Source question 37. 7 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. ACT-F11 1 1 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 www.crackab.com The Nature Conservancy, convinced that the area’s wetland ecosystem could be restored, bought the 7,000-acre property in 2000. By gradually shutting off the water pumps and removing the levees, as the ecologists would allow the area to flood. The area’s original water levels, they predicted; would return in about three years. And once the water returned, so would the plant and animal life. Within two years, many native plants that had lain dormant for decades reappeared, and, today, cattails and American lotus flourishes in the shallows. Ecologists had to intervene to reintroduce native fish, but within five years, several species were spawning in the floodwaters. Above 200 species of birds, including wetland, prairie, and woodland dwellers, have returned to the muddy shoals. A visitor to Emiquon might notice a popular bird-watching area is impermeable because of flooding, or a walking trail is impassible due to thick mud. L The Nature Conservancy stresses that from now on, the shifting waters of the Illinois River and the activities of plants and
