Marsh

A marsh has more than 50 percent of its vegetation as herbaceous plants and a neutral soil pH. Woody plants  account for less than 30 percent of the area. A marsh has standing water for prolonged periods throughout the growing season.

A marsh is a very highly productive place. It includes a variety of herbaceous plants as well as hundreds of protists, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Marshes are important to migrating species as resting and feeding areas.

hiking, hunting, trapping, wildlife observation and/or photography

Marshes were once common throughout Illinois, but today only a few remain. Many of the remaining marshes are part of larger wetland complexes, found along the border of a pond or within the floodplain of a stream. Chauncey Marsh in Lawrence County and Wilkinson‐Renwick Marsh in De Kalb County are two examples of marshes in Illinois.