The Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge is located in the Cache River watershed in southernmost

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, largely in Pulaski County, but with extensions into

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, and

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

counties.Map
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The refuge was established in 1990 under the authority of the

Emergency Wetlands Resources Act The Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986 became a United States federal law (P.L.) 99-645 (100 Stat. 3582) on November 10, 1986. Prior to the Act the purchase of wetlands by the Federal Government had been prohibited. The Act allocated funds ...

of 1986. The refuge protects over of the Cache River wetlands, and has a purchase boundary (ultimate goal for area protection) of 36,000 acres (146 km²) contiguous.

Features

The Refuge's area covers a variety of habitats, including cypress-

tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

swamp, bottomland forest, upland hardwood forests,

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

barrens, and

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

grassland. Over 50

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

and endangered species are found within the refuge's boundaries. In addition, several pre-Mississippian archaeological sites can be found in the refuge. Cypress Creek is a popular area for both waterfowl and upland game hunters. Hunting of geese, ducks, whitetail deer, rabbits, squirrels, quail and doves is permitted on most parts of the refuge. Fishing on the Cache is generally mediocre; game fish habitat has been significantly degraded by siltation, invasive species (most notably Asian carp), and changes to the natural

hydrograph A hydrograph is a graph showing the rate of flow (discharge) versus time past a specific point in a river, channel, or conduit carrying flow. The rate of flow is typically expressed in cubic meters or cubic feet per second (cms or cfs). It can als ...

Management

Although administered by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

, the Refuge is part of the

Cache River Wetlands Joint Venture Partnership Cache, caching, or caché may refer to: Places United States * Cache, Idaho, an unincorporated community * Cache, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Cache, Oklahoma, a city in Comanche County * Cache, Utah, Cache County, Utah * Cache County ...

, a confederation of state and federal agencies, non-profit groups, and private landowners with the common goal of preservation and restoration of the Cache River.

References

External links

Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge
{{authority control Protected areas of Alexander County, Illinois Protected areas of Johnson County, Illinois National Wildlife Refuges in Illinois Protected areas of Pulaski County, Illinois Protected areas of Union County, Illinois Wetlands of Illinois Archaeological sites in Illinois Protected areas established in 1990 1990 establishments in Illinois Landforms of Alexander County, Illinois Landforms of Johnson County, Illinois Landforms of Pulaski County, Illinois Landforms of Union County, Illinois Ramsar sites in the United States