Green River State Wildlife Management Area — Attraction in Hamilton Township

I used to love visiting this site for nature hikes and wild-life viewing.

Unfortunately, the DNR has spent the last few years cutting down all of the site's forested areas and wild brushy habitat. These features (towering pines, 100 yr oak trees, thick wild brush, and the wildlife it supported) were really the only reasons the site was worth visiting. What's left now is basically a swamp (w/ tons of mosquitos) surrounded by flat, featureless, shadeless land and some poorly maintained hiking trails.

And now, they've started cutting down the last tiny remaining pockets of forest---to create another few acres of undifferentiated grass on a site that already has 1000 acres of undifferentiated grass. It's terrible to watch.

For over 15 years, Green River provided me with tranquility and an uncommonly powerful experience of nature. But during recent visits, as I've hiked past stumps of the 100+ year old oak trees they've cut down, the only thing I've felt is sadness--and disgust. And I don't even want to think about how much money they've spent turning something that was so great into what it is now.

I've decided to never go back. And based on the site's completely empty parking lots, I think a lot of other former visitors feel the same way. (I've met dozens of people at the site, and I've never met a person who supported what they've done to it.)

If given the choice, I would have rather they just close the site down, rather than ruin it like they have. The money they've wasted here could have done a lot of good at other...

My friend and I went there for the first time to hunt Doves. Since we went late in the season we didn't expect to shoot much, and we didn't, but instead we enjoyed some time in the nature that was almost better that bagging daily limit. Place is pretty easy to find (don't rely on GPS since it will take you to the prohibited area). It's not close to Chicago, but that works to its advantage - when we went there was almost nobody else around (lot was completely empty). As to the habit, it is much better than what I have seen at other places around Kankakee or DES Plains public lands. Easy to follow trails and easy to notice food plots. We'll be definitely back for Dove hunt...

I go to this location because it's one of the few areas in Illinois where the sky's are their darkest and you can see the Milkyway with your naked eyes, and cameras pick it up even better. Outside of that, the landscape is not good. There's a semblance of a park near the back but again, not really much to see....and watch the crazy raccoons out there!!!! I had one that was a decent size chase me back into my car and the thing even limbed on the car and stared at me through...