue of INHS Reports focuses on the new monitoring data collected by professionals and volunteers. However, all its components are indispensable to the overall mission of CTAP and help to inform the direction that the program will assume in coming years. This issue will briefly discuss these other components as well. These new data will inform land managers, policy makers, and the public about the condition of the state's ecosystems. Already, some trends in condition have emerged. For instance, CTAP has demonstrated that introduced species are abundant inhabitants of Illinois' terrestrial ecosystems, with wetlands and grasslands in the northern third of the state being heavily affected. This knowledge, in standardized, statewide format, will direct additional research on the reasons for this trend, could point to effective restoration techniques, and provide a scale for measuring improvement. For more on CTAP set your browser to the INRIN site above.
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