Forest preserve OKs research center aimed at restoring fish population

The DuPage County Forest Preserved approved building a $2.9 million research center that could lead to the reintroduction of dozens of mussel and fish species into Illinois streams.

The facility will be built on the northeast corner of the 40-acre Cenacle property in Warrenville recently purchased with grant money from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The property once housed a spiritual retreat facility operated by an order of Roman Catholic nuns.

The forest preserve board also agreed to spend $230,000 to fund utility costs for the new 6,700-square-foot facility that is expected to be online in 2010, said the district's natural resources director Ole Oldenburg.

The key mission of the new facility is to attempt to reintroduce a variety of fish and clams that no longer reside in the West Branch of the DuPage River or the adjacent Springbrook Creek. Oldenburg said the successful reintroduction of both mussels and fish are required for each others' survival. Human introduction and land development likely caused their demise.

There used to be nearly 20 species of mussels and more than 40 varieties of fish in the waters near the Cenacle. Now there are just five mussel species and a little more than 20 different kinds of fish, he said.

Fish rely on the clams to filter the water. Where once tens of thousands of the mussels called home, a study of a half-mile segment of the river revealed only 80 clams total, Oldenburg said.

In turn, the mussels rely on the fish for their survival as well, he said. Male mussels spread their sperm cells into the river water, and the particles are caught by female clams downstream who are impregnated while siphoning the water. The fertilized eggs of the clam soon become microscopic larvae which are released onto fish that venture near the mother clams. The baby clams live like parasites on the fish gills and detach once they begin to develop their shells after a couple of weeks or months.

Younger clams dig themselves into the river bed and then wait to start the breeding process over again. Certain mussels rely on specific fish, Oldenburg said.

The facility would house students from a variety of colleges who would work alongside forest preserve workers on reintroduction projects.

Commissioner Roger Kotecki voted against building the new facility and suggested the retreat house that already exists on the site could be used to house the facility. He was the lone dissenting vote, but supports the program.

"I would prefer to reuse land already in use or in this case demolish a portion on that site and rebuild there," he said. "I don't think it would be more expensive than building a new facility."