The Department of Conservation now has a fund derived from a tax on computer software to purchase land for state parks and forests. In 1820, Illinois had 13.8 million acres of forest. Today, 90 percent of the remainging 4.26 million acres are privately owned and most of those are small areas. About 25 area of 1,000 acres or more remain in the entire state. The newly purchased Sinnissippi is the only state forest in northern Illinois. there are only four other state forests: Sand Ridge at Forest City in Mason County - 7,500 acres Trail of Tears at Jonesboro in Union county - 5,100 acres Big River at Oquawka in Henderson County - 3,000 acres Hidden Springs at Strasburg in Shelby County - 1,200 acres Carrol Mick [email protected] www.iltrails.org/iroquois www.iltrails.org/ford www.iltrails.org __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com