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Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge

2000 establishments in Illinois2000 establishments in MissouriIUCN Category IVLandforms of Jackson County, IllinoisLandforms of Jefferson County, Missouri
Landforms of Monroe County, IllinoisLandforms of Perry County, MissouriLandforms of Randolph County, IllinoisNational Wildlife Refuges in IllinoisNational Wildlife Refuges in MissouriProtected areas established in 2000Protected areas of Jackson County, IllinoisProtected areas of Jefferson County, MissouriProtected areas of Monroe County, IllinoisProtected areas of Perry County, MissouriProtected areas of Randolph County, IllinoisProtected areas on the Mississippi RiverWetlands of IllinoisWetlands of Missouri
Middle Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge
Middle Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge

The Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge is located on the Mississippi River downstream from St. Louis, Missouri. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge Complex.The refuge consists of three parcels of Mississippi River bottomland, nearly all of it wetland. They are Meissner Island, near Valmeyer, Illinois; Harlow Island, near Festus, Missouri; and Wilkinson Island, near Gorham, Illinois.The Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge has a local headquarters at Rockwood, Illinois, in Randolph County. In all, the refuge is located in parts of Jackson, Monroe, and Randolph counties in Illinois, and Jefferson and Perry counties in Missouri. The refuge relies for much of its staffing on the nearby Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge near Carbondale, Illinois.This Refuge was created in response to the Great Flood of 1993. The three parcels of bottomland that make up this Refuge had been riverine polders, agricultural land protected by dikes. After the dikes were breached by this flood, the damaged land parcels were transferred to the federal government. The Fish and Wildlife Service has announced plans to slowly return these three parcels to the status of semi-natural bottomlands. Pursuant to these plans, the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge was established in May 2000.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge
North Kings Highway,

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N 37.916666666667 ° E -89.916666666667 °
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North Kings Highway

North Kings Highway

Illinois, United States
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Middle Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge
Middle Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge
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Kaskaskia, Illinois
Kaskaskia, Illinois

Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois. Having been inhabited by indigenous peoples, it was settled by France as part of the Illinois Country. It was named for the Kaskaskia people. Its population peaked at about 7,000 in the 18th century, when it was a regional center. During the American Revolutionary War, the town, which by then had become an administrative center for the British Province of Quebec, was taken by the Virginia militia during the Illinois campaign. It was designated as the county seat of Illinois County, Virginia, after which it became part of the Northwest Territory in 1787. Kaskaskia was later named as the capital of the United States' Illinois Territory, created on February 3, 1809. In 1818, when Illinois became the 21st U.S. state, the town briefly served as the state's first capital until 1819, when the capital was moved to more centrally located Vandalia. Most of the town was destroyed in April 1881 by flooding, as the Mississippi River shifted eastward to a new channel, taking over the lower 10 mi (16 km) of the Kaskaskia River. This resulted from deforestation of the river banks during the 19th century, due to crews taking wood for fuel to feed the steamboat and railroad traffic. The river now passes east rather than west of the town. The state boundary line, however, remained in its original location. A small bridge crosses the old riverbed, now a creek that is sometimes filled with water during flood season. In the 2020 United States Census the population was 21, making it the third-least populous incorporated community in Illinois behind Valley City (pop. 14) and Florence (pop. 17). Kaskaskia has an Illinois telephone area code (618) and a Missouri ZIP Code (63673). Its roads are maintained by Illinois Department of Transportation, and its few residents vote in Illinois elections. The town was evacuated in the Great Flood of 1993, which covered it with water more than 9 ft (3 m) deep.