THE ILLINOIS RIVER ENCOUNTER

Explore the river's three major ecosystems, peeking into habitats to discover what animals live there. Then travel a geological timeline and learn how the river's rich biological diversity sustained generations of Native Americans, attracted pioneer settlers and supported a once thriving fish and mussel industry.

Find out what it's like to work on a barge traveling down the Illinois River. Try your hand at controlling flooding in a replica of downtown Peoria or managing the flow of a miniature river through functional locks and dams. Then learn more about invasive fish species and efforts to restore the river's natural ecology, including the Nature Conservancy's Emiquon floodplain restoration project—one of the largest projects of its kind in the country.