- List of protected areas of Illinois
Illinois has a variety ofprotected area s including 123 state protected areas -state park s,wildlife area s,recreation area s,natural area s andstate forest s. There are also federal and local level protected areas in the state. These levels interact to provide a variety of recreation opportunities and conservation schemes, sometimes in a small area. For instance, convert|1500|acre|km2|sing=onShabbona State Park lies in DeKalb County which has its own convert|1000|acre|km2|sing=on forest preserve system while the city of DeKalb has a convert|700|acre|km2|sing=on park system. There is oneUNESCO World Heritage Site in Illinois,Cahokia .Overview
Illinois has a wide variety of state owned and administered
protected area s: state parks, state forests, state recreation areas, state fish and wildlife areas, state natural areas, and one state trail. They are all administered by theIllinois Department of Natural Resources .There is also one
national forest ,Shawnee National Forest , and several other sites administered by theNational Park Service , including portions of National Trails. There are alsoNational Wildlife Refuge s.History
Federal protected areas
U.S. Wilderness Areas *
Bald Knob Wilderness
*Bay Creek Wilderness
*Burden Falls Wilderness
*Clear Springs Wilderness
*Crab Orchard Wilderness
*Garden of the Gods Wilderness
*Lusk Creek Wilderness
*Panther Den Wilderness National Forest Service *
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie - convert|7200|acre|km2
*Shawnee National Forest - 270,000 acres (1,100 km²)United States Fish and Wildlife Service *
Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge
*Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge - convert|43500|acre|km2|sing=on including the convert|4050|acre|km2|sing=onCrab Orchard Wilderness
*Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge
*Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge
*Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge Complex
*Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge
*Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge
*Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge National Park Service There are no national parks in Illinois but the Parks Service owns the 12 acre
Lincoln Home National Historic Site inSpringfield, Illinois . TheChicago Portage National Historic Site is a NPS-affliated site which is located in theForest Preserve District of Cook County ’s Portage Woods and Ottawa Trail Woods units.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers *
Carlyle Lake - convert|26000|acre|km2 of water and convert|11000|acre|km2 of public land
*Illinois Waterway
*Lake Shelbyville - convert|11100|acre|km2|sing=on lake and convert|23000|acre|km2 of land
*Rend Lake - convert|18900|acre|km2 of water and convert|20000|acre|km2 of landCurrent state parks
Former parks
Local level parks
A variety of county and town protected areas exist in Illinois included city park districts and county-wide
Forest Preserve District s. One of the largest systems is theForest Preserve District of Cook County , which includesBrookfield Zoo and theChicago Botanic Garden as well as convert|67000|acre|km2 of open land, or 11 percent of Cook County’s land area.*Byron Forest Preserve District - convert|900|acre|km2
*Champaign County Forest Preserve District - convert|3800|acre|km2
*Forest Preserve District of Cook County - convert|67000|acre|km2
*DeKalb County forest Preserve - convert|1020|acre|km2
*DuPage Forest Preserve District - convert|24000|acre|km2
*Forest Preserves of the Kankakee River Valley - convert|250|acre|km2
*Forest Preserve District of Kane County - convert|17135|acre|km2
*Kendall County Forest Preserve District - convert|2150|acre|km2
*Lake County Forest Preserve - convert|26200|acre|km2
*Macon County Conservation District - convert|3200|acre|km2
*McHenry County Conservation District - convert|20000|acre|km2
*Putnam Country Conservation District - convert|950|acre|km2|sing=on
*Rock Island Forest Preserve District - convert|1900|acre|km2
*Vermilion County Conservation District - convert|6000|acre|km2
*Forest Preserve District of Will County - convert|15000|acre|km2
*Winnebago County Forest Preserve District - convert|9000|acre|km2ee also
Notes
References
External links
* [http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS Illinois Department of Natural Resources]
* [http://www.recreation.gov Recreation.gov]
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