Fur Yield and Autumn Foods of the Raccoon in Illinois River Bottom Lands

Illinois is properly considered a prairie state, but has several large river bottom areas. On the west, south, and southeast it is bounded respectively by the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers for over 1,000 miles. In addition, the Illinois River Valley, long a famous region for fish, waterfowl, and fur animals, extends nearly 300 miles northeasterly through the state. The Rock River in the north, the Sangamon in the center, and the Embarras and Kaskaskia rivers in the south, add materially to the bottomlands. Bounding and interior streams have flood plains in Illinois aggregating over 4,500,000 acres, more than half of which is forested (Case and Myers, 1934). In some contiguous and southern states the flood plain type may reach even greater proportions& This habitat has always been important for wildlife, and of late years is of increased significance with the emphasis on programs for conservation, river improvement, and flood control. Bottomland is undoubtedly the preferred habitat of raccoons and over much of the vast Mississippi basin is the best range available for numerous forms of wildlife. This paper is a contribution toward the management of river bottom lands.