Technical Resources

Illinois Guides & Manuals

Illinois Direct Seeding Handbook
The Direct Seeding Handbook provides the basics for successful direct seeding of a variety of forest species. Direct seeding is presented as another tool, together with seedling tree planting, for achieving high quality stands of hardwood trees.

Illinois Field Office Tech Guide (FOTG)
The Technical Guide is designed to be used by technically trained people who are assisting landowners and users, land managers and responsible officials of units of government, and other decision makers to plan, apply and maintain appropriate conservation practices.

Illinois Grazing Manual
A manual providing guides and fact sheets for the management of grazing lands in Illinois

Native Plant Guide NOW available in PDF and HTML format!
Illinois Native Plant Guide (Revised 2004)
The Native Plant Guide has been has been designed to help communities and developers select native grass and plant species that are suited to sites along streams and in and around stormwater facilities.

Increased urban development is a reality many communities face. Planting hardy, native species can protect against erosion and water quality problems while offering a pleasing and aesthetic look to the landscape. The Native Plant Guide helps make planting decisions easier.

Following documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6 or higher.
2004 Native Plant Guide (Revised 2004)
Revised 2004 Native Plant Guide (PDF, 2.6MB)

2004 Native Plant Guide (Revised Pages Only)
Native Plant Guide Revised Pages (PDF, 255kb)

Illinois Resource Planning Guides
A source book to use when facilitating locally-led planning. The Guidebook follows the planning process and has practical ideas for implementing locally-led planning based on Illinois' experiences.

Illinois Standard Engineering Drawings
Drawings for Illinois Engineering Standards in DWG, DWF and DXF format

Illinois Technical Notes
Notes regarding technical information and procedures that support conservation practices, and inventory and evaluation techniques.  Technical Notes and References by Discipline may be found under Section I, References, in eFOTG (electronic Field Office Technical Guide).

Illinois Urban Manual
A technical manual designed for urban ecosystem protection and enhancement. Contains standards, construction specifications, material specifications and standard drawings.

Natural Resource Survey of the Cypress Illinois Quadrangle
The Natural Resources Survey of the Cypress, Illinois, Quadrangle provides a partial inventory of the soil, water, plant, and human resources for a small part of the Cache River Watershed. This resource-rich area located in the southern tip of Illinois served as the project area to test the concept of building a natural resources Geographic Information System (GIS).

Following documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6 or higher.
Natural Resource Survey of the Cypress Illinois Quadrangle
11x17 for booklet printing (PDF, 4.57MB)
8-1/2 x 11 pages (PDF, 4.57MB)

(RAP-M) Rapid Assessment, Point Method & Bathmaster Bathymetric Depth Mapping
Erosion and sediment inventory procedures for Illinois.

The following document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.0 or higher.
Understanding Community Attitudes about Aging Dams (PDF, 3MB)
A Guidebook for Assessing Local Community Interest

National Manuals

Plants
PLANTS Database
National Forestry Manual
National Plant Materials Manual

Soils
Keys to Soil Taxonomy
National Soil Survey Handbook
Soil Survey Manual

Construction/Practices  
National Handbook of Conservation Practices
Stream Corridor Restoration Handbook
National Engineering Handbook 20- Specifications for Construction Contracts
Watershed Technology Electronic Catalog