Dixon Waterfowl Refuge

The broad, bluff-lined river basin was rich in fish, shellfish, waterfowl, and peltry, exploited by Native Americans and by 1800s pioneers.

[3] The Hennepin area was so rich in wetland productivity that the New York City-based American Fur Company operated a fur-trading post here in the 1810s.

In 2000 eight farm families agreed to sell most of the Hennepin drainage district to a young not-for-profit conservation organization, The Wetlands Initiative.

[3] In December 2014, The Wetlands Initiative purchased 417 acres of adjacent upland, the Hickory Hollow parcel adjoining Illinois Route 26.

[6] The parcel, of which 283 acres will be kept as a permanent addition and restored to a mix of habitats, includes the primary groundwater drainage zone into the Refuge's Dore Seep,[7] a 26-acre dedicated Illinois Nature Preserve[8] located near the site's southern end.

Nelumbo lutea, American lotus at Dixon Waterfowl Refuge
The Dixon Waterfowl Refuge in 1999. The area was lined with clay drain tile and mechanically drained to create arable farmland .