Agencies
Services
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
Land and Water Reserve Area
10
County
Marshall
Location
The site lies approximately 1-mile south of Sparland, just west of the Illinois River, within Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Area.
Description
Marshall County Hill Prairies Land and Water Reserve consists of high-quality glacial drift prairies surrounded by mature second growth dry-mesic upland forest. In Marshall County, of the 178,200 acres of prairie existing in 1829, only 5.7 acres of high-quality prairie remained in 1978. Over 99.9% of Illinois’ high-quality native prairie have been destroyed since European settlement, making the protection of precious remnants, such as the hill prairies at Marshall County Hill Prairies Land and Water Reserve, vastly important. The Illinois Natural Areas Inventory (INAI) recognizes three remnant hill prairies on site as Grade A or B. Grade A indicates relatively undisturbed communities while the Grade B hill prairies are slightly disturbed. The reserve also supports a state-threatened species that has only a few known populations left in the state and whose presence at the site it its western range limit in Illinois.
Ownership
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Natural Division
Grand Prairie Section of the Grand Prairie Natural Division (#4a)
Registered
May 1999
Size
42.5 acres
Access
The site is open to the public.
Topographic Quad
Lacon
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