Kankakee River State Park
Managed by Illinois Department of Natural Resources
596 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: User:Visviva · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Custer Township
Custer Township has 720 acres of parks, 479 for every 1,000 residents
13% of Custer Township’s land is conserved, about 2,115 acres. 45% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 9.0 miles of mapped trail cross Custer Township, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
13%
2,115 acres · of 25.8 sq mi of land
Trails
9.0 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
720 ac
479 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
45%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.1 mi
0.1 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Custer Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Custer Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Custer Township is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Custer Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land13% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (9 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land479 acres of park per 1,000 residents (720 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13A+Parks close to home45% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 77%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
2,115 conserved acres
13% of Custer Township’s land. Who manages Custer Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources987 ac
Regional agency535 ac
County505 ac
State conservation412 ac
Private owners249 ac
State Conservation Area · 1,528 acLocal Conservation Area · 585 acConservation Easement · 575 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1 acre is a conservation easement, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kankakee River State Park State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 436 | Open |
| Wilmington Shrub Prairie State Natural Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 389 | Open |
| Sand Ridge Savanna Nature Preserve State Conservation Area | Private owners | 249 | Closed |
| Evans-Judge Preserve 2 State Conservation Area | Regional agency | 162 | Restricted |
| Kankakee Sands Preserve 4 Local Conservation Area | County | 156 | Restricted |
| Kankakee Sands Preserve 2 State Conservation Area | Regional agency | 150 | Restricted |
| Kankakee Sands Preserve 3 Local Conservation Area | County | 142 | Restricted |
| Sand Ridge Savanna Preserve 2 State Conservation Area | Regional agency | 142 | Restricted |
| Sand Ridge Savanna Preserve 3 Local Conservation Area | County | 78 | Restricted |
| Kankakee Sands Preserve 1 Local Conservation Area | County | 75 | Restricted |
4 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Biking & sports
0.1 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.1 mi
off-road bike paths
When to get out
The best walking months in Custer Township: April and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.5 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.1 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 37 | 49 | 62 | 73 | 82 | 85 | 83 | 78 | 65 | 49 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.2 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.6 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Custer Township →
Next door
Custer Township and its neighbors
Custer Township has the second most mapped trails of the 5 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custer Township | 13% | 0.3 | 479 | 45% | A− |
| Wesley Township | 11% | 0.2 | 531 | 54% | B+ |
| Salina Township | under 1% | under 0.1 | 35 | 1% | C− |
| Wilmington | 32% | 0.1 | 235 | 88% | A− |
| Reed Township | 5% | 0.7 | 11 | 62% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Custer Township
How much of Custer Township is conserved land?
13% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Illinois town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Custer Township’s trails?
Kankakee River State Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Custer Township?
0.1 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.1 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Custer Township?
31,611 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Custer Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 720 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Custer Township have?
Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Custer Township neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →