CliffNotes
Hunting for Conservation
A great irony is that many wildlife species might not survive at all were it not for hunters trying to kill them. Our nation’s 12.5 million hunters have become essential partners in wildlife sustainability and management. By the end of the 19th century it was clear that game and non-game wildlife in this country were […]
Nature’s Gifts to Our Bluff Lands: Limestone & Loess
How curious, even paradoxical, that Euro-Americans, the great landscape transformers who fashioned farms from forests, bistros on beaches and Disneylands in deserts, have for centuries continued to turn to nature’s landscapes for inspiration. So much of our venerated poetry, prose, music, art, even today’s digital fantasy gamescapes, reflect a yearning to somehow recapture and return […]
Our Bluff Lands Provide Perfect Habitat for Nature’s Jewels: Butterflies.
Butterflies, alighting on one flower and then another, have long fascinated and delighted humans with their diverse and gorgeous colors. Butterflies are nature’s jewelry. Legend has it that the name butterfly came from ancient Britain, where people likened yellow brimstone butterflies fluttering in woodlands in early spring to butter flying. The astounding transformation of butterflies […]
Birds of Prey Are Powerful Predators in Our Ecosystem
…The wild hawk stood with the down on his beak, And stared with his foot on the prey. Tennyson captured the simple occurrence, the happenstance of a successful predator’s hunt for food with these lines from The Poet’s Song. The sight of a hawk or falcon searching for and finding food is a thrilling experience. […]
Frogs and Toads Serenade the Spring Nights
Love is in the air. It isn’t just the proverbial birds and bees making song in hopes of making love, though the dawn chorus of songbirds and midday hum of bees, is all about establishing territories and getting on with the springtime necessity of homemaking and raising a new generation. Beginning as early as February, […]
Spring Wildflower Walk Is Also a Path into History
A springtime wildflower hike on the flat and easy Johnson Trail at Valmeyer’s Salt Lick Point Land and Water Reserve is both a walk in the footprints of the past and a promise of a protected future. Native Americans preceded our footsteps along the trail for at least three or four millennia. Archeological evidence at […]
Owls: An Integral Part of our Southwestern Illinois Ecosystem
Owls are a mysterious night prowler usually heard but seldom seen. Four species of owls are year round residents in this region: barred owl, great horned owl, eastern screech owl and barn owl. During February and March each year they are very vocal and territorial as they begin their annual courtship and mating rituals for […]
Our Bluffs & Bottoms: Treasure Trove of Native American History
With the founding of Clifftop in 2006 a concerted effort began to document and understand our bluff land corridor’s natural history and land use cultural history. Our earliest focus area was the Renault Grant. The Renault Grant is a 10,000-acre area in the southwestern portion of Monroe County. In 1723, the king of France […]
Rivers Run Under Us: Karst Topography of Porous Limestone
Rivers run under us. An amazing underworld lies beneath our bluff lands. Our region’s distinctive geologic history literally laid the groundwork for the area’s unique subterranean landscape, a rugged, yet beautiful topography called “karst.” Beginning about one billion years ago, earth’s first continents rifted and began migrating to the equator. What was to become Illinois […]
Mississippi River Bluff Ecosystems Are Studied for Biodiversity
Our Mississippi River bluff land corridor is one of the most diverse natural areas in Illinois. The corridor constitutes its own ecosystem – the Northern Ozark Natural Division – and stands on its own singular geologic formation — the Salem Plateau – both science-based measures of the region’s uniqueness in the state. An ecosystem is […]