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Area at a Glance The Kinkaid area consists of the watersheds of Kinkaid and Beaucoup creeks, which together cover approximately 629 square miles, mostly in Perry, Jackson, and Washington counties. The sandstone bluffs through which Kinkaid Creek winds on its way to the Big Muddy River form a forested rampart overlooking the Mississippi River. The valleys of Beaucoup Creek and its tributary creeks are wide and flat, covered in farmland rather than forest. In the early 1970s the earthen Crisenberry Dam was thrown up across Kinkaid Creek, which swelled to 2,570 acres of water with 91 miles of shoreline. Archeological surveys have identified more than 400 sites where Native American peoples of various cultures lived, worked, or were buried in the past 11,500 years or so-a fuller archeological record than in most other parts of Illinois. Nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of Perry County’s surface is farmed in some way, which is about the same proportion as in Illinois as a whole. Because of its hillier terrain, only 49 percent of Jackson County is in agricultural use. More than a quarter of the land is in grassland such as pasture and hayfields, much of it mined land reclaimed as pasture. The area’s nonhuman life remains relatively rich: 20 species of amphibians, 36 reptile species, 79 species of fishes, 18 species of native freshwater mussels, 16 species of malacostracans (large crustaceans), at least 264 bird species, and 44 mammal species. The Kinkaid area lies at the intersection of the natural ranges of several mammal species, including two bats (the state-endangered Rafinesque’s big-eared bat and the southeastern myotis), the marsh rice rat and eastern woodrat (both rare in Illinois), the northern short-tailed shrew, and the golden mouse. Outdoor recreation is an important part of life here. Washington County Conservation Area draws nearly 200,000 visitors a year, Pyramid State Park 182,000, and Kinkaid Lake 500,000. Thanks to the purchase of more than 16,000 acres of former mine property, Pyramid State Park is-at more than 19,500 acres-the largest state park in Illinois. The area’s population has grown only 91 percent since 1870 while Illinois as a whole grew 350 percent. Less than half of area residents live in towns with more than 2,500 people -far below the statewide average of 85 percent-and only 2.5 percent of the local land has been urbanized. The presettlement landscape has been much changed. No prairie or savanna of ecologically high quality is known to still exist in the Kinkaid area. Less than 20 percent of the original wetlands survive, and about a third of the forest. However, very little of the forest has not been degraded ecologically. "Cultural" communities such as cropland, non-native grassland, and urban land cover about 85 percent of the total land area. More than 3,800 acres of modified or artificial wetlands have been created in Perry County, much of it on reclaimed mined land. Natural communities that are still in an undegraded, high-quality condition are thought to occupy about 124 acres, or 0.04 percent of the area-meaning that for every acre that remains more or less the way it was in 1820, 2,500 acres have been altered, usually dramatically, by humans. The tributary to Upper Lake Kinkaid that flows through Township 8 South, Range 4 West in Jackson County is recognized as a Biologically Significant Stream because of the rich diversity of native species it supports. The most extensive forest is around and to the north and east of Kinkaid Lake in the northwestern part of Jackson County. Beaucoup Creek is wooded along most of its course as well, Galum Creek is flanked by wooded area in both its upstream and downstream portion, and Swanwick Creek is entirely banked with woods. Much smaller wooded tracts survive at Washington County Conservation Area and Pyramid State Park in Perry County. Most local forest patches are too small and narrow to provide shelter to nesting birds. The relatively uninterrupted blocks of forested land in the Kinkaid Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area and the local part of the Shawnee National Forest can become a breeding source of birds that populate the entire region. Now-rare mammals species such as the river otter, bobcat, and swamp rabbit could return to the Kinkaid area if needed habitat is protected. There are approximately 1,148 miles of rivers and streams in the Kinkaid area. Water quality is generally good, with minor pollution mainly from farm runoff, city sewage, and mining wastes. Erosion is a significant problem. Beaucoup Creek’s upper reaches fall almost 15 feet per mile. In the vicinity of Kinkaid Creek, only about 50 percent of the land-mostly forested, only patches of which are farmable- is flat to gently sloping. Kinkaid Creek’s upstream portion is very steep, nearly 50 feet per mile, and even in its lower reaches the stream slopes about seven feet per mile. Land wastage was common in the 1920s and ‘30s. In 1999, by contrast, 81 percent of the farm acreage in the area was farmed with some kind of soil-saving tillage method-a much higher proportion than in the state as a whole. Seventy-four percent of area farm acreage was losing topsoil no faster than it was being replaced, thus preserving long-term productivity. A 1998 survey found that erosion has eaten away at least two feet of shore along more than 70 percent of the Kinkaid Lake shoreline and nearly six miles of shoreline had lost more than four feet of vertical shoreline- nearly 1.3 million cubic yards of material. More than 10 feet of silt has accumulated in Kinkaid Lake near the Port of Ava marina since the 1970s; marina docks were closed in 1996 because boats could no longer reach them. Kinkaid Lake, the source of public water for more than 26,000 people, is filling faster than expected. At maximum recent rates, it could be a bog in as few as 50 years. The future of the region seems likely to depend on natural resources for some time, mainly farming and coal. But vacation and retirement home developments, tourism, and outdoor recreation are likely to figure too. |