From Abandoned Landfill to State Resource

Landfill transfer to state agencies benefits endangered species

Ephemeral ponds are ideal breeding grounds for some amphibians and invertebrates because the ponds’ intermittent nature prevents their having permanent fish populations that would threaten the young.

Located on approximately 40 acres within sand areas, dunes and bottomlands of the Illinois River in Cass County lies an unlikely candidate for designation as a land and water natural resource - an old landfill, abandoned for nearly 20 years.

Abandoned landfills are not unique in Illinois; in 1999, the General Assembly appropriated $10 million over each of the next five fiscal years (2000-2004) to clean up 33 abandoned landfills in 21 counties around the state. These are landfills that have ceased accepting waste but were never properly closed, and have been identified as needing state funding to assure protection of public health and the environment.

What makes the Lewis landfill in Cass County unusual is that several state-endangered and threatened species have identified it as favorable habitat, including the Regal fritillary butterfly which surveys have shown in numbers exceptionally high compared to other areas of Illinois. The site is home to Illinois-threatened Illinois mud turtles, Illinois chorus frogs, and some sedge species. In the spring, prickly pear cacti bloom there. Plant populations at the site appear to be stable.

Ephemeral ponds are a significant feature of the sand prairie habitat used by the turtles and frogs. Ephemeral ponds are depressions which temporarily hold water on poorly drained soils in the spring and early summer or after heavy rains. Isolated and without permanent inlets or outlets, ephemeral wetlands are free of fish, which allows for the successful breeding of certain amphibians and invertebrates.

The landfill lies within the Illinois River section of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers Sand Areas Natural Division. Dry sand prairie is natural to this area.

Operation began in 1974

Located in a rural area three miles south of Beardstown, the landfill began operating in 1974 and was abandoned by the operator in 1994. During its operation, it accepted municipal solid waste, household waste and swine processing wastes. Since the landfill was never properly closed, environmental problems resulted.

A female Illinois mud turtle basks in a favored sandy spot.

On August 6, 2002, the current landfill owner officially registered the site as an Illinois Land and Water Reserve in a joint program of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission (INPC) and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Registration as a Land and Water Reserve provides protection and management for lands and waters supporting significant natural heritage or archaeological resources. The property will be managed by the IDNR and INPC to maintain habitat for the sensitive species of the site, to improve existing sand prairie habitat, and to restore disturbed areas to sand prairie. With proper management practices, it is hoped the existing sensitive populations may increase in size.

Site drew illegal dumping

In the years the landfill stood abandoned, open dumping was a problem. The Illinois EPA will be implementing site security through fencing, gates and signage, removing exposed waste and placing sandy soil in areas where it is needed to prevent contact by humans and biota. Since the breeding season of the turtles and frogs is in spring and late summer, construction will be scheduled around these sensitive times, with the oversight of IDNR. Due to the habitat requirements of the species, a sand cover will be used as opposed to the traditional clay and topsoil covers utilized at many Illinois EPA corrective action landfill projects. The sand cap will provide a physical barrier between human and biota contact with the waste.

Prickly pear cacti flourish in the former landfill's sandy soil.

Some final issues remain to be worked out, and construction is not expected to start until fall of 2003. Ongoing maintenance and monitoring will be defined, and IDNR will act as the steward of the landfill, addressing restoration and ecological management of the site.

Groundwater sampling of on-site monitoring wells disclosed concentrations of nitrates, manganese and pH levels all exceeding Illinois drinking water standards, indicating that leachate from the landfill was migrating into ground water in the area, and posing potential environmental and public health risks.

Illinois EPA plans to collect groundwater samples from on-site monitoring wells and has collected samples from off-site private drinking water wells to determine potential human health risks. Based on those sample results, the Illinois Department of Public Health has recommended no change in current water uses at this time.

Both the past and current landfill owners have been sued by the state to require them to perform all necessary closure and post-closure activities. Funding from the Illinois FIRST program and financial assurance by the operator, dedicated to closure of the landfill, is being used for corrective action activities.

The Illinois FIRST funding is part of Governor George H. Ryan's Illinois FIRST legislation. If the current owner refuses to complete closure of the landfill, the state will conduct corrective actions using funding from this program. However, the state will seek to recover its expenditures from the responsible parties.

Environmental Progress, Illinois EPA, Summer/Fall 2002