Moraine View State Recreation Area facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Moraine View State Recreation Area |
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IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
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 Moraine View State Recreation Area
Location in Illinois
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| Location | McLean County, Illinois, United States |
| Nearest city | Le Roy, Illinois |
| Area | 1,687 acres (683 ha) |
| Established | 1959 |
| Governing body | Illinois Department of Natural Resources |
The Moraine View State Recreation Area is a cool state park in Illinois, managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This large park covers about 1,687 acres (which is over 6.7 square kilometers) and is located near the town of Le Roy, Illinois. It's a great place for outdoor adventures!
The park has been around for a while. It started in 1959 as the McLean County Conservation Area. Later, in 1975, it was renamed Moraine View State Park. Finally, in 1995, it became known as the Moraine View State Recreation Area. The park is designed for lots of fun activities like camping, hiking, swimming, boating, hunting, and fishing. You can find different types of camping spots, from ones with electricity and showers to more basic areas for backpacking. Hunters can also visit the park to find animals like whitetail deer, pheasant, and wild turkey.
Dawson Lake: The Heart of the Park
The main attraction at Moraine View is Dawson Lake. This lake isn't natural; it's an artificial reservoir that was built between 1962 and 1963. It covers about 158 acres (or 0.6 square kilometers). The DNR makes sure the lake is full of fish for anglers. You can find many types of fish here, including largemouth bass, bluegill (which is the state fish of Illinois!), sunfish, bullhead, crappie, channel catfish, walleye, yellow perch, and northern pike.
Geology: How the Park Was Formed
The Moraine View State Recreation Area sits on top of something called a moraine. Imagine a giant ice sheet (like a huge glacier) that slowly melted away. As it melted, it left behind a low, rolling ridge made of ground-up rock and dirt. This is what a moraine is! These kinds of ridges are common in places where glaciers used to be, especially across the U.S. Midwest. The moraine at Moraine View was created by the Wisconsin glaciation, which happened a very long time ago, between 70,000 and 10,000 years ago.
Moraine View State Recreation Area is also where Salt Creek begins. Salt Creek is an important stream that flows into the Sangamon River, one of the biggest rivers in central Illinois. Interestingly, the main part of the Sangamon River also starts on the other side of this same moraine, just outside the park. Even though Salt Creek and the Sangamon River start so close, they flow for more than 80 miles (about 129 kilometers) west before they meet up again!
Park Reopening in 2009
In late 2008, Moraine View State Recreation Area was one of several state parks that were planned to close. This was due to money problems in the state government at the time. The park closed on November 30, 2008. However, after a new governor took office in Illinois, the closed state parks, including Moraine View, were reopened to the public in February 2009.
