Spring Lake Park is a public park located in Macomb

Macomb, Illinois

Macomb is a city in and the county seat of McDonough County, Illinois, United States. It is situated in western Illinois southwest of Galesburg. The population was 18,588 at the 2000 census. Macomb is the home of Western Illinois University.- Geography :...

, 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 park is home to 230 acre (0.9307778 km²) Spring Lake, areas for 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...

, and three mountain bike

Mountain bike

A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...

 trails. Spring Lake is the fresh water

Fresh Water

Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve...

 reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 for the city of Macomb, and is noted for superb bass

Bass (fish)

Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...

 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....

 that draws several regional fishing tournaments.

Cougar sightings

Cougars disappeared from Illinois in the 19th century. Since July 2000, two dead cougars have been discovered along the state’s western border, while so-called cougar sightings have been widespread throughout the state. In 2006, several area residents claimed to have seen cougars in the Spring Lake Park area, in one case stalking native white-tailed deer

White-tailed Deer

The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...

. Melissa Roberts, a biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 student at nearby Western Illinois University

Western Illinois University

Western Illinois University is a public university founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Like many similar institutions of the time, Western Illinois State Normal School focused on teacher training for its relatively small body of students. As the normal school grew, it became...

, discovered tracks and other evidence that may point to the presence of a big cat in the area. Biology professor Dr. Michael Romano claims that the tracks did indeed appear feline

Felidae

Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...

, though the Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Illinois Department of Natural Resources

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is a cabinet-level department of the state government of Illinois. It is headquartered in the state capital of Springfield...

has stated that without definitive scientific verification, no action would be taken on the sightings.

External links

• Spring Lake Park at the Macomb Park District web site. Retrieved April 3, 2007.