Rush Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the Kishwaukee River in northern Illinois.James, L. Allan. ''Management and Restoration of Fluvial Systems with Broad Historical Changes and Human Impacts'',
Google Books link
, '' Geological Society of America'', 2009, pp. 110-111, (), (). There is another Rush Creek that is a tributary of the Mississippi River in Carroll County.

Course

Rush Creek's origin is in a complex of wetlands near Harvard, Illinois, two miles southeast. The stream then flows southwest until it empties into the main stem of the Kishwaukee River one mile east of Garden Prairie.
Rush Creek - Subwatershed Plan
', ''Kishwaukee River Ecosystem Partnership'', May 2005, accessed January 24, 2011.

Description

Approximately 65% of the main stem of Rush Creek has been channelized (ditched and straighten), however 50% of those areas are showing signs of recovery. Despite the channelization and encroachment from agriculture many of the stream's features such as riffles can still be seen.

Wildlife

Twenty-nine species of fish have been identified within Rush Creek and its tributaries, two of those species have not been seen in the watershed since 1965 - the northern pike and the largescale stoneroller. Three animal species are on state or federal endangered or threatened lists - river otter, and two mussels, ''Elliptio dilatata'' (Spike) and ''

Alasmidonta viridis ''Alasmidonta viridis'', the slippershell mussel, is a species of mussel in the family Unionidae The Unionidae are a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionida, the bivalve molluscs sometimes known as river mussels, or si ...

'' (Slippershell).

References

{{authority control Tributaries of the Kishwaukee River Rivers of McHenry County, Illinois Rivers of Illinois