Natural Resource Restoration

Prescribed Fire

Our prairies need more than sunshine and rainfall to thrive. Fire is also an essential part of a healthy prairie ecosystem.

When settlers established farms and villages, they snuffed out the natural process of fire. Since 1978, the Macon County Conservation District has used prescribed burns to restore conservation areas. Fire consumes dead and decaying vegetation and controls invasive species of trees,
shrubs and other plants. This reduces competition, allowing native plants proper access to water, nutrients and sunlight. Fire helps release nutrients in dead vegetation, returning it to the soil, and the blackened soil stimulates seed germination and plant growth in early spring.

Prescribed burns are held in the spring and fall at Sand Creek, Rock Springs, Fort Daniel and Friends Creek Conservation Areas. District staff plan these burns with
great care. Safety is our highest priority. We choose locations, dates and times based on weather conditions. A key goal is keeping smoke from blowing towards homes
and roadways. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us: mccd@maconcountyconservation.org
or 217-423-7708.

Deer Herd Management

To help control the deer population an archery deer hunting program will take place at Rock Springs, Sand Creek, Friends Creek and Fort Daniel Conservation Areas October 31 - December 27.

Hunting is not permitted on November 20 - 22, November 26, and December 3 - 6 & 25.

Participation in the program is by special permit. Hikers should stay on marked trails. For more information, please call 423-7708.

White tailed deer are an important part of Macon County’s natural areas. Like many native species they are beautiful and have a place in the ecosystem. But in many of our high quality conservation areas their numbers are so high that habitats are becoming unbalanced. Deer are large plant eaters and consume a great number of plants. As a result, their high numbers are reducing the native plant and animal populations including endangered species. Additionally, natural predators of deer such as mountain lions and wolf were eliminated from our county in the early days of settlement with no hope of returning. In their absence deer populations are able to grow unchecked.

To maintain a balance between the deer population and other species the Conservation District has initiated a limited archery hunting program. Monitoring takes place of deer habitat and their numbers so over harvest will be avoided.

Can we let nature take its course? The unfortunate reality is we may never be able to “let nature take its course”. The high reproductive capability of deer (each doe can have two fawns); lack of natural predators and limited suitable habitat mean deer numbers can become unmanageable to a point of jeopardizing themselves and communities they inhabit.

The Conservation District’s archery deer hunting program generally starts the first part of November and runs through the end of December. For more information about the Deer Herd Archery Program please contact us at 423-7708.

Exotic Species Removal

You may see changes take place at Macon County Conservation District areas. As part of an effort to improve or restore natural habitat we may be removing exotic and invasive species of plants. Exotic species are those plants and animals that are from somewhere other than Macon County. Many of the problem exotic plants that we see in the conservation area are from Europe and Asia. Some of these exotics are very invasive and take over choking out native plants and displacing the animals that depend on those native plants for their survival. Removing exotic species is done by cutting, herbiciding or prescribed burning.