Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
7
County
Monroe
Location
The site is located adjacent to Valmeyer and 7 miles west of Waterloo in western Monroe County within the St. Louis Metropolitan region. It is 3 miles east of the Mississippi River on the bluffs above the American Bottoms. There are many protected natural areas in proximity including Maher's Woods Nature Preserve, Illinois Ozarks Nature Preserve, Luella Schaefer Memorial Hill Prairies Land and Water Reserve, White Rock Land and Water Reserve, and White Rock Nature Preserve.
Description
Salt Lick Point Land and Water Reserve is an important part of a regional bluff protection effort that involves a 35-miles corridor in southwest Illinois comprised of sites in the Illinois Nature Preserve System. The reserve is perched up to 400 feet above the Mississippi River floodplain on a portion of St. Louis Limestone escarpment that contains one of the highest points in Monroe County. It contains a mosaic of high-quality loess hill prairie (Grade A, B, and C), limestone glade, limestone cliffs (Grade A), and upland forest (Grade C) included on the Columbia Hill Prairies Illinois Natural Areas Inventory (INAI #0201) site. More than 90% of the site is comprised of dry and dry-mesic upland forest. Woody species typical to the dry-mesic potion include red oak and shagbark hickory, while the dry upland forest is characterized by black oak and post oak. The glade and hill prairie remnants are small, but they support a diverse array of herbaceous plants, including little bluestem, side oats grama, green milkweed, purple and white prairie clover, New Jersey tea, blazing star, and scurf pea. The site is additionally an important area for birds, especially those sensitive to forest fragmentation and Species in Greatest Conservation Need, as well as for the state threatened and endangered species which inhabit the site.
Ownership
Village of Valmeyer
Natural Division
Northern Section of the Ozark Natural Division (#11a)
Registered
September 2005
Size
594 acres
Access
The site is open to the public with a parking lot located off Bluff Road. There are five miles of trails open daily dawn to dusk. Hikers must stay on the trails.
Topographic Quad
Valmeyer
For Further Information
Visit the Clifftop Website or Contact the INPC
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov