| Volo Bog State Natural Area | |
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IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area)
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| Location | Lake County, Illinois, USA |
| Nearest city | Ingleside, Illinois |
| Area | 1,150 acres (4.65 km2) |
| Established | 1970 |
| Governing body | Illinois Department of Natural Resources |
Volo Bog State Natural Area is a 1,243 acre (4.5 km²) site maintained by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (Illinois DNR). Named for Volo Bog - a quaking bog, the site also contains woodlands, savanna, marshes, prairie restoration areas, shrubland and old fields. Volo Bog itself was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1973 as the only remaining open-water quaking bog in Illinois.[1] It is located on Brandenburg Road about a mile west of U.S. Route 12 between the towns of Volo and Fox Lake, Illinois.[2]
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The bog itself is 47.5 acres (0.2 km²) in size. It was originally a steep-sided lake created by the melting of a large chunk of glacial ice at the end of the Wisconsonian glaciation. About 6,000 years before the present, a mat of sphagnum moss began to grow out into the water, playing a major role in the evolution of this geological feature from a lake into a bog.
As the sphagnum mat aged and thickened, the developing bog (already poorly-drained) became acidic. The bog's changing pH levels encouraged the growth of other acid-loving plant species, such as leatherleaf, certain specialized orchids, and coniferous tamarack trees. The develop of a tamarack grove on the edge of the bog signaled further change in the wetland.
By historic times, Volo Bog was deep into the process of plant succession. While the center of the bog remained a pool of open water, shallower sections of the sphagnum-moss cushion had begun to provide a substrate for the growth of woody plants, such as tamaracks and poison sumac. The edges of the bog were further developing from a bog into a slightly drier wetland.
A state-owned protective zone around the bog displays further stages of plant succession. The entire state park displays a microcosm of plant succession, from bog, through wetland, to sedge-grass meadow.
During the 1800s, Volo Bog was known to neighbors but not to outsiders. While the damp meadows surrounding the bog provided pasturage for a dairy farm, the bog itself was not economically utilized. The first field study mentioning Volo Bog was published by W.G. Waterman of Northwestern University in 1921.
As the 1900s moved forward, population growth in the greater Chicago area placed Volo Bog under threat from residential development. The Illinois chapter of the Nature Conservancy purchased the 47.5-acre (192,000 m2) bog itself and donated it to the University of Illinois in 1958. The university served as the bog's custodian from 1958 until 1970.
Growth in public sensitivity toward ecological concerns in the 1960s led to fears that the bog could not survive as an isolated unit. It became clear that the wetlands and meadows surrounding the bog formed an essential element in the survival of the bog itself, as well as serving as a teaching tool for plant succession. In 1970, with widespread local public support, the University of Illinois transferred the bog to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the state of Illinois began purchasing parcels of land surrounding the bog to create the current 1,150-acre (4.7 km2) park.
Volo Bog was listed as a National Natural Landmark in 1973. One of the wetland farm's original, circa 1900 dairy barns was renovated and reopened as the bog's Visitor Center in 1980.
Work since 1980 has concentrated on rebuilding and maintaining trails throughout the bog, increasing the accessibility of the bog and visitor center for persons with disabilities, and operating continuing ecology-education programs for adults and schoolchildren.
Volo Bog State Natural Area currently offers two major trails. An elevated, 0.5-mile (0.8 km) boardwalk leads from the Visitor Center into the bog itself. A 2.75-mile (4.4 km) ground trail circles through the wetlands and meadows surrounding the bog.