Wabash River Corridor Enhancement Project History
The Wabash River Enhancement Corporation (WREC) was formed in August 2004, and it began active operations in July 2005 when it hired its first Executive Director. WREC completed extensive preliminary planning in preparation for moving into development and enhancement of the Wabash River within Greater Lafayette. WREC completed an agency strategic plan and a two phase corridor master plan. The first phase of the project developed a master plan for the Lafayette-West Lafayette urban river front, while the second phase developed a twenty year corridor master plan for the entire Wabash River corridor within Tippecanoe County. WREC raised over $1 million in support of these planning efforts. WREC also initiated land use and acquisition planning including environmental assessment and remediation work, and along with its partners most significantly - North Central Health Services (NCHS), acquired six properties totaling over $3.8 million dollars in funding. Concurrently WREC developed long range partnerships at the state and federal levels including the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Working with our Fourth District United States Congressman and the USACE, WREC completed a three phase Wabash River Hydraulic Study of the Tippecanoe County river section and a Wabash River Reconnaissance Study.
WREC started addressing Wabash River water quality issues that were identified as a top priority in its agency strategic plan and in both corridor master plans by developing a watershed component to the enhancement project. WREC hired a watershed coordinator and partnered with Purdue University to form a research center the Living Laboratory on the Wabash to study Wabash River Corridor health. WREC and LLOW applied for and received over $3 million in Indiana Department of Environmental Management Section 319 Nonpoint Source Water Pollution grants. Using these grants, WREC developed a watershed management plan for the Region of the Great Bend of the Wabash River (RGBWR) watershed (a sub - watershed of the Wabash River encompassing mainly Tippecanoe County and parts of surrounding counties), and beginning in 2012 will begin work on implementation of a cost-share program in this water and planning in the Deer Creek-Sugar Creek watershed ( another sub – watershed of the Wabash River encompassing Tippecanoe County and four other counties to the east and north of Tippecanoe county), and a grant to begin implementing the RGBWR watershed management plan.
WREC continues to work on land use and acquisition planning, watershed planning and best management practices implementation, preliminary planning in transitioning into the development phase of the project.