Prairie Ridge State Natural Area facts for kids

The Prairie Ridge State Natural Area is a special place in Illinois, USA. It's like a huge nature park, covering about 4,101 acres! This area is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). Its main goal is to protect rare and endangered animals and plants. These species live in the tallgrass prairie habitat, which is a type of grassland. The most famous animal here is the greater prairie chicken. The natural area is located in two different counties: Jasper County and Marion County.

History of Prairie Ridge

The story of the Prairie Ridge State Natural Area began a long time ago. In 1912, people started counting the greater prairie chickens in Illinois. Back then, there were many of them all over the state.

Why the Prairie Chickens Disappeared

Over time, farming changed a lot. New tools and fertilizers made it easier to grow crops. This meant that many grasslands, like the tallgrass prairie, were plowed up to make farms. This was bad news for the prairie chickens because they lost their homes.

By 1933, the number of prairie chickens in Illinois had dropped a lot, to only about 25,000. Because of this, hunting them was stopped forever. But even that didn't stop their numbers from going down.

Saving the Land

To help the birds, people started buying land to protect it. Some land was bought between 1939 and 1944. But sadly, the prairie chickens in those northern Illinois areas still disappeared.

This made people realize they needed to do more. So, starting in 1961, private groups began buying more grassland in southern Illinois. This land is now part of the Prairie Ridge State Natural Area. The last time more land was added was in 2001.

What is Prairie Ridge Today?

Today, the Prairie Ridge State Natural Area is made up of land owned by both the state of Illinois and private groups. All of this land is managed to help the greater prairie chickens. In 2014, this area was home to the very last groups of these birds in Illinois. Long ago, there were over 10 million prairie chickens in the state!

One important part of the area is the Robert Ridgway Nature Preserve. This preserve is about 160 acres and is still owned by the Illinois Audubon Society. Most of the other land in Prairie Ridge is now owned by the state of Illinois.

The natural area is not one big piece of land. It's actually made up of at least seventeen separate areas. The parts in Jasper County are mostly grasslands near the town of Newton, Illinois. The parts in Marion County are spread out around the town of Kinmundy.

Birds and Wildlife at Prairie Ridge

The Prairie Ridge State Natural Area is a fantastic place for birds! About 250 different kinds of birds have been seen here. Some of these birds are very special:

• 16 types are considered state endangered species. This means they are in danger of disappearing from Illinois.
• 8 types are considered state threatened species. This means they could become endangered soon.

The IDNR works hard to protect these birds. They hope to help the greater prairie chickens, Henslow's sparrows, loggerhead shrikes, northern harriers, short-eared owls, upland sandpipers, and other rare birds. All these birds need healthy grassland homes to survive. Even with these efforts, some bird populations in Illinois have continued to shrink.