The Bay Creek Wilderness is a parcel of land listed as a

Wilderness Area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

of the United States. It is located within the

Shawnee National Forest The Shawnee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, United States. Administered by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, it consists of approximately 280,000 acres (1,100 km²) ...

Pope County, Illinois Pope County is the southeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,763, making it the second-least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Golconda. The county was organize ...

. The nearest town of any size is Eddyville.

Second-growth wilderness

As with other wilderness areas within Shawnee National Forest, the Bay Creek Wilderness is made of

second-growth A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

forested areas that were used, until the land acquisitions of the 1930s, as

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

land. Shawnee National Forest was created in 1939, and in 1990, the Illinois Wilderness Act set aside seven separate parcels of land within this National Forest as relatively small wilderness areas. The Bay Creek Wilderness, one of these parcels, is a roadless parcel of land within the national forest. Today, the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

manages much of the wilderness; after attempting to re-establish

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s on the land parcel, the agency largely left it alone, and spinneys and groves of

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

s reestablished themselves.

Bay Creek

Flowing through and draining most of the Bay Creek Wilderness is the upper reaches, close to the

headwater The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

s, of Bay Creek, the watercourse for which the wilderness is named. Bay Creek, a tributary of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, is currently under study for potential listing as a

Wild and Scenic River The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

Adjacent protected areas

On its northwestern edge, the Bay Creek Wilderness adjoins the

Burden Falls Wilderness The Burden Falls Wilderness is a 3,775-acre (15.3 km2) unit of the Shawnee National Forest. It is located in northwestern Pope County and southwestern Saline County, Illinois. The wilderness is characterized by road-less second-growth har ...

, another Wilderness Area within Shawnee National Forest. The Burden Falls waterfall is made up of water flowing out of the Bay Creek Wilderness. On the southwestern edge of the Bay Creek Wilderness, Bay Creek itself flows through the

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

of Watkins Ford, Illinois into

Bell Smith Springs Bell Smith Springs Recreation Area is a National Natural Landmark designated in 1980 and located in Shawnee National Forest within Pope County, Illinois, Pope County, on Country Road 350E (also designated as Forest Road 848 on some maps), near Eddy ...

, a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

References

External links

United States Forest Service
{{Protected areas of Illinois IUCN Category Ib Protected areas of Pope County, Illinois Wilderness areas of Illinois Shawnee National Forest