Illinois' senior U.S. Senator has introduced legislation to protect the Shawnee National Forest.
Senator Dick Durbin says the Shawnee National Forest Conservation Act would create 12,700 additional acres of special management areas and 750 acres of wilderness in the Shawnee. He says securing this designation for these acres would offer critical protections to the area.
Durbin's measure stipulates the 12,700 acres of special management areas will be from the following areas: 2,953 acres from Camp Hutchins; 3,445 acres from Ripple Hollow; and 6,310 acres from Burke Branch. The 750 acres of wilderness will be in Camp Hutchins.
The Shawnee National Forest consists of 289,000 acres and its boundaries have been expanded three times since the U.S. Forest Service originally purchased the land in 1933. Roughly 10 percent, or about 30,000 acres, of the Shawnee National Forest is currently protected as wilderness.
