8 OutdoorIllinois

Eldon Hazlet are camping, boating andeducation. The site’s numerous cottagesare another prime attraction and are nes-tled in a beautiful natural setting.

“We love the way the park looks—and how it changes from season toseason,” Tatham remarked. “We havereintroduced hundreds of acres ofnative prairie grasses and wildflowers,and our nearly 1 million visitors ayear really seem to enjoy viewing thenative vegetation.”

Tatham went on to explain thatEldon Hazlet features the state’slargest campground, with 327 Class Asites, 35 Class C sites, a walk-in tentcamping area and two rent-a-cabins onthe bluff overlooking the lake. At leastone-third of the campsites are either onthe water or have a view of the lake.

The recently completed Carlyle

STORY BY KATHY ANDREWS

AND P.J. PEREA

Something for

Everyone

An hour from St. Louis, Carlyle Lake’s recreation complexis attractive to all outdoor enthusiasts.

Did you know that watching col-orful regattas and billowing sailsin the sunset, camping in the

wild, experiencing life in a cozy cabinand learning about natural resources areall options at one Illinois state park?

In fact, Eldon Hazlet State Park onCarlyle Lake has the distinction ofbeing the premier sailing location inthe Midwest. National regattas are heldthere each year, as well as a localregatta nearly every week from Maythrough October. A special claim tofame occurred in 1994 when the Car-lyle Sailing Association, a not-for-profit organization based within thepark, hosted the St. Louis Metropolitanarea sailing event for the 1994Olympic Festival Games.

Site Superintendent Gary Tathamnotes the other principal activities at

Homer Guthrie Pond is a popular

fishing and bird watching site.

(Photo by John Bunnell.)

Carlyle Lake is the Midwest’s

premier sailing location. (Photo by

Chas. J. Dees.)

November 2002 9

Lakefront Cottages offer million-dollarviews of the lake. The 14 duplex andsix single-unit cottages are availableyear-round. Accommodations include abedroom, living room, full-sized bath-room and kitchenette equipped with amicrowave, stove, refrigerator and cof-fee-maker. Tableware, cookware, uten-sils, towels and linens are provided.

The family-friendly cottages includeaccess to a private dock in the Casey-Dempsey Cove, satellite TV, barbecuegrills and a covered porch for watchinga beautiful sunset or children playingon the new playground equipment.

“Most families that visit us want todo more than just stare at the sky andlook at the water,” Tatham said. “Forthat reason, we gear ourselves to fami-lies with children. We have found that

if the children are happy and content,then the parents are as well.”

Education is an important activity atthe park. A full-time interpreter con-ducts on-site and school-based educa-tion programs and organizes children’sfishing derbies, youth hunts and weeklycampground programs during the primecamping season. More than 800 schoolchildren participate in programs eachyear at the Wetland Education Center.

The swimming pool opened duringthe summer of 2002, drawing nicecrowds from the adjacent campgroundsuntil it closed just after Labor Day.The pool will reopen Memorial Day.

If all that isn’t enough for you, con-sider touring the more than eight milesof guided hiking trails, including twowheelchair-accessible trails. Along theCherokee Trail, visit Burnside Ceme-tery, a restored cemetery containingpre-Civil War tombstones.

The park also has a series of rearingponds that produce the more than800,000 fish stocked in Carlyle Lake

annually. These pondsprovide a great oppor-tunity to learn aboutresource steward-ship and attractbirders for viewingducks, cormorants,herons and egrets.

A new attraction inthe park is HomerGuthrie Pond, situated

The Eastern massasauga rattlesnake, an Illinois endangered species, is found at Carlyle Lake. This shy,retreating snake is, at an average length of less than 30 inches, the smallest of Illinois’ venomous snakes.

Massasauga’s live in old fields, marshes, bogs and floodplain forests where they feed on small rodents. Fewmassasauga’s remain in Illinois, due to the loss of prairie marshes, their preferred habitat.

The DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have initiated studies to learn about thehome range and habitat requirements of this snake. Researchers from the Illinois Natural History Survey have placedtags and transmitters on several snakes to monitor their movements. Park staff are working to identify winter hibernac-ula of the snakes and conduct prescribed burns of prairie restorations to occur while the reptiles still are underground.

Have you seen television shows of whale identification usingphotos? We’ve got the same process going on in an Illinois State

Park! Photographs are taken of all massasaugas and kept in a three-ring binder. Capturedsnakes are compared with the photographs to determine if it is a recapture or a new snake.

One of the most popular campground education programs at the park is about reptiles. Contactthe park office for scheduling information on these summer programs.

Enjoy the wildlife you encounter in the park. Don’t handle or disturb any wildlife, regardless if itis a baby bird, raccoon, bat or snake. It is highly unlikely, but should you happen to sight a massas-auga rattlesnake at the park, please aid researchers by reporting the sighting to the park office.

Informationyou can use:

Address: Eldon Hazlet State Park,20100 Hazlet Park Road, Carlyle, IL62231.Telephone: (618) 594-3015.Directions: The park is easily accessi-ble from either I-70 or I-64. FollowIllinois 27 to the park entrance road,three miles north of Carlyle.Website: http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R4/eldon.htm.Carlyle Lakefront Cottages: For reser-vations, call toll-free 1-877-342-8862 oremail cottages@midwest.net. Two-nightminimum stay, three-night minimum onholiday weekends. Deposit required. Nopets allowed.Nearby attractions: Carlyle LakeProject Office of the U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers (618) 594-2484; VisitorCenter (618) 594-5253; West AccessMarina (618) 594-2461; BoulderMarina (618) 226-3223; KeyesportMarina (618) 749-5222; Carlyle Sail-ing Association Marina (618) 594-3622; and Governor’s Run GolfCourse (618) 594-4585.

Eldon HazletState Park

Carlyle LakeState Fish andWildlife Area

Nestled against the bank of Carlyle

Lake, the new cottages offer splen-

did views and comfortable accom-

modations. (Photo by Adele Hodde.)

(Photos by Adele Hodde.)

10 OutdoorIllinois

diversity of songbirds and shorebirdsthat come there year-round.

“Besides great waterfowl hunting,the site offers tremendous opportuni-ties for bird watching, wildlife view-ing, photography or just taking a hike,”Site Superintendent Bob Hammelexplained. “We have an active pair ofnesting bald eagles, and we’re one ofthe few sites that has bald eagles visit-ing on a regular basis.”

With 25 miles of rock-topped leveesencompassing four water-controlledsubimpoundments, hikers and bikersshould have no trouble finding some-thing interesting to see at Carlyle Lake.A recent hike revealed wood ducks andteal lounging around a flooded timberbackwater area, double-crested cor-morants and great blue herons fishing

across from the campground store.This five-acre water feature is stockedwith bluegill, catfish and largemouthbass, and has proven popular for youthfishing derbies and tournaments.

Eldon Hazlet State Park is not onlya beautiful park, it’s one that providessomething for everyone—all whilemaintaining that welcoming family-centered orientation.

Bird MeccaTo many waterfowl enthusiasts,

Carlyle Lake State Fish and WildlifeArea is synonymous with the thou-

Founding Father

Eldon Hazlet was a Carlyle attor-ney who chaired an effort from

March 1955 to May 1965 to create alake on the Kaskaskia River for floodprotection and recreational opportuni-ties. He was recognized by the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers for “hiswholehearted, enthusiastic and untir-ing support for water resources devel-opment in the State of Illinois.”

Today, the U.S. Corps of Engi-neers and the Department of NaturalResources jointly manage 26,000acres of water and 11,000 acres ofpublic land. In addition to the 3,000-acre Eldon Hazlet State Park and itssister facility, South Shore State Park,DNR manages the Carlyle Lake StateFish and Wildlife Area at the northend of Carlyle Lake.

sands of migrants that annually flockto this aquatic bird haven—ducks. Butthere is a lot more going on there thanjust quacking.

The site, which spans more than9,500 acres of bottomland hardwoodforest, wetlands, grasslands, wood-lands and croplands, is home to manyother popular game species, such aswhite-tailed deer, turkeys, squirrels,northern bobwhite, rabbits, geese,ducks and mourning doves. Hundredsof acres of shallow-water wetlandsattract a multitude of shorebirds,including common snipe, the state-threatened least bittern, short-billeddowitcher, sora, solitary sandpiper andlesser and greater yellowlegs. Mem-bers of local Audubon clubs are regu-lar visitors to the site to view the

The newly completed swimming pool

enhances the family orientation of

the park. (Photo by John Bunnell.)

The Burnside Family Cemetery (left)

contains 17 headstones dating to

1832. (Below) More than a third of the

campsites have a view of the lake.(Photoby

John

Bunnell.)

November 2002 11

for a meal along the edges of emergentvegetation, water snakes sunning them-selves on the levee path, deer browsingon the abundant greens, frogs andtoads snacking on buzzing insects andschools of tiny bullheads waiting forthe spring floods to wash them backinto the Kaskaskia River.

Much of the site is dedicated to water-fowl management, with approximately1,000 acres of land providing food plotsfor migratory ducks and geese.

“We typically plant corn, Japanesemillet, milo and buckwheat,” Hammelsaid. “And we also manage, throughwater-level control, to create severalhundred acres of moist-soil foodplants, such as smartweed, barnyardgrass and sedges.”

Hammel said he always encouragesschool groups, educators and clubs to

come out for a tour of this uniquemosaic of habitats.

The site is one of the premier water-fowl sites in the state, regularly rank-ing first or second in harvest eachseason. Last year’s 14,000 bird harvestbroke the previous record of 11,700ducks. This was despite the mediocre2001 duck season brought on by theunusually mild fall and winter.

Ducks Unlimited is a staunch sup-porter of the site’s waterfowl program,and its national organization and localchapters take an active role. Groupssuch as Carlyle Lake Waterfowlers,Migratory Waterfowlers and Mississip-pi Valley Waterfowl help enhance thesite’s habitat and assist with the repairof levees, planting of food plots and

erection of wood duck boxes.Trapping is allowed on the site with

a permit from the site manager, andthere also are hunting opportunities fordeer and upland game.

Whether you’re into hunting birdsor just watching them, Carlyle LakeState Fish and Wildlife Area is oneplace you should definitely visit. Formore information, including regula-tions, call (618) 425-3533.

Informationyou can use

Address: Carlyle Lake State Fish andWildlife Area, R.R. 2, Box 233, Van-dalia, IL 62471.Telephone: (618) 425-3533.

Related websitesDepartment of Natural Resources:dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R4/CARLYLE.HTM.Tourism: www.carlylelake.com.Birdwatcher’s Checklist (compiledby local grade school students): www.monroe.k12.il.us/websites/dkassebaum/checklist.htm.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Carlyle.

Hundreds of acres

of wetlands offer ample

opportunities for duck hunters.

(Photo by Adele Hodde.)

An aerial view of the food strips

(above) planted for migrating

waterfowl. (Right) The

diverse habitat attracts more

than just ducks and geese.

(Photoby

AdeleHodde.)

(Photoby

PaulW

illms.)