Little Grassy Lake is a 1,200-acre (4.8 km²)

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

in southern

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

, created by the damming of ''Little Grassy Creek'', a tributary of

Crab Orchard Lake Crab Orchard Lake is a 6,965-acre (28.2 km²) reservoir in Williamson County, Illinois. It is the centerpiece of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. It is fed by Devils Kitchen Lake and Little Grassy Lake, which are also within the ...

and the

Big Muddy River The Big Muddy River is a river in southern Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River just south of Grand Tower. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, forming Rend Lake. The Big Muddy has a mud bottom for most of its length. Hydrography T ...

. Most of the lake is located in Williamson County, southeast of

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson and Williamson Counties, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the ...

. The lake is accessible from Giant City Road out of Carbondale, Illinois. Two arms of the lake penetrate into adjacent Jackson County. The lake is managed by the

U.S. 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 oth ...

as part of the

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is a 43,890 acre (180 km2) National Wildlife Refuge primarily in southwestern Williamson County, but with small extensions into adjacent eastern Jackson and northeastern Union counties of southern Illi ...

History

Little Grassy Lake was built in 1940 as part of federal relief efforts surrounding recovery from the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The surrounding hills, forested with

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 ...

and

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...

trees, did not offer good farming potential, and the federal government condemned the farms to construct the lake."Shawnee National Forest" (7/12/07; U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C.), accessed July 21, 200

/ref>"Lakes and Marinas" (2007; Williamson County Tourism Bureau, Marion, Ill.), accessed July 21, 200

/ref> In 1959, activity around the lake increased when the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources 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, ...

(IDNR) chose a land parcel near the Little Grassy dam as the site for its primary warm-water hatchery for the production of fish such as

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

, and

redear sunfish The redear sunfish (''Lepomis microlophus''), also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish and sun perch) is a freshwater fish in the family Centrarchidae and is native to the southeast ...

for stocking. , 15.0 million fingerlings are produced annually."Little Grassy Fish Hatchery" (no date; Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Springfield, Ill.), accessed July 21, 2007.

The lake today

Little Grassy Lake is managed for warmwater

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

ing, with largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, and

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

stocked and caught.Joe McFarland, "The Unique Refuge", ''Outdoor Illinois'' XIX:3 (March 2011), pages 14-15. There is a power limit on the lake, with motors restricted to 10 h.p. or less. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit is required for use of the lake. A campground and marina operates during fishing season. Little Grassy Lake is IDNR's sole catfish hatchery. For catfish, the

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: ...

ing and fish maturation process requires at least one year, with mature fish spawning on or around June 1; the fish take at least 13 months to grow to a "nonvulnerable" length of 8 inches (20 cm) and are typically ready for delivery to their new homes in July of the following summer. IDNR distributes Little Grassy catfish to 220 separate Illinois waterways.Brenda Garver, "In the Company of Catfish", ''Outdoor Illinois'' XV:5 (May 2007), pages 6-8. A stretch of

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

directly below the Little Grassy dam, measuring 0.2 miles (0.3 km) in length, is a noted

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

spot, rated at Class II-IV depending on spillway flow conditions. The spillway tends to operate during rain or snow meltwater runoff events in winter and early spring."Little Grassy Creek, IL" (10/11/05; American Whitewater, Cullowhee, N.C.), accessed July 21, 200

/ref> The Pine Ridge Boy Scout Reservation is also situated on the Northeastern edge of the lake, almost a mile away from the dam.

References

External links

Shawnee National Forest

Campground/marina
{{authority control Reservoirs in Illinois Protected areas of Jackson County, Illinois Protected areas of Williamson County, Illinois Bodies of water of Jackson County, Illinois Bodies of water of Williamson County, Illinois 1940 establishments in Illinois