Olin Nature Preserve

Description

Over the years, the Nature Institute in Godfrey has acquired nearly 300 acres of land surrounding the Olin Nature Preserve. Fostering an awareness and appreciation of the natural world, the preserve is one of the largest privately owned nature preserves in the state. Researchers and scientists have identified more than 300 native plant species and 150 species of nesting and migratory birds, as well as nesting and den sites for the American Bald Eagle and the endangered Timber Rattlesnake. Trails throughout the preserve allow visitors to experience the vast landscape, which contains steep limestone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, sinkholes, ravines, bedrock outcrops, small streams, a waterfall, upland forest and loess hill prairie. Year round, visitors to the Nature Institute and its protected lands can engage in wildlife and prairie walks, bird migration hikes and a number of habitat hunting hikes to view the wildlife indigenous to the preserve. Sitting adjacent to the preserve, the Kemp & Cora Hutchinson Bird Sanctuary features a .75 mile interpretive grassland bird trail, looping through the sanctuary. An observation platform offers visitors a bird’s eye view of the 150 native plant species of the prairie.