The Middle Fork of the Vermilion: The best Headwaters streams have beds of gravel, sand, and cobbles that create oxygen-rich boulder riffles, travel raceways, and clear pools.

The Middle Fork

The Middle Fork is the Headwater's crown jewel. Named Illinois' first State Scenic River in 1986, the 83-mile-ling stream offers a rare glimpse of presettlement Illinois. It ambles freely through still-wooded banks atop the sand and gravel bottom that in most other Illinois streams has long since been buried by sediments. Exposed groundwater seeps from its banks in the form of springs, and in its bluffs nest cliff swallows.

The Middle Fork hosts plants and animal communities that are distinct in Illinois. At least 250 species of birds have been recorded in the valley, with at least 125 species have been known to bred here. The Middle Fork area is home to 45 mammal species, 13 reptile species, and 40 breeding bird species.

Because they tend to be inaccessible to the plow, hill prairies are among the last "living windows" into the pre-settlement Illinois ecology. One of these survives as the Windfall Prairie Nature Preserve, 61 acres (including buffer areas) on a bluff in Kennekuk Cove County Park beside the Middle Fork. Prairie dock, Indian paintbrush, stiff gentian, and downy phlox are among the dry-loving plants found on this exposed spot.

A controversial 1960s plan to build a large reservoir by damming the Middle Fork near Oakwood was scuttled in 1978. In 1989 the Middle Fork was granted permanent protection by being named a National Scenic River by the U.S. Secretary of Interior - the first Illinois river to be included in the National Wild and Scenic River System.

Native Americans from the Woodland Period through historic times camped along such streambeds to harvest their many resources. Some 200 archeological sites have been identified along the Middle Fork. The Collins Archeological Complex, ceremonial mounds from the late Woodland and Mississippian periods, has been designated a historical site and is under federal protection.

Today's area residents harvest different resources from the Middle Fork than did the Native Americans - hours of canoeing, fishing, hiking, and nature study, using more than 8,400 acres of public parks and preserves along its banks.

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