Private Effort Protects Reservoir: Landowner’s project restores creek; safeguards Kinkaid Lake water

When Greg Reising bought roughly 100 acres near Kinkaid Lake in southern Illinois in 1995, he was looking for a place where he could spend time outdoors and connect with wildlife. Decades later, the property has become part of a much larger conservation effort aimed at protecting the creek system that feeds a reservoir serving about 30,000 people. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) documented Reising’s work, while the U.S. Forest Service and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have separately highlighted the broader erosion and sedimentation problems affecting the Kinkaid Lake watershed. Scroll down to read more.From private land to conservation projectReising, who lives in Collinsville and works as a fleet manager for the Collinsville Recreation District, bought the Jackson County property close to Kinkaid Lake. The reservoir was constructed in 1968 and serves as an important water source in the region. A creek that flows through Reising’s property eventually reaches the lake. But managing the land quickly revealed a problem: sections of the creek bank were being eaten away by fast-moving floodwater.The property had previously b...