Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area: Difference between revisions

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Line 1: {{Short description\|State park in Illinois, USA}} {{Use mdy dates\|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox Protected area \| name = Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area \| photo = SR P5150084 GooseLake Prairie IL.jpg \| map = Illinois▼ \| photo_alt = Cragg Cabin at Goose Lake Prairie \| photo_caption = Cragg Cabin at Goose Lake Prairie \| photo_width = 260 ▲\| map = Illinois#USA \| map_width = 225 \| map_caption = Map of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Illinois]] showing the location of Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area \| location = [[Grundy County, Illinois\|Grundy County]], [[Illinois]], [[United States\|U.S.]] \| nearest_city = [[Morris, Illinois]] \| coordinates = {{~~coords~~coord\|41\|22\|03\|N\|88\|17\|50\|W\|display=inline, title}} \| area = {{convert\|2537\|acre}} \| established = Line 13 ⟶ 19: \| governing_body = [[Illinois Department of Natural Resources]] }} '''Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area''' is a {{convert\|2537\|acre\|adj=on}} [[state park]] and listed state [[nature preserve]]. More than half of the state park is a [[tallgrass prairie]] maintained as a natural area of [[Illinois]]. It is located in [[Grundy County, Illinois\|Grundy County]] near the town of [[Morris, Illinois\|Morris]] approximately {{convert\|50\|mi}} southwest of [[Chicago]].<ref name="DeLorme">{{cite book \| year = 1991 \| title = Illinois Atlas and Gazetteer Line 37 ⟶ 43: Underneath the clay were thin veins of [[coal]], dug from the beginning by the farmers and potters for local use. In the second half of the 1800s, regional coal mining increased to supply fuel to the growing city of Chicago. The main line of the [[Santa Fe Railroad]] was built adjacent to the prairie land, and the mines built spur tracks into the coal field to haul the coal to customers. Industrial strip mining, with motorized shovels, began in 1928. The miners left piles of [[tailings]] in the southern section of the remaining prairie, further altering the landscape. The area was further altered after World War II with the construction of two great electrical generating plants, the ~~coal~~oil-burning Collins Station and the nuclear-powered [[Dresden Nuclear Power Plant]] (1960). The Collins plant was constructed in conjunction with an adjacent {{convert\|2000\|acre\|adj=on}} artificial pond, [[Heidecke Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area\|Heidecke Lake]], dug to serve as a cooling pond for the generating plant. Heidecke Lake today serves as much of the northern boundary of Goose Lake Prairie. Ironically, the hand of man had destroyed one lake in the Illinois River bottomland, Goose Lake, and then created another, Heidecke Lake. ==Today== The first {{convert\|250\|acre}} of Goose Lake was purchased by Illinois for nature preservation purposes in 1969. The addition of additional parcels created the present-day Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area. The remaining patches of tallgrass prairie had been extensively altered by human activity during the preceding 150 years, but active management began to re-knit these patches into a unified swathe of natural grassland. In 1998, two sites in the park were added to the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Grundy County, Illinois\|National Register of Historic Places]], [[White and Company's Goose Lake Stoneware Manufactury]] and [[White and Company's Goose Lake Tile Works]]. Unlike many of Illinois's state parks, Goose Lake Prairie is not primarily managed for hunting; visitors are encouraged to enjoy a tallgrass prairie [[ecosystem]], dominated by [[grass]]es such as [[big bluestem]], [[Indian grass]], and [[switchgrass]], and by flowering [[forbs]] such as [[compass plant]]s, [[coneflower]]s, [[goldenrod]], [[Dodecatheon\|shooting star]]s, and [[violet (plant)\|violet]]s. The state park's workers and managers maintain a seven-mile network of [[trail]]s throughout the park. Some of the park's patches of mature grassland sprout blades up to eight feet in height. Line 49 ⟶ 57: Together with the nearby [[Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie]], Goose Lake Prairie is a reminder of the tens of thousands of acres of tallgrass prairie that once lived in Illinois. Goose Lake Prairie has been listed as an ''Important Bird Area of Illinois''.<ref name="Birds">{{cite web \|url=http://www.habitatproject.org/birds/ibacurrent.html \|title=Illinois Important Bird Areas \|work=Chicago Wilderness \|~~accessdate~~access-date=2010-02-16 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717145822/http://www.habitatproject.org/birds/ibacurrent.html \|archive-date=2011-07-17 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area is accessible from Exit 240 on [[Interstate 55]]. ==References== {{reflist}} ~~<references/>~~ ==External links== {{cite web \|url= https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/Parks/Pages/GooseLakePrairie.aspx \|title= Goose Lake Prairie SNA\|~~accessdate~~access-date=2018-07-11 \| publisher = [[Illinois Department of Natural Resources]]}} [http://cityfisherman.com/chicago/heideckelake.html Heidecke Lake Fishing]{{dead link\|date=October 2017 \|bot=InternetArchiveBot \|fix-attempted=yes }} {{Protected Areas of Illinois}} {{authority control}} [[Category:1969 establishments in Illinois]]▼ [[Category:Ghost towns in Illinois]] [[Category:Grasslands of Illinois]] [[Category:~~Nature~~State ~~reserves~~Natural inAreas of Illinois]] [[Category:Prairies]] [[Category:Protected areas established in 1969]] [[Category:Protected areas of Grundy County, Illinois]] [[Category:State parks of Illinois]] ▲[[Category:1969 establishments in Illinois]]