Caspar Bluff

Property Update
Autumn 2008

JDCF recently hosted its first school group tour of Casper Bluff Land & Water Reserve, guiding 5th graders from Scales Mound School through the property. We also had our first Hunter’s Moon Celebration there.

Partnering with the Northwest Illinois Prairie Enthusiasts, JDCF started work on a prairie restoration that will take place initially on 5.5 acres of this previously grazed site.

Casper Bluff Land &
Water Reserve

Not only does Casper Bluff Land & Water Reserve boast some of the most commanding views of the Mississippi River and its back water sloughs, it is also an archeologically significant site. The reserve includes the Aiken Mound Group — 51 burial mounds including the only known existing bird effigy mound in the state of Illinois.

Casper Bluff, a Land and Water Reserve

This 85-acre property, purchased in 2007 from Dave and Pat Casper by JDCF for the purpose of preserving the highly significant natural and archeological resources found there, was recently registered as an Illinois Land & Water Reserve.

Land & Water Reserves are designated by the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission under a nationally acclaimed program called the Illinois Nature Preserves System to protect our state’s most rare, natural areas. These last remaining remnants of our state’s natural heritage are almost all that is left of the way the state looked in the early 1880s. Today, less than 0.1% of the landscape remains as it did when first seen by Illinois’ early settlers.

Permanently protected by state law, nature preserves are private and public lands that have rare plants, animals, or other unique natural features. Ranging in size from one acre to more than 2,000 acres, nature preserves protect tall grass prairies, oak groves, sandstone bluffs, wetlands, bogs and other threatened natural areas.

These lands are the last remnants of the Illinois wilderness. Without this protection, many of these exceptional areas would be lost forever. Currently, nature preserves protect over 900 occurrences of endangered and threatened plants and animals. In fact, more than 20% of all Illinois endangered species are in state dedicated nature preserves.

Location

870 South Pilot Knob Road, Galena, Illinois. Look for that road from Blackjack Road a few miles south out of Galena.

Map (.pdf)

Natural Habitats

Casper Bluff Land & Water Reserve provides habitat for a variety of species such as the red-headed wood pecker, eastern bluebird, wood duck, and blue winged warbler.

Image Gallery

The views are breath taking.

A young visitor enjoys the view from Casper Bluff Land
& Water Reserve.

The site is memorable in any type of weather.

Casper Bluff during a stormy day.