Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
1
County
Jo Daviess
Location
The site is in eastern Jo Daviess County, approximately 7 miles southeast of Galena. It is bisected by U.S. Route 20 and serves the metropolitan areas of Rockford, Rock Island, Moline, Davenport, and Dubuque, as well as the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Description
Tapley Woods Land and Water Reserve is characterized by a high, narrow ridge with associated ravines, springs, and seeps on the slopes, with dolomite bedrock outcrops. The site is situated atop a ridge flanked by Long Hollow and Irish Hollow, two wide ravines with drainages to the Apple River. It is an example of the original upland and ravine forest of the Wisconsin Driftless Natural Division, a unique region of the state that escaped Pleistocene glaciation. Exceptional features include dolomite bedrock outcrops that create low cliffs and isolated boulders, and floristically diverse seeps and springs. The forest’s large size and closed canopy structure provide critical migratory bird breeding habitat. The mesic upland forest communities are characterized as Grade C and consist of a canopy of mostly red oak transitioning to a maple/basswood association on the downslopes. A small portion of the preserve is situated on a southwest facing slope and is composed mainly of dry-mesic upland forest. These slopes have more of a logging/grazing history than the north-facing slopes and as such have more disassociated species in the overstory and shrub layers. These woodlands are in a Grade D condition.
Ownership
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Natural Division
Wisconsin Driftless Natural Division (#1)
Registered
October 1999
Size
259 acres
Access
The site is open to the public.
Topographic Quad
Hanover
For Further Information
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov