Spitler Woods State Natural Area is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

located adjacent to

Mount Zion, Illinois Mount Zion is a village in Macon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,019 at the 2020 census. Geography Mount Zion is located in southeastern Macon County at (39.777967, -88.878614). It is bordered to the northwest by the ci ...

. The state park is located within the

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

metropolitan area. The eastern two-thirds of the state park is a listed state natural area noted for its

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

grove of

white oak The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...

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 ...

. The park is managed by 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). Spitler Woods contains two trails totaling in length. Hikers can investigate the

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

y soil forming the banks of ''Squirrel Creek'', one of the tiny tributaries that eventually come together to form

Lake Decatur Lake Decatur is a reservoir located in the city of Decatur, Illinois, USA, east of downtown. The city and lake both share the name of U.S. Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur. The lake is above sea level and has a watershed of or reaching into pa ...

and the

Sangamon River The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 in central Illinois in the United Stat ...

. The woods are filled with

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

s, who eat the

acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

s and other mast shed by the old-growth hardwoods. Although

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

live in the natural area, hunting is forbidden. The preserve includes many tree species, such as white oak (''Quercus alba''), chinkapin oak (''Q. muehlenbergii''), bur oak (''Q. macrocarpa''), black oak (''Q. velutina''), red oak (''Q. rubra''), sugar maple (''Acer saccharum''), shagbark hickory (''Carya ovata''), bitternut hickory (''C. cordiformis''), mockernut hickory (''C. tomentosa''), black walnut (''Juglans nigra''), basswood (''Tilia americana''), American elm (''Ulmus americana''), slippery elm (''U. rubra''), Ohio buckeye (''Aesculus glabra''), sycamore (''Platanus occidentalis''), hophornbeam (''Ostrya virginiana''), black cherry (''Prunus serotina''), and white ash (''Fraxinus americana'').Roovers, Lynn M. and Stephen R. Shifley. 1997. "Composition and Dynamics of Spitler Woods, an Old-Growth Remnant Forest in Illinois (USA)." ''Natural Areas Journal'', Volume 17, Number 3. Other woody plants include bladdernut (''Staphylea trifolia''), spicebush (''Lindera benzoin''), pawpaw (''Asimina triloba''), blackhaw (''Viburnum prunifolium''), eastern redbud (''Cercis canadensis''), hawthorn (''Crataegus spp.''), Virginia creeper (''Parthenocissus quinquefolia''), and poison-ivy (''Toxicodendron radicans''). The park is adjacent to, and has signed access from,

Illinois Route 121 Illinois Route 121 (IL 121) is a major state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Although it travels from northwest to southeast, it is marked as a north–south highway.Sarjeant, CharlesIllinois 121. Retrieved ...

. It is named in honor of Ida B. Spitler, who donated Spitler Woods to the state of Illinois in 1937. The park's headquarters is 705 Spitler Park Drive, Mount Zion IL 62549.

References

External links

* State parks of Illinois Protected areas of Macon County, Illinois Protected areas established in 1937 1937 establishments in Illinois State Natural Areas of Illinois {{MaconCountyIL-geo-stub