Pecatonica River
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The Pecatonica River is a tributary of the Rock River, 120 mi (193 km) long, in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in the United States.
It rises in the hills of southwest Wisconsin, in southwest Iowa County, 2 mi (3.2 km) west of Cobb. It flows south, then southeast, past Calamine and Darlington. In southeast Lafayette County it receives the East Branch Pecatonica River, approximately 8 mi (13 km) north of the state line. It flows SSE into Illinois, past Freeport, where it turns east, then ENE, receiving the Sugar River in northern Winnebago County, 5 miles (8 km) south of the state line. It joins the Rock at Rockton, approximately 15 miles (25 km) north of Rockford.
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[edit] Illinois parks
The river is the chief attraction of the new 1,048-acre (4.2 km²) Pecatonica Wetlands Forest Preserve in Winnebago County off U.S. Highway 20 near Pecatonica, Illinois. The forest preserve contains oxbow wetlands and bottomland forest.
The river also flows past the 466-acre (1.9 km²) Pecatonica River Forest Preserve off Illinois Route 70 near Pecatonica. The forest preserve contains a bottomland forest designated as an Illinois Natural Area.
At the mouth of the Pecatonica is the 281-acre (1.1 km²) Macktown Forest Preserve on Illinois Route 75 near Rockton, the site of the ghost town of Macktown or Pe-Katonic. All three forest preserves are operated by Winnebago County.
[edit] Wisconsin parks
The river is the focus of the 110-acre (0.4 km²) Pecatonica River Woods State Natural Area near Mineral Point, Wisconsin in Iowa County, owned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and designated as a natural area in 1992. The Pecatonica River Woods was listed on the basis of possessing a diverse range of forest ecosystems, from southern dry, through mesic, to floodplain.
