The Clear Springs Wilderness is a 4,730-acre (19.1 km²) 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 contains the LaRue-Pine Hills Ecological Area, 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 ...

noted for a large and diverse population of

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s. The wilderness 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) ...

in southwestern Jackson County and northwestern Union County is the U.S. state of

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 ...

. The nearest town of any size is

Wolf Lake, Illinois Wolf Lake is an unincorporated community in Union County, Illinois, United States. The community is located on Illinois Route 3 between Aldridge to the north and Ware to the south. It is about east of the Mississippi River. The nearest incorpor ...

Second-growth wilderness

The steep hills of the Clear Springs Wilderness are drained by many limestone springs, including Clear Springs, which drains into Hutchins Creek and then into Clear Creek. As with other wilderness areas within Shawnee National Forest, the Clear Springs Wilderness is made up 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. The steep eastern bluffs over 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 ...

were not good ground for agriculture. Most of the

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

that used to be here has eroded into the Big Muddy's bed. Firewood was cut here, and farmers may have tried to use the region's well-watered, temperate climate for

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

grazing. 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 Clear Springs Wilderness, one of these parcels, is a roadless parcel of land within the national forest. The Clear Springs Wilderness borders the

Bald Knob Wilderness The Bald Knob Wilderness is a 5,973-acre (24.2 km²) parcel of land listed as a Wilderness Area of the United States. It is, by acreage, the second largest wilderness area located within the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located within the Sha ...

, which lies to the south and east. The two wilderness parcels are separated by Hutchins Creek. Both wildernesses are managed by 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 ...

and are served by the forest's

River to River Trail The River to River Trail is a 160 mile (256 km)-long hiking trail that serves Shawnee National Forest in far southern Illinois. The trail is used by both equestrians and hikers. About half is on off road trails. Its eastern terminus has his ...

. From Wolf Lake, visitors may choose to drive north approximately 3.5 miles (5.5 km) on

Illinois Route 3 Illinois Route 3 (IL 3) is a major north–south arterial state highway in southwestern Illinois. It has its southern terminus at Cairo Junction (about north of Cairo) at the intersection of U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and Illinois Ro ...

until they get to the ghost town of La Rue, Illinois. From here an eastward local road, by means of a series of

hairpin turn A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...

s, provides motor vehicle access up the bluff to the edge of the wilderness area, which is perched atop the bluff. The local road is officially called ''LaRue Road'', but is widely and unofficially called ''Snake Road'' because of the large quantities of snakes that use the road for their seasonal migrations. For this reason the access road is often closed to motorized traffic. Snake species found here include the black rat, common king, rough green, western ribbon, ringneck, red-bellied, black racer, the venomous

copperhead Copperhead may refer to: Snakes * ''Agkistrodon contortrix'', or copperhead, a venomous pit viper species found in parts of North America * '' Austrelaps'', or Australian copperhead, a genus of venomous elapids found in southern Australia and Ta ...

, and the venomous

cottonmouth ''Agkistrodon piscivorus'' is a species of pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae. It is one of the world's few semiaquatic vipers (along with the Florida cottonmouth), and is native to the southeastern United States. As ...

.Joe McFarland, "A Visit to Pine Hills", ''Outdoor Illinois'' XVI:4 (April 2008), page 11. The LaRue-Pine Hills zone has also been listed as an ''Important Bird Area of Illinois''.

References

External links

United States Forest Service
{{authority control IUCN Category Ib Protected areas established in 1990 1990 establishments in Illinois Protected areas of Jackson County, Illinois Protected areas of Union County, Illinois Wilderness areas of Illinois Shawnee National Forest National Natural Landmarks in Illinois