The Nature Conservancy Illinois Chapter used active adaptive management to assess whether their conservation strategies focused on freshwater conservation in the Mackinaw River watershed were having the intended effect. Agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) are known to reduce harmful run-off into river systems, but comparing one “treatment” sub-watershed in the headwaters of the Mackinaw River to an adjacent control sub-watershed showed that these BMPs were not having a tangible impact on water quality within the watershed. This presentation demonstrates how the Illinois Chapter learned from their monitoring results and improved their conservation strategies and effectiveness.