A portion of Hayes Creek Canyon, Pope County. The rock outcrops 
support commumties of red cedar, post oak, and blackjack oak. 
—Photo by Jon Nickles 
oak-hickory communities probably because fires have been controlled for 
40 years. 
The problem of preservation vs. management is quite real in the Pine 
Hill Ecological Area located on the Shawnee National Forest of southern 
Illinois. The Forest Service has set the area aside and is preserving it be- 
cause of its unique habitats and plant communities which include several 
hill prairies. The exclusion of fire from these hill prairies, however, is caus- 
ing severe encroachment from trees and shrubs and will cause the eventual 
disappearance of such prairies. It appears that these areas must be periodi- 
cally burned (“managed” in the biocentric sense) or they will disappear. 
@ A diversity of natural areas: 
The unique geographic position of Illinois is the reason for the wide 
variety of habitats and communities found within the State. In the north- 
ern portion of the state are elements of boreal, northern, and central plant 
communities including bogs and marshes, white pine forest, northern hard- 
wood forests of sugar maple, basswood, and ash, oak-hickory forests, cedar 
glades, and sand-dune communities along Lake Michigan. Associated with 
each community is a variety of animal life. The central part of the state 
was once a vast stretch of tall grass prairie most of which has been plowed 
and planted to corn. A few prairie remnants may remain along railroads. 
In southern Illinois are found elements of the central and southern 
communities including oak-hickory forests of many different species and 
covering much of the landscape, mesic forest or sugar maple, beech, hack- 
