Shawnee National Forest
The Shawnee National Forest is a national forest in the United States of America . It is located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of southern Illinois and covers approximately 1,100 km². The forest administration is located in Harrisburg, Illinois .
history
In September 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the Shawnee National Forest a national forest as a result of the Illinois and Shawnee land purchases.
Much of the land acquired for the national forest in the first ten years was depleted by agricultural use. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Civilian Conservation Corps planted pine trees for erosion prevention and soil construction. However, the forest is also home to many hardwood trees , animal and plant species typical of the region .
In 2006, the Forest Service developed a new management plan for the Shawnee National Forest with the aim of maintaining and improving the biodiversity in the forest area.
geology
During the Illinois Ice Age (between about 352,000 and 132,000 years ago) the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered up to 85% of the area of Illinois. The southern edge of this ice sheet was in what is now the Shawnee National Forest.
The Garden Of The Gods Wilderness (Garden of the Gods), a striking sandstone formation that towers above the tree tops and is used as a lookout point, was created by the washout during the Cold Age. With a little imagination, the spherical rocks can be recognized as oversized heads or animals ( camel rock ). Various hiking and riding trails open up this popular attraction in the National Forest.
Web links
- Shawnee National Forest on the homepage of the US Forest Service (English)
- Garden of the Gods information on the trails (English)
Coordinates: 37 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ N , 88 ° 39 ′ 57.6 ″ W.