County Woodlands
The table below shows the number of acres (in thousands) of woodland by county estimated by four different surveys over the last 200 years in Illinois. These numbers have been excerpted from the "Forest Resources in Illinois, 2002" report by Bretthauer and Edgington, and rounded to the nearest 1,000 acres. In the report, the authors explain that the Forest Service went to some effort to standardize the 1998 (satellite) and 1985 (aerial) surveys so that they could be compared meaningfully. The same cannot be said of the 1924 and 1820 surveys, the former taken by car and horseback and the latter by examining land office records. So, compare these numbers horizontally with a good deal of caution.
A map of the 1820 land office records is
available here.
The table also includes the number of individuals owning forestland in each county from a study by Mary Lowry of the University of lllinois in 1996. She used tax assessor records to count anyone owning 15 acres or more.
To make the acreage numbers more meaningful, the rightmost column shows the size of each county in thousands of acres. If woodland acreage is 50% or more of the county's entire land area, the acreage is in
boldface.
COUNTY |
# of Forest
|
1998 |
1985 |
1924 |
1820 |
County |
NAME |
Landowners |
USDA FS |
USDA FS |
INHS |
Land Office
|
Size |
|
1996 |
(000 acres)
|
(000 acres)
|
(000 acres)
|
(000 acres)
|
(000 acres) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adams |
1,167 |
101 |
72
|
38
|
292
|
548
|
Alexander |
311 |
71 |
55 |
44 |
148 |
151
|
Bond |
615 |
41
|
36
|
19
|
76
|
243
|
Boone |
86 |
1 |
0 |
5
|
83
|
180 |
Brown |
611 |
56 |
55 |
15 |
156 |
196
|
Bureau |
647 |
39 |
50
|
34
|
116 |
556
|
Calhoun |
683 |
69 |
76 |
39 |
141 |
136
|
Carroll |
451 |
27 |
16 |
25 |
152
|
284
|
Cass |
350 |
38 |
43 |
33 |
91 |
241
|
Champaign |
80 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
40 |
638
|
Christian |
252 |
17 |
18 |
4 |
53 |
454
|
Clark |
885 |
60 |
72 |
NA |
175 |
321
|
Clay |
772
|
44 |
44 |
34 |
112 |
300
|
Clinton |
824 |
27 |
24 |
56 |
97 |
303 |
Coles |
493 |
42 |
26 |
33 |
104 |
325
|
Cook |
44
|
50 |
34 |
24 |
82
|
605
|
Crawford |
768
|
53 |
60 |
27 |
156 |
284
|
Cumberland |
645 |
27 |
16 |
22 |
82 |
221 |
Dekalb |
133
|
2 |
4 |
6 |
30 |
405
|
Dewitt |
147 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
50 |
254
|
Douglas |
38
|
7 |
8 |
3 |
41 |
267 |
DuPage |
7
|
5
|
4 |
10 |
29 |
214
|
Edgar |
493 |
9 |
9 |
39 |
136 |
399
|
Edwards |
376
|
21 |
12 |
14 |
77 |
142
|
Effingham |
785
|
60 |
63 |
30 |
87 |
307
|
Fayette |
1,227
|
82 |
110 |
48 |
218 |
458 |
Ford |
22 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
11 |
311 |
Franklin |
494 |
55 |
67 |
41 |
214 |
263
|
Fulton |
1,545
|
100 |
118 |
70 |
353 |
554
|
Gallatin |
342 |
42 |
22 |
53 |
207 |
207
|
Greene |
923
|
44 |
42 |
34 |
173 |
348
|
Grundy |
199 |
4 |
4 |
9 |
24 |
269
|
Hamilton |
621 |
37 |
36 |
35 |
254 |
278
|
Hancock |
1,018
|
54 |
52 |
34 |
151 |
509
|
Hardin |
470
|
65 |
58 |
35 |
112 |
114 |
Henderson |
307 |
42 |
55 |
23 |
64 |
243
|
Henry |
386 |
29 |
41 |
14 |
94 |
527
|
Iroquois |
300
|
19 |
34 |
7 |
56 |
714 |
Jackson |
1,007
|
141 |
129 |
92 |
361 |
376 |
Jasper |
737
|
43 |
23 |
30 |
124 |
316
|
Jefferson |
931
|
71 |
73 |
38 |
270 |
365 |
Jersey |
709 |
46 |
44 |
47 |
142 |
236
|
Jo Daviess
|
1,042
|
61 |
56 |
60 |
307
|
384
|
Johnson |
934 |
88 |
109 |
65 |
221 |
221 |
Kane |
154
|
13 |
20 |
9 |
117 |
333
|
Kankakee |
130
|
18 |
26 |
4 |
24 |
433 |
Kendall |
118 |
6 |
10 |
9 |
22 |
205 |
Knox |
656 |
37 |
36 |
36
|
138 |
458
|
Lake |
84
|
23 |
0 |
19 |
190 |
287
|
LaSalle |
557 |
42 |
46 |
29 |
111 |
726 |
Lawrence |
460 |
31 |
38 |
25 |
145 |
238
|
Lee |
212 |
25 |
21 |
11 |
47 |
464
|
Livingston |
213 |
21 |
23 |
6 |
30 |
668 |
Logan |
142 |
12 |
21 |
4 |
54 |
396
|
Macon |
91
|
18 |
14 |
4 |
48 |
372 |
Macoupin |
906 |
76 |
87 |
61 |
148 |
553
|
Madison |
817 |
60 |
51 |
30 |
188 |
464 |
Marion |
1,251 |
88 |
73 |
42 |
150 |
366 |
Marshall |
281 |
23 |
21 |
27 |
67 |
247
|
Mason |
227
|
27 |
19 |
39 |
78 |
345
|
Massac |
538
|
32 |
41 |
32 |
154 |
153 |
McDonough |
568
|
42 |
55 |
23 |
112 |
377
|
McHenry |
386 |
27 |
32 |
7 |
166 |
387
|
McLean |
205 |
13 |
11 |
7 |
82 |
758
|
Menard |
135
|
28 |
25 |
22 |
69 |
201
|
Mercer |
511 |
40 |
33 |
27 |
72 |
359
|
Monroe |
734 |
57 |
49 |
58 |
218 |
248 |
Montgomery |
666 |
47 |
55 |
47 |
97 |
451
|
Morgan |
524 |
39 |
40 |
15 |
126 |
364 |
Moultrie |
171 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
51 |
215
|
Ogle |
512
|
38 |
36 |
28 |
178 |
486
|
Peoria |
828
|
66 |
53 |
50 |
187 |
397
|
Perry |
611 |
49 |
59 |
61 |
178 |
282 |
Piatt |
37 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
24 |
282
|
Pike |
1,197
|
115 |
162 |
34 |
364 |
531
|
Pope |
560
|
158 |
124 |
65 |
236 |
237 |
Pulaski |
339 |
42 |
37
|
24 |
129 |
129 |
Putnam |
183 |
25 |
11 |
19 |
42 |
102
|
Randolph |
730 |
84 |
92 |
80 |
278 |
369 |
Richland |
776
|
41 |
34 |
23 |
120 |
230 |
Rock Island
|
346
|
42 |
28 |
36 |
147 |
273
|
Saline |
438 |
62 |
59 |
35 |
245 |
245 |
Sangamon |
222 |
40 |
47 |
61 |
124 |
556
|
Schuyler |
845 |
76 |
84 |
38 |
200 |
280 |
Scott |
487 |
15 |
14 |
11 |
99 |
161 |
Shelby |
686 |
41 |
44 |
48 |
143 |
486
|
St. Clair
|
683
|
53 |
40 |
48 |
211 |
425 |
Stark |
130 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
43 |
184
|
Stephenson |
340 |
31 |
29 |
12 |
141 |
361 |
Tazewell |
490
|
27 |
28 |
45 |
129 |
415
|
Union |
957
|
116 |
100 |
73 |
263 |
266 |
Vermilion |
323
|
42 |
46 |
6 |
118 |
164
|
Wabash |
231
|
14 |
19 |
10 |
100 |
143 |
Warren |
308 |
21 |
29 |
17 |
67 |
348
|
Washington |
669
|
54 |
58 |
51 |
120 |
360 |
Wayne |
876 |
63 |
56 |
70 |
290 |
457 |
White |
502 |
43 |
49 |
19 |
295 |
317 |
Whiteside |
439
|
19 |
15 |
17 |
155 |
438
|
Will |
317 |
33 |
26 |
20 |
67 |
536 |
Williamson |
802 |
93 |
74 |
40 |
258 |
271 |
Winnebago |
267
|
35 |
35 |
18 |
94 |
328
|
Woodford |
424
|
42 |
44 |
37 |
93 |
338
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
State Totals
|
51,938
|
4,331
|
4,266
|
3,022 |
13,804
|
35,165
|
Woodland:
Illinois 4,300,000 acres - 12% of land area
Neighboring States' Woodlands
Iowa 3,000,000 acres - 8%
Missouri 14,000,000 acres - 31%
Indiana 4,500,000 acres - 19%
Wisconsin 16,000,000 acres - 46%