Shawnee National Forest

Understand

History

Shawnee National Forest was established in 1933. The land it occupies was once productive and settled farmland, but erosion and unsustainable 19th-century farming practices led farming to become less viable. In the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration established the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) to use unemployed young men to restore environmentally degraded areas such as Southern Illinois. The plan for the forest was that it would reverse environmental damage and bring in tourist dollars to the economically depressed surrounding area.

• Shawnee National Forest website

Landscape

Flora and fauna

The forest is at the convergence of several ecological regions, so the wildlife is quite diverse.

Geology

During the Illinoisan Stage (between 352,000 to 132,000 years ago), the Laurentide ice sheet covered up to 85 percent of Illinois. The southern area of this ice sheet was located in what is now the Shawnee National Forest. Because of this, there are tons of interesting and spectacular bluffs and overlooks located throughout the entire park. The geologic processes that formed the landscape are partially responsible for the presence of important mineral resources, including some of national significance.

Fees and permits

There are no fees to enter the Shawnee National Forest.

Stay safe

Like much of the South, in which extreme Southern Illinois resembles in some ways, there is the risk of running into a few different species of poisonous snakes: cottonmouths (water moccasins), copperheads, and timber rattlers. Be vigilant and use common sense when hiking; some parks may well have more of a population or frequency of encounters than others. In fact, a portion of the National Forest is closed off each year to allow for the ritual snake migrations that take place there (protecting you and the snakes from harassment). Ticks, which can carry a multitude of diseases including Lyme's Disease, are also very common in the warmer months.