[3] Much of the Lick Creek drainage is intensely farmed arable land.

This 340-acre (1.4 km2) riparian zone was designated as the Lick Creek Wildlife Preserve by its owner, the Springfield, Illinois-based City Water, Light & Power, in 1991.

According to Sangamon County, the watershed protection zone contains a notable grove of mixed sugar maples and chinkapin oaks.

[4][5] In addition, a 120-acre (0.49 km2) creekside parcel, the Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary near Loami, has been redesignated for restoration as tallgrass prairie.

Lick Creek gave its name to a short-lived Fourierite phalanx, a Utopian socialist community that operated near Loami in 1845–1846.