Kickapoo Creek Watershed

Our Vision: To protect the Watershed using the concept of a geopark.

The Mission

In 2021, the Friends of Rocky Glen voted to expand their purpose and activities to protect the Kickapoo Creek Watershed using the concept of a geopark. Geoparks provide a framework to understand the many aspects of a watershed, including the geology, biology and human land use. A Kickapoo Creek Geopark will give people a sense of pride in their region; begin to identify and address environmental injustice; develop recreational opportunities; and create and restore wildlife habitat.

The Kickapoo Creek Watershed is defined as the seven miles of streamway from Jubilee College State Park and Historic Site southeast to Wildlife Prairie Park plus the final thirteen miles of Kickapoo Creek to the confluence with the Illinois River.

our strategies

Education, Restoration and Habitat, Collaboration

Education Actions

  • Develop educational hikes, signage, public discussions slide show presentations, brochures and social media.
  • Solicit opportunities to talk about the geopark with local stakeholders such as neighborhood organizations, NAACP, urban and rural landowners, and church, school and youth groups.

Restoration and Habitat Actions

  • Conduct regular workdays to achieve these goals including trash clean-ups, alien plant removal and habitat improvement workdays.
  • Recruit and train volunteers, seeking to develop a diversity of age, gender, cultural and economic background. We will encourage autonomy and science-based development.

Collaboration Actions

  • Develop a ten year vision for the watershed encompassing recreational amenities, natural areas preservation and watershed healing opportunities. 
  • Recruit local biologists, geologists, naturalists and historians to help identify possible geopark sites and stories and develop education/interpretive materials for the proposed geosites.
  • Engage with local/state governments and elected officials to describe our vision and secure their support.
  • Seek appropriate funding from public and private donors and grants to develop trails and signage at sites within the geopark; publish a route for a vehicle tour of the geosites within the geopark; and promote tourism of the Kickapoo Creek Watershed.
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