Richland Community College
IN-1: Innovation 1

Program - Illinois Land Improvement Contractors Association Partnership with the College's wholly-owned subsidiary Limited Liability Partnership, Progress City. Progress City is the site of bi-annual Farm Progress Show, which is the largest outdoor agricultural trade show in th United States which is part of the College campus.

Through this partnership ILICA and area conservation partners returned to Decatur Illinois for the 2008 Conservation Expo at Progress City USA and Richland Community College. The work that began at the site in 2006 continues to improve the water quality supplying the area’s drinking water source, Lake Decatur, as well as provide University of Illinois Professor Richard Cooke with ongoing bio-reactor research statistics.

This year’s improvements continue to impact the area’s water quality and gave ILICA the opportunity to showcase some new “urban” practices along with the normal agricultural installations. Education is always an important facet of our expo’s and the site gave us a chance to demonstrate several methods of construction erosion control using straw wattles and a variety of silt fence materials.

One of the main attractions of the event however, was the installation of a rain garden, underground storm water detention system and 440’ long, 12’ 6” wide gravel and seeded pervious pavement by Richland Community College’s Horticulture building. The construction of a new wing and additional parking area for the main campus had created a storm water issue affecting the American Selection gardens maintained by the Horticulture department.

The partnership continues with Progress City hosting workshops and demonstrations highlighting water quality improvement techniques and practices for area farmers and landowners.