The Bald Knob Wilderness is a 5,973-acre (24.2 km²) parcel of land listed as a

Wilderness Area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

of the United States. It is, by acreage, the second largest wilderness area located within the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It is located within the

Shawnee National Forest The Shawnee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, United States. Administered by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, it consists of approximately 498,615 acres (2,100 km²) ...

in northwestern

Union County, Illinois Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 17,244. Its county seat is Jonesboro. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as " Litt ...

Second-growth wilderness

As with other wilderness areas within Shawnee National Forest, the Bald Knob Wilderness is made of

second-growth A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused disturbances, such as timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or equivalently disruptive natura ...

forested areas that were used, until the land acquisitions of the 1930s, as

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

land. The

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

, which manages the wilderness, describes it as a land of "homestead

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

trees, cemeteries, and abandoned roads." The steep western slope of ''Bald Knob'', a high hill or low mountain within the Shawnee Hills region of far southern Illinois, was never good ground for agriculture. Firewood was cut here and farmers tried to use the region's well-watered, temperate climate to grow orchard fruits such as

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s. Shawnee National Forest was created in 1939, and in 1990, the Illinois Wilderness Act set aside seven separate parcels of land within this National Forest as relatively small wilderness areas. The Bald Knob Wilderness, one of these parcels, is a roadless parcel of land within the national forest. Visitors who travel by road to the Bald Knob Cross, as they drive up the east side of the mountain to the cross, skirt the Bald Knob Wilderness on their drive. As with the mountaintop cross, the nearest municipality is Alto Pass, Illinois. The Bald Knob Wilderness borders the

Clear Springs Wilderness The Clear Springs Wilderness is a 4,730-acre (19.1 km2) parcel of land listed as a Wilderness Area of the United States. Adjacent to it is the LaRue-Pine Hills Research Natural Area, a National Natural Landmark noted for a large and divers ...

, which lies to the north and west. The two wilderness parcels are separated by Hutchins Creek. Both wildernesses are served by the

River to River Trail The River to River Trail is a 160 mile (256 km)-long hiking trail that serves Shawnee National Forest in far southern Illinois. The trail is used by both equestrians and hikers. About half is on off-road trails. Its eastern terminus has hi ...

References

External links

United States Forest Service
{{coord, 37, 33, 02, N, 89, 22, 39, W, display=title IUCN Category Ib Protected areas established in 1990 1990 establishments in Illinois Protected areas of Union County, Illinois Wilderness areas of Illinois Shawnee National Forest