[citation needed] As with other wilderness areas within Shawnee National Forest, the Clear Springs Wilderness is made up of second-growth forested areas that were used, until the land acquisitions of the 1930s, as agriculture land.

The steep eastern bluffs over the Big Muddy River were not good ground for agriculture.

Firewood was cut here, and farmers may have tried to use the region's well-watered, temperate climate for livestock grazing.

Snake species found here include the black rat, common king, rough green, western ribbon, ringneck, red-bellied, black racer, the venomous copperhead, and the venomous cottonmouth.

[5] The LaRue-Pine Hills zone has also been listed as an Important Bird Area of Illinois.