Crab Orchard Wilderness

Crab Orchard Wilderness
Map showing the location of Crab Orchard Wilderness
Map showing the location of Crab Orchard Wilderness
Location in Illinois
Map showing the location of Crab Orchard Wilderness
Map showing the location of Crab Orchard Wilderness
Location in United States
LocationWilliamson, Union and Jackson Counties, Illinois
Nearest cityCarbondale, Illinois
Coordinates37°36′15″N 89°05′17″W / 37.60417°N 89.08806°W / 37.60417; -89.08806
Area4,050 acres (16.4 km2)
Designated1976
Governing bodyUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service

The Crab Orchard Wilderness is a 4,050-acre (16.4 km2) parcel of land listed as a Wilderness Area of the United States. It is located within the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Williamson, Union, and Jackson counties in Illinois.[2]

Second-growth wilderness

As with other wilderness areas in southern Illinois, the Crab Orchard Wilderness is made of second-growth forested areas that were used, until the land condemnations of the 1930s, as agriculture and pasture land. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service manages the wilderness.

The Crab Orchard Wilderness is a roadless parcel of land within a national wildlife refuge. Together with the adjacent Panther Den Wilderness, it forms part of the southern shore of Devils Kitchen Lake.[2]

The Crab Orchard Wilderness is accessible by several paved highways. The nearest divided highway is Interstate 57, which passes through the nearby city of Marion, Illinois.

References

  1. ^ Protected Planet Website- Retrieved January 17, 2024
  2. ^ a b "Crab Orchard Wilderness". Wilderness.net. Retrieved 2009-05-06.