Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
7
County
St. Clair
Location
The site lies 1.5 miles east of Columbia, 3.5 miles west of Millstadt and 4 miles southeast of Dupo within the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is also within the boundaries of Illinois’ Karst/Cave Resource Rich Area and the Bluff Corridor Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) of the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan. Other nearby protected INPC sites also in the Stemler Karst Area include Stemler Cave Woods Nature Preserve, Stemler Cave Nature Preserve, Pruitt Sinkholes Nature Preserve, and Sinking Creek Nature Preserve.
Description
Zoeller Farm Land and Water Reserve contains farm land and wooded sinkholes in the Stemler Karst Area (Illinois Natural Areas Inventory site #0835). The Stemler Karst Area contains high-quality aquatic and terrestrial cave communities, habitat for one state and one federally listed species, and is adjacent to high-quality surface natural areas. The reserve assists in maintaining water quality in the Stemler Karst Area by preventing residential development. It also comprises 160 acres of the 4,570-acre recharge area for Stemler Cave system. The site meets the objectives for the Sinkhole Plain Conservation Opportunity Area for the Illinois Wildlife Action Plan by protecting the recharge area for a cave that provides habitat for the Illinois cave amphipod, restoring acres of prairie, savanna, and woodland, and providing habitat for Species in Greatest Need of Conservation. The natural communities on site consist of dry-mesic upland forest surrounded by cropland and old field. The wooded sinkholes are bordered by Grade D dry-mesic upland forest dominated by hackberry. The old field is made up of a community of early successional species including broom sedge, goldenrod, asters, evening primrose, blue vervain, and tick trefoil.
Ownership
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Natural Division
Northern Section of the Ozark Natural Division (#11a)
Registered
September 2018
Size
160 acres
Access
The site is not open to the public.
Topographic Quad
Columbia
For Further Information
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov