Sangamon River State Fish and Wildlife Area

Last updated February 20, 2019

The Sangamon River State Fish and Wildlife Area, also and formerly known as the Sangamon County Conservation Area and the Sangamon River State Habitat Area, is a 127-acre (51-hectare) forest preserve located in Fancy Creek Township near the village of Cantrall in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located on the banks of the Sangamon River, and preserves open space for visitors and residents of metropolitan Springfield, Illinois.^[1]

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park.

Fancy Creek Township is located in Sangamon County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 5,410 and it contained 2,074 housing units. Fancy Creek Township changed its name from Power Township on September 11, 1861. The township annexed the eastern half of Salisbury Township in 1989, thereby increasing in size.

Cantrall is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 139 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Description

Topographically, the Sangamon River State Fish and Wildlife Area is a patch of central Illinois bluffland characterized by loamy hills and ravines on the bank of the Sangamon River. The trees are mostly oak and hickory, with a ribbon of bottomland softwoods, such as sycamore, along the river bank. Hunters use this public land to hunt coyote, deer, fox, mourning dove, quail, rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, turkey, and woodcock.^[1]

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.

Carya ovata, the shagbark hickory, is a common hickory in the Eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a large, deciduous tree, growing well over 100 ft (30 m) tall, and can live more than 350 years. The tallest measured shagbark, located in Savage Gulf, Tennessee, is over 150 ft (46 m) tall. Mature shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark. This characteristic is, however, only found on mature trees; young specimens have smooth bark.

Platanus occidentalis, also known as American sycamore, American planetree, occidental plane, and buttonwood, is a species of Platanus native to the eastern and central United States, extreme southern Ontario and the mountains of northeastern Mexico. It is usually called sycamore in North America, a name which can refer to other types of tree in other parts of the world.

As of 2012, the Sangamon River State Fish and Wildlife Area is managed from nearby Chandlerville as a disjunct area of the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area by its owner, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.^[1]

Chandlerville is a village in Cass County, Illinois, United States. The population was 553 at the 2010 census.

The Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area (JEPC) is a conservation area located within Cass County in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is 16,550 acres (6,698 ha) in size. A mix of plowed upland prairie and Panther Creek woodlands, the site is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is drained by the Sangamon River. It is named for former Governor of Illinois Jim Edgar.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the state parks and state recreation areas, enforces the fishing and game laws of Illinois, regulates Illinois coal mines, operates the Illinois State Museum system, and oversees scientific research into the soil, water, and mineral resources of the state. In 2017, the Illinois Historic Preservation Division was added to its portfolio. It is headquartered in the state capital of Springfield.

The nearest limited-access highway exit is Exit 105 on Interstate 55, at the nearby town of Sherman.

Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Illinois that connects the St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago metropolitan areas. It enters the state from Missouri on the Poplar Street Bridge near East St. Louis and runs to U.S. Route 41 near downtown Chicago where the highway ends, a distance of 294.38 miles (473.76 km). The Road also runs through the cities of Springfield, Bloomington, and Joliet. The section in DuPage County is officially named Joliet Freeway or Will Rogers Freeway and in Cook County is officially named the Stevenson Expressway.

Sherman is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,148 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Related Research Articles

Sangamon River watercourse in the United States of America

The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately 246 miles (396 km) long, in central Illinois in the United States. It drains a mostly rural agricultural area between Peoria and Springfield. The river is associated with the early career of Abraham Lincoln and played an important role in the early white settlement of Illinois, when the area around was known as the "Sangamon River Country". The section of the Sangamon River that flows through Robert Allerton Park near Monticello was named a National Natural Landmark in 1971.

The Edward R. Madigan State Fish and Wildlife Area is a 974-acre (394 ha) conservation area located in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located south of Lincoln, Illinois. Founded in 1971 as Railsplitter State Park, it was renamed in 1995 in honor of Edward R. Madigan, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the town of Lincoln and a U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. The park is operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

The Moraine View State Recreation Area is a state park operated by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) of the U.S. state of Illinois. The 1,687 acre (6.7 km²) recreation area is located near Le Roy, Illinois.

Lake Springfield is a 4,260-acre (17.2 km²) reservoir on the southeast edge of the city of Springfield, Illinois. It is 560 ft (170 m) above sea level. The lake was formed in 1931–1935 by building Spaulding Dam across Sugar Creek, a tributary of the Sangamon River.

The Lost Bridge Trail is a 5.0-mile (8.0 km) rail trail in Sangamon County, Illinois. It was built by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) along an abandoned Baltimore and Ohio Railroad corridor between the east side of Springfield, Illinois to the center of Rochester, Illinois.

Spitler Woods State Natural Area is a 202.5-acre (81.9 ha) state park located adjacent to Mount Zion, Illinois. The state park is located within the Decatur, Illinois metropolitan area. The eastern two-thirds of the state park is a listed state natural area noted for its old-growth forest grove of white oak and hickory. The park is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Baldwin Lake is a 2,018-acre (817 ha) reservoir which spans part of the border between Randolph County, Illinois and St. Clair County, Illinois.

Des Plaines Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) in Will County, Illinois, United States. It is located on floodplain adjacent to the confluence of the Des Plaines River and the Kankakee River to form the Illinois River.

Kishwaukee River State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 570 acres (231 ha) in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States.

Mississippi River State Fish and Wildlife Area is an 24,386-acre (9,869 ha) protected area in Jersey and Calhoun Counties, Illinois, United States. The park is maintained by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Carpenter Park is a 322-acre (1.3 km²) park on the north bank of the Sangamon River on the far north side of the city of Springfield, Illinois. Part of the park is a listed Illinois Nature Preserve and has been designated as an Important Bird Area of Illinois. The park, which is operated by the Springfield Park District, is one of the roadside attractions of old Route 66.

Rock Springs Conservation Area is a 1,300 acre (5 km²) park located 4 miles (6.5 km) southwest of Decatur, Illinois. Centering on the Rock Spring Nature Center, a small environmental-education museum and community center, it is the largest parcel of parkland, in terms of surface area, in Macon County.

Tuscarora Creek is a 7.7-mile-long (12.4 km) tributary of the Monocacy River in Frederick County, Maryland, in the United States.

Horseshoe Lake is an oxbow lake in Alexander County, Illinois. It is the site of Illinois's Horseshoe Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, a state park 10,645 acres (43 km²) in size. A remnant of a large meander of the Mississippi River, it is today a shallow, isolated patch of water located near Cairo and the southern tip of Illinois.

Revis Hill Prairie State Natural Area, also known as Revis Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, is a 412.7-acre (167.0 ha) state park located six miles south of Easton in Mason County, Illinois. It is operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) as a tallgrass prairie nature preserve and as a fish and wildlife area managed for deer hunting.

The Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary is a 120-acre (49 ha) private-sector nonprofit park and wildlife sanctuary located near Loami in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Friends of the Sangamon Valley, the sanctuary commemorates its benefactors, farmers Frank and Gladys Nipper, who donated the land used to replant and endow the sanctuary. The Nipper Sanctuary specializes in the recreation of the former tallgrass prairie once common in central Illinois.

References

1 2 3 "Sangamon River Hunter Fact Sheet (2016-2017 Season)". Illinois Department of Natural Resources . Retrieved 2012-05-28.

Coordinates: 39°54′50″N89°44′28″W / 39.914°N 89.741°W / 39.914; -89.741

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[DNR-1] 1 2 3 "Sangamon River Hunter Fact Sheet (2016-2017 Season)". Illinois Department of Natural Resources . Retrieved 2012-05-28.