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Natural History Glaciers once covered this region of central Illinois up until about 14,00 years ago. As the climate warmed and the ice sheets began to melt and retreat northward, plants rapidly reinvaded this area. At first these plants were small, low growing, and similar to tundra plants of the North. Later these plants were replaced by a coniferous forest of spruce and fir trees. Gradually these evergreen trees gave way to our present forests of deciduous hardwoods. Most of these trees grew along stream banks and on areas of higher ground. Lower lying moist areas became covered with prairie and marsh grasses. Patton Woods is a remnant of the once extensive forest along the Middle of the Vermillion River. The forest is in a good natural state, very similar to how the first pioneers found the area. But because of the tree clearing by early settlers, only about 8,000 acres of forest remain in Champaign County of an original 50,000 acres of timber. Areas such as Patton Woods are part of the scattered woodlands still remaining in central Illinois. |