Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
9
County
Jackson
Location
The site is approximately 15 miles northeast of Carbondale and 5 miles southeast of DuQuoin.
Description
Campbell Lake Land and Water Reserve is a natural wetland and bottomland forest complex representative of the once common wetlands associated with rivers and streams in the Southern Till Plain Natural Division. The Land and Water Reserve lies within the Campbell Lake Illinois Natural Areas Inventory site (INAI #0167). The wetland is composed of a high-quality shrub swamp/pond community that is an outstanding example of a shallow, natural lake in the bottomland of the Little Muddy River system. It is a rare remnant of a community type that was once common in the region. The pond displays a well-developed zonation of aquatic plants with very little open water. Deep water areas are dominated by yellow pond lily and shallow water areas by smartweeds. The wetland area also provide habitat for aquatic and semi-aquatic organisms. Surrounding the pond is a ring of button bush, which is surrounded by wet-mesic floodplain forest.
Ownership
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Natural Division
Mt. Vernon Hill Country Section of the Southern Till Plain Natural Division (#9b)
Registered
August 2007
Size
511 acres
Access
The site is open to the public, but much of the site is very difficult to reach. To access the site from the intersection of State Route 51 and 14, proceed east on Route 14 for 2.3 miles before turning south on Crabapple Road (a gravel road). Continue south for 1.4 miles before turning east onto Beech Road. This road ends less than half a mile to the east in a small parking area at the northwest corner of the site. This provides access to the portion of the site that lies west of the Little Muddy River. Reaching the larger part of the site east of the river requires a difficult river crossing on a logjam.
Topographic Quad
Elkville
For Further Information
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov
