Fults Hill Prairie

Eastern Red Cedar and Limestone Glade

Overlooking Kidd Lake Marsh

Fults Hill Prairie overlooks the American Bottom near Fults, Illinois. When the last glacial ice sheet wasted away, it filled the Mississippi gorge with sediment leached out of the ice. The winter winds kicked up the soil and deposited it on the Mississippi River bluff. A grassland prairie took root on the steep hillside, thinning as the soil thinned at the edge of the bluff. An oak forest anchored the top of the vary steep hill. The eastern red cedar is an invasive tree that must be removed by cutting and burning. To learn more about Fults Hill and other cliff top prairies go to http://www.clifftopalliance.org.