The Emiquon West project offers the opportunity to restore the former forest corridor that stretched from the bluff line to the river in presettlement times.

The Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) is a vital part of our national economy and a valuable ecological resource. The system includes the Upper Mississippi River from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Cairo, Illinois; the Illinois Waterway from Chicago to Grafton, Illinois; and navigable portions of the Minnesota, St. Croix, Black and Kaskaskia Rivers. The UMRS ecosystem refers to the entire floodplain area and associated physical, chemical, and biological components, and the UMR-IWW navigation system refers to 1,200 miles of 9-foot navigation channel, 37 lock and dam sites, and thousands of channel training structures. The 1,200 miles of 9-foot channel created by the 37 locks and dams allow waterway traffic to move from one pool to another providing an integral regional, national, and international transportation network.