Moraine View State Recreation Area
Encyclopedia
The Moraine View State Recreation Area is a state park
operated by the Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) of the U.S. state
of Illinois
. The 1,687 acre (6.7 km²) recreation area is located near Le Roy, Illinois
.
The predecessor of Moraine View, the McLean County Conservation Area, traces its history to 1959. The park was renamed Moraine View State Park in 1975, then Moraine View State Recreation Area in 1995. It is managed for active recreation, including camping
, hiking
, swimming, boating
, hunting
and fishing
. Camping available includes Class A sites with electricity and nearby modern toilet and shower facilities, to group camps and primitive backpacking sites. Hunters use the park for whitetail deer, pheasant
, and wild turkey
.
Moraine View was one of eleven state parks slated to close indefinitely on November 1, 2008 due to budget cuts by former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. It reopened to the public on February 26, 2009.
The centerpiece of Moraine View is the 158 acre (0.6 km²) Dawson Lake, an artificial reservoir built in 1962-1963. Fish
stocked in the lake by the DNR include largemouth bass
, bluegill
(the state fish of Illinois), sunfish
, bullhead
, crappie
, channel catfish
, walleye
, yellow perch
and northern pike
.
, a low, rolling ridge located where a vanished ice sheet
dumped ground rock and till
while melting. Moraines are common post-glacial geological features, and can be found throughout the U.S. Midwest. This moraine was produced by the Wisconsin glaciation
, about 70,000 to 10,000 years before present.
Moraine View SRA is the headwaters for Salt Creek
, a major tributary of the Sangamon River
, one of the largest rivers in central Illinois. The northeastern face of the same moraine, outside the state recreation area, is the headwaters of the main stem of the Sangamon. Although Salt Creek and the main stem of the Sangamon arise on opposite sides of this moraine, they flow more than 80 miles (128.7 km) west before they meet again.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
operated by the Department of Natural Resources
Department of Natural Resources
Many sub-national governments have a Department of Natural Resources or similarly named organization:Australia*Queensland Department of Natural Resources and MinesCanada*Natural Resources Canada*New Brunswick**New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources...
(DNR) of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The 1,687 acre (6.7 km²) recreation area is located near Le Roy, Illinois
Le Roy, Illinois
Le Roy is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,560 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Le Roy is located at ....
.
The predecessor of Moraine View, the McLean County Conservation Area, traces its history to 1959. The park was renamed Moraine View State Park in 1975, then Moraine View State Recreation Area in 1995. It is managed for active recreation, including camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
, hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
, swimming, boating
Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
, hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
. Camping available includes Class A sites with electricity and nearby modern toilet and shower facilities, to group camps and primitive backpacking sites. Hunters use the park for whitetail deer, pheasant
Common Pheasant
The Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Georgia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...
, and wild turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
.
Moraine View was one of eleven state parks slated to close indefinitely on November 1, 2008 due to budget cuts by former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. It reopened to the public on February 26, 2009.
Dawson Lake
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
stocked in the lake by the DNR include largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
, bluegill
Bluegill
The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...
(the state fish of Illinois), sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
, bullhead
Bullhead
-Fishes:* Certain sculpins, including:** European bullhead, Cottus gobio** Siberian bullhead, Cottus poecilopus** Norway bullhead, Taurulus Liljeborgi* Catfish of the genus Ameiurus, including:** Black bullhead, Ameiurus melas...
, crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
, channel catfish
Channel catfish
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...
, walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
, yellow perch
Yellow perch
The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...
and northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
.
Geology
Moraine View State Recreation Area is located atop a moraineMoraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
, a low, rolling ridge located where a vanished ice sheet
Ice sheet
An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² , thus also known as continental glacier...
dumped ground rock and till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
while melting. Moraines are common post-glacial geological features, and can be found throughout the U.S. Midwest. This moraine was produced by the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
, about 70,000 to 10,000 years before present.
Moraine View SRA is the headwaters for Salt Creek
Salt Creek (Sangamon River Tributary)
Salt Creek is a major tributary to the Sangamon River, which it joins at the boundary between Mason and Menard County, Illinois. There are at least two other Salt Creeks in Illinois, Salt Creek , and in Effingham County, Illinois....
, a major tributary of the Sangamon River
Sangamon River
The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in central Illinois in the United States. It drains a mostly rural agricultural area between Peoria and Springfield...
, one of the largest rivers in central Illinois. The northeastern face of the same moraine, outside the state recreation area, is the headwaters of the main stem of the Sangamon. Although Salt Creek and the main stem of the Sangamon arise on opposite sides of this moraine, they flow more than 80 miles (128.7 km) west before they meet again.