Emiquon Area Interpretive Signs - Lewistown, IL
Posted by: NorStar
N 40° 21.190 W 090° 05.110
15T E 747539 N 4471035
This interpretive station has people move panels to overlay map features on maps from different times to illustrate the changes made to this landscape as it is being restored to a wetland lake from farmland.
Waymark Code: WMWKW3
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 09/16/2017
Views: 2
Near Lewistown, within the Emiquon Nature Preserve, is a nature interpretive area with panels that people can move together or apart to compare how the landscape has changed.
Emiquon Nature Preserve is located on the north side of the Illinois River, off Illinois Route 78. It is a few miles south of US 24.
The display is under a shelter that has other nature and historical signs of this area. The fixed panel on the left has a painted map showing mostly green and blue areas but with light yellow areas, representing wooded areas farm area and water. This panel shows the restored Lake Thompson. The panel on the right, movable, shows larger water and yellow areas. These show the time when much of the land was drained and made into farmland. If you move the right panel over the left (in geography or Geographic Information System (GIS) terms, each of the panels is a 'layer' of data and the method of displaying the layers over one another geographically is called 'overlaying.'), you can then compare features and tell which areas transformed from one type of use to another.
Other signs in this oversized kiosk tell more of the story and has a map of the trails and lookouts.
There are several organizations involved at this site. The sign at the location where the panels are says The Nature Conservancy, but the web site has lapsed. Wikipedia states that the land is now a U.S. National Wildlife Preserve and that the Emiquon Project (what is that?) is operated by the Nature Conservancy as a partner. Also, the University of Illinios has opened a field station here.
Source:
Wikipedia:
(Emiquon National Wildlife Preserve):
(
visit link)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Emiquon):
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visit link)