Silver Creek of the Illinois river. Photo by Zach Collier, Northwest Rafting Co.

Oregon’s Illinois River is a major tributary of the lower Rogue River. Its watershed comprises about 1/5th the area of the entire Rogue River Basin and contributes about 1/4th of the Rogue’s total flow.

The Illinois’ clean, reliable flows provide thermal refuge for many anadromous fish that migrate up the Rogue in summer and fall. As the climate continues to warm, its value to the Rogue’s fish and wildlife is becoming greater than ever.

However, the Illinois is far more than just a key tributary of the Rogue. It’s an outstanding river – one of the nation’s finest – in its own right.

Illinois River reflections. Photo by Zach Collier, Northwest Rafting Co.

Outstanding resource values of the Illinois River​
​Few rivers its size in the nation rival the Illinois in terms of water quality. Its wilderness headwaters and spring-fed wetlands and tributaries downstream provide the river with an exceptional blue-green color and typical clarity of 15 feet or more. No one who sees it ever forgets it.

With its rugged canyons, consistent cold flows, and steep tributaries, the Wild and Scenic reach of the Illinois is an unparalleled bastion for wild winter steelhead in Oregon. It also provides habitat for Chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, and sturgeon, as well as critical habitat for federally threatened Southern Oregon-Northern California coho.
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Because the Illinois is one of just a few rivers on the West Coast where there is no hatchery supplementation program, it is an important refuge for the conservation of wild fish. In particular, Silver Creek and Indigo Creeks are the most productive steelhead tributaries in the lower Illinois River and represent a very significant genetic core for wild steelhead populations of both the Illinois and Rogue River basins. Other tributaries also host valuable habitat for steelhead and other native fish. The Illinois River’s fish values are highly dependent on its deep pools and clear, cold, consistent flows.

The lower river’s corridor hosts diverse plant communities, including rare and endemic plants adapted to the region’s unique geology. There are Jeffrey Pine savannas with native bunch grasses and notable assemblages of Western Azalea. Several of the river’s unusual plants are associated with or wholly dependent on its perennial springs and distinctive serpentine wetlands; they include the uniquely charismatic California Pitcher Plant (Darlingtonia California), a showy carnivorous plant, and the California Lady Slipper (Cypripedium californicum), with striking white orchid “pouch” blossoms.

The Wild and Scenic Illinois offers a bounty of exceptional recreational experiences. Countless people enjoy rafting, kayaking, swimming, camping, fishing, and hiking in and along many portions of the river. Thousands seek relief in its Scenic section’s cool, clear waters on hot summer days. Its Wild section is reputed to possess the most remote and inaccessible whitewater in the lower 48 states, with long stretches in the canyon inaccessible even by trail. It features 150 challenging rapids in 29 miles, including eleven class IV and one class V drop at the formidable “Green Wall.” For a true wilderness float trip, very few rivers anywhere in the nation come close to Oregon’s Illinois. It is not, however, for the inexperienced, faint of heart, or ill prepared: it should only be run by highly skilled and equipped boaters. If you aren’t one, get an excellent guide!

Need for meaningful water quality protection
The 1968 National Wild and Scenic River Act designated the lower Rogue as one of eight original rivers comprising the National Wild and Scenic River System. It also named the Illinois as one of 28 additional “study rivers”. 

California Lady Slipper. Photo by Bill Bouton.

California Pitcher Plant. Photo by Noah Elhardt.

The importance of the Illinois River and its lower tributaries to the National Wild and Scenic Rogue River cannot be overstated. At the rivers’ confluence in Agness, the contrast in water quality after three inches of rain fell on both rivers’ lower watersheds is startling—with the waters of the Illinois on the lower right relatively clear compared to the muddy waters of the Rogue. Photo by Barbara Ullian.

The 1977 USFS Illinois River Study Report identified not one but five “outstandingly remarkable” characteristics of the river worthy of its designation: its “scenic, recreational, botanical, fish, and water quality values”. All five are dependent on or associated with the river’s water quality. The report stated that “The scenic and recreational values are closely associated with the river canyon, while the botanical, fish, and water quality values occur, and are reliant on, the entire river system.” In other words, we must take a whole-watershed approach to protect the Wild and Scenic Illinois.

50.4 miles of the lower Illinois River were designated Wild and Scenic by Congress in 1984. New dams on it are thus prohibited, but the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act does not provide clear authority for agencies to protect water quality.

The Clean Water Act does. Through it, EPA delegates authority for setting and maintaining water quality standards to state and tribal agencies. In Oregon, the Department of Environmental Quality is responsible for establishing state water quality standards, which must include means for designating and protecting Outstanding Resource Waters.

​Proposed Illinois River designation
In May of this year, three Southern Oregon organizations -- Friends of the Kalmiopsis, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, and Kalmiopsis Audubon Society -- formally petitioned the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for ORW designation of the lower Illinois River. Pacific Rivers soon went on record in strong support of their compelling petition.

Specifically, the petition calls for ORW designation of 46.6 miles of the Illinois River, from the upstream boundary of the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest downstream to Nancy Creek, as well as the watersheds of its tributaries including Josephine Creek, Briggs Creek, Silver Creek, Indigo Creek, Collier Creek, and Lawson Creek. Numerous smaller tributaries and associated wetlands are also included.

ODEQ has accepted the nomination of the Illinois for consideration in its upcoming Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards.

River runners scouting the Green Wall. Photo by Zach Collier, Northwest Rafting Co.

Map of proposed Illinois River ORW designation. Courtesy of Friends of the Kalmiopsis.

​Please stay tuned for alerts about how you can help!