Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve
Cape Monroe ~~ A Great Place for Wildlife Viewing
Cape Monroe (County), on the southwest coast of Illinois, is a renowned haven for wildlife. The reasons are simple: location and habitats. A bird’s-eye-view of the landscape helps to explain our county’s attraction for wildlife. The Mississippi River flyway, and associated riparian wildlife corridor, is the longest migration route in the Western Hemisphere, running […]
Festival of the Bluffs ~~ Hikes, Displays, Music, Food…FUN!
Monroe County boasts the greatest contiguous swath of hill prairies in the Midwest. The largest complex, at Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, has been designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Park Service. One of only 600 such Landmarks in the U.S., Fults Hill Prairie’s recognition is testimony to its enduring value in the […]
Prairie State’s Remaining Prairies Cling to Bluffs
Illinois, the Prairie State, once was part of a vast grassland, covering most of central North America, called the tallgrass prairie. In pre-European settlement times, Illinois consisted of approximately 22 million acres of prairie — about 60 percent of the state’s land — and 14 million acres of forest. At the time of European settlement, […]