Griswold Conservation Area facts for kids
The Griswold Conservation Area is a cool park that covers about 43 acres. That's like 30 football fields! You can find it near Blue Mound, Illinois, which is a small town. This special place is managed by the Macon County Conservation District. It's a great spot for hiking and picnics if you live near Decatur. The park was created in 1973. A kind person named Harry E. Griswold gave the land to the county, and the park is named after him. The closest main road is Illinois Route 48, right in Blue Mound.
Exploring the Griswold Conservation Area
The Blue Mound's Story
The nearby town, Blue Mound, got its name from a special hill inside the Griswold Conservation Area. This hill is called a kame. A kame is a mound of dirt and rocks left behind by giant sheets of ice, called glaciers.
Long, long ago, about 130,000 years ago, huge glaciers covered this area. As these glaciers melted, they dropped all sorts of gravel and loose rocks. This created hills like the kame you see today.
For many years, people dug up the kame to get rocks for building. This digging was most active in the 1930s. Eventually, the rest of the hill was saved for everyone to enjoy. The kame still stands tall, about 706 feet above sea level. That's about 80 feet higher than the flat farmland around it! There's a path that leads to a great viewpoint where you can see everything.
Amazing Wildlife You Might See
The Griswold Conservation Area is home to many cool animals. You might spot birds that hunt, like hawks and owls. They use the high ground of the kame to look for their next meal, just like people use it for a good view!
Other animals that live here include groundhogs, skunks, and opossums. You might also see deer, foxes, and even coyotes roaming around the park. It's a great place to observe nature!
