Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
9
County
Jackson
Location
The site is near the southern edge of Jackson County, in southern Illinois. The town of Grand Tower and State Highway 3 are located 5 miles to the west, and the rural town of Pomona and State Highway 127 are located 5 miles to the east. The reserve shares a boundary to the north, south, and west with the Shawnee National Forest, owned by the U.S. Forest Service.
Description
Ralph Clover Land and Water Reserve was registered to protect the Toothless Cave Illinois Natural Areas Inventory site (INAI #0599) and its associated terrestrial cave community and cave wildlife. The reserve is in an area of rugged hills and steep ravines, with bedrock typically occurring near the surface and occasionally cropping out. It contains a Grade B terrestrial cave, called Toothless Cave, which is one of only four examples of this community type within the Greater Shawnee Hills Section of the Shawnee Hills Natural Division. The area surrounding the cave includes several sinkholes, sandstone outcrops, Grade C dry-mesic and mesic upland forest, and several Illinois Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The forested area of the greatest quality is the dry-mesic upland forest occurring on the southwest facing slope in the southern half of the site. This area was formerly logged but contains mature second growth forest. White oak, red oak, and hickory are common canopy trees, and dry areas near the top of the slope also contain mature post oak.
Ownership
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Natural Division
Greater Shawnee Hills Section of the Shawnee Hills Natural Division (#13a)
Registered
May 2021
Size
60 acres
Access
Much of the site is open to the public but the cave and sinkholes are closed to public visitation. There is no public vehicular access; the site can only be accessed on foot by traveling through U.S. Forest Service property.
Topographic Quad
Wolf Lake
For Further Information
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov