Clinton Lake State Recreation Area

Clinton Lake State Recreation Area

If you’re looking for the ideal place to drop your line and catch a record fish, look no farther than Clinton Lake State Recreation Area. Recreational opportunities abound at this 9,300-acre facility, just 3 miles east of Clinton in central Illinois. From picnicking, hiking and camping to swimming, water skiing and boating to hunting for upland game, people from all over the Midwest flock to Clinton Lake to enjoy the great outdoors. If just relaxing and watching the animal life is your interest, Clinton Lake has various small mammals and nearly 40 species of birds, including osprey, which dive into the lake for fish. In the spring, it is the place to search for morels. In the fall, it is ablaze with a rainbow of color. The park land actually belongs to AmerGen which operates a nuclear power plant in the area. The State of Illinois has operated the park since 1978 through a long-term lease with the utility company. The partnership demonstrates that the state government and private businesses can work together to provide outstanding recreation. History Prior to the arrival of settlers in the area, the land on which the park rests primarily was upland prairie and bottomland deciduous forest. Historians believe the area likely was the site of small villages and hunting camps of tribes of the Illini Confederacy. Kickapoo also likely were in the area until the 1820’s. The first permanent European-born settlers came to the area in the 1830’s. Many of them came from Kentucky and Tennessee and farmed the land. Most of the area had been used as pasture or cropland at the time construction of the 4,900-acre lake began in the 1970s.