Today about 2,000 acres of high-quality, relatively undisturbed prairie, or about 0.01% of the original native prairie, exists in Illinois. Many remnants persist along railroad rights-of-way. Twelve Mile Prairie is an example of a dry-mesic prairie along a railroad line. The lack or abandonement of cultivation has helped to maintain the native prairie vegetation.

LOCATION:South-central Illinois; Clay, Clinton, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Jefferson, Marion, Richland, and Wayne counties.

The Southern Till Plain RRA is the second largest RRA. In presettlement times rolling prairies between broad woodlands following stream corridors characterized the region. The area is now largely agricultural. The soils have a high clay content and are fairly poor. Of the five watersheds that comprise this RRA, four drain to the Little Wabash River and one drains to the Kaskaskia River.

Open areas of agriculture interspersed with grasslands are the preferred habitat for the loggerhead shrike in Illinois. This species has the interesting behavior of impaling its prey - larger insects, small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians - on thorns and fences. The loggerhead shrike is most numerous in the southern third of the state. Populations in north and central Illinois declined steadily and were almost eliminated by 1972 due in part to the loss of hedgerows. The loggerhead shrike is a state-threatened species.

LANDCOVER : The Southern Till Plain RRA is predominantly cropland (58%), followed by grassland (21%). It has the highest acreage of cropland and the second highest acreage of grassland among the RRAs, but due to its large size, the percentages of these landcover types rank eighth and tenth, respectively. Approximately 19% of the site is wooded. There are moderate amounts of upland and bottomland woods. Bottomland woods are concentrated along the lower portion of the Little Wabash River. The acreage and percentage of nonforested wetlands are low.

NATURAL AREAS : Prairie chicken habitat at three separate locations accounts for most of the Natural Area acreage in this site. Notable features at the 15 Natural Areas in this site include grasslands, prairies, aquatic systems, springs, swamps, and forests.

BIOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT STREAMS : A single 50-mile stretch of the Little Wabash River is designated as a BSS stream.

HERITAGE SITES : There are 31 Heritage sites within the Southern Till Plain RRA. This is a low number given the size of the site. Six significant community types, two plant species, and five animal species are located here.

STATE AND FEDERAL LAND : A state fish and wildlife area and Carlyle Lake, an impoundment, comprise the public land within this site.

NATURE PRESERVES : Miller Shrub Swamp, a spring-fed wetland, is the only Nature Preserve in this RRA.

NATURAL DIVISIONS : Ninety percent of this site lies in the Southern Till Plain Division and ten percent lies in the Wabash Border Division.

SUMMARY OF SITE CHARACTERISTICS: SIZE, BIOLOGIC RESOURCES, AND PUBLIC LAND