Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
9
County
Massac
Location
The site is in northwest Massac County approximately 9 miles northwest of the city of Metropolis within the Mermet Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area.
Description
Mermet Lake Flatwoods is an exemplary example of a southern flatwoods forest natural community (Grade C mature second growth) identified on the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory (INAI #0741). Edaphic conditions which support this natural community are commonly encountered in the historic floodplains of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the extreme southern part of the state. Although these edaphic climax community types were once quite common, most have been cleared and converted to cropland and only a few flatwood communities remain today. The soil composition of southern flatwood communities results in a wide, seasonal variation in moisture availability that can only host plants and animal species that can adapt to saturated soil and shallow standing water conditions which persists well into the growing season, as well as excessively drouthy summer conditions. Plants typical of shallow water wetlands and floodplain forests grow alongside plants normally found in barrens, savanna, and/or prairie. Mermet Lake Flatwoods also provides habitat for several threatened, and endangered species, as well as a diverse collection of mammals, reptiles, amphibian, and forest interior birds.
Ownership
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Natural Division
Bottomlands Section of the Coastal Plain Natural Division (#14b)
Registered
May 1998
Size
70 acres
Access
The site is open to the public.
Topographic Quad
Mermet
For Further Information
Visit the State Fish and Wildlife Area Website or Contact the INPC
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov