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This area is about an hours drive for me. Everything was still bare a week ago, so it gave me some different photo opts. Alot of what I saw will be not be so easily viewable when everything is in bloom,and covered in leaves.

Below is some info on this watershed area. They are in the process of doing restoration projects.

In the 1880 the Grand Kankakee Marsh was recognized as the largest fresh water wetland in the Midwest, extending for approximately a million acres mostly through Northwest Indiana (600,000 acres) and partially into Eastern Illinois. The fertile, ancient marshland provided a welcomed safe haven for migrating waterfowl. It was once a winding, thriving wetland providing lush habitats for a diverse menagerie of creatures from insects to fish, birds and buffalo. Ducks that migrated through that area more recently are descendants of millions of transient waterfowl which once frequented the Grand Marsh. Until the mid-1880�s it was the home to Potawatomi Indians who relied on its natural riches for their sustenance. �Kankakee� is based upon an old Bodewadmi/ Potawatomi word roughly meaning �My Mother�s breast.� That whole area, including the wetland, river valleys and marshlands was considered �Mother�s Breast� to early Native people who trekked those lands searching for food, shelter and clothing.

During the straightening of the river in the early part of this century, bones of ancient animals were discovered, including mastodon, saber-toothed tiger, giant beaver, and a type of large elk, all dug up by the excavating machinery. In all its twisting and turning, the river was nearly 200 miles long, but today, after the dredging and straightening, the length is about 120 miles. It meets the Des Plaines River in Grundy County, Illinois, to form the Illinois River.

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tigs=^..^=