Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is a 43,890 acre (180 km²)

National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to ...

primarily in southwestern Williamson County, but with small extensions into adjacent eastern

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

and northeastern Union counties of southern

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 Rock ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Its land and water contain a wide diversity of flora and fauna. It centers on

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 ...

. Major habitat types on the refuge include hardwood forest, agricultural land, grazing units, brushland,

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

s, and lakes. Other major bodies of water on the refuge are Devil's Kitchen Lake and Little Grassy Lake.

Description

The refuge provides significant resting areas for migratory birds utilizing the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Flyway. Wintering numbers of

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

can peak at 200,000. A total of nearly 1000 vascular plant species, 245 bird species, 33 mammal species, 63 fish species, and 44 reptile and amphibian species have been documented on the refuge. The western 24,000 acres (97 km²) of the refuge provide a wide range of recreational opportunities and also include a 4,050 acre (16 km²) wilderness area. The eastern portion, 20,000 acres (81 km²), is a wildlife sanctuary, and public use is limited. Annual visitation is approximately 1,000,000 visitors. Industrial activities on the refuge range from manufacturing and storage facilities to administrative offices. Many buildings now housing industries were used in the manufacturing of

high explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and they are still used for military ordnance production today. The concrete igloos built for munition storage are now leased to private industry for storage of many types of products. ''Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge'' is managed with four broad objectives: wildlife management, agriculture, recreation, and industry. The primary wildlife management objective is to satisfy the food and resting needs of wintering Canada geese and other wildlife. This objective is coordinated with the agriculture objective through cooperative farming and permittee grazing programs.

Crab Orchard Wilderness

The Crab Orchard Wilderness, a federally listed U.S.

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 ...

, occupies the southernmost strip of the National Wildlife Refuge.

Flora

References

External links

Official home page
*
Plant Checklist of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge
Protected areas of Jackson County, Illinois National Wildlife Refuges in Illinois Protected areas established in 1947 Protected areas of Union County, Illinois Protected areas of Williamson County, Illinois 1947 establishments in Illinois Wetlands of Illinois Landforms of Jackson County, Illinois Landforms of Union County, Illinois Landforms of Williamson County, Illinois {{WilliamsonCountyIL-geo-stub