Savanna Pembroke Savanna – Kankakee, IL

Savanna in Wisconsin

Savanna Restoration

Forest In Illinois

Forests Forests are usually defined as areas with relatively dense and extensive growth of woody plants which are at least 20 feet (6 m) in height growing closely together; It is usually possible to distinguish layers of vegetation below the top canopy of dominant (overstorey) trees; the layers include understorey trees, lianas (woody vines), shrubs and herbaceous ground-layer vegetation

Temperate Deciduous Forest Layers

Change in Forest Acreage In 1820, an estimated 38% of Illinois, some 13.8 million acres, was forest. Within a century only slightly more than 8% of this original forest remained and today only 11,600 acres, or 0.9%, of the pre-settlement forest is left. Most forest in Illinois today (4.27 million acres) is second or third growth

Beall Woods

Illinois Woodlots

Only 11% of the 214 Grade A and B forest sites cataloged by the Illinois Nature Areas Inventory are greater than 100 acres in size. Each of the more than 169,000 private forest owners is estimated to hold only 21.5 acres on average. An analysis of 13 counties in south central Illinois found that the vast majority of forests in the region were smaller than one acre in size – the equivalent of a large backyard with trees.

Animal Diversity and Forest Area Deer and squirrels increased – like edge habitat and woods near fields Bobcats – decreased; wolves and cougar – gone but may come back Songbirds – species diversity high but numbers of individuals are down