Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Area
Managed by Illinois Department of Natural Resources
2,601 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: ProfDEH · CC BY-SA 3.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Lacon Township
Lacon Township has 3,134 acres of parks, 1,350 for every 1,000 residents
31% of Lacon Township’s land is conserved, about 3,477 acres. 91% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 3.0 miles of mapped trail cross Lacon Township, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
31%
3,477 acres · of 17.4 sq mi of land
Trails
3.0 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
3,134 ac
1,350 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
91%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
2 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Lacon Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Lacon Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lacon Township is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lacon Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land31% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land1,350 acres of park per 1,000 residents (3,134 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13A+Parks close to home91% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 90%
LessMore
Water is 21% of Lacon Township’s area (5 of 22 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 25%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A− 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.
Johnson's Grove Park
Park
19 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Lacon Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
3,477 conserved acres
31% of Lacon Township’s land. Water is left out: Lacon Township has 17.4 square miles of land and 4.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Lacon Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources2,620 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits641 ac
Private owners233 ac
Town or city21 ac
State Conservation Area · 2,620 acPrivate Park · 521 acPrivate Conservation · 233 acPrivate Recreation or Education · 120 acLocal Park · 21 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 2,620 | Open |
| Wild Wing Duck Club Private Park | Land trusts & nonprofits | 414 | Open |
| Crow Creek Bluff Forest Private Conservation | Private owners | 189 | Closed |
| Lockport Duck Club Private Park | Land trusts & nonprofits | 107 | Closed |
| Tri-City Gun Club Private Recreation or Education | Land trusts & nonprofits | 85 | Open |
| Crow Creek Marsh Private Conservation | Private owners | 44 | Restricted |
| Midwest Gun Coll. Association Private Recreation or Education | Land trusts & nonprofits | 36 | Closed |
| Lacon Park District Local Park | Town or city | 19 | Open |
| Lacon Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Lacon Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Lacon Township
Lacon Public Access
DirectionsPlus 1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
4Baseball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Lacon Township: August 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 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 37 | 50 | 63 | 74 | 83 | 86 | 84 | 78 | 65 | 50 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 1.9 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 86 °F). 4.7 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Lacon Township →
Next door
Lacon Township and its neighbors
Lacon Township has the second most mapped trails of the 7 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Chillicothe Township3.5 miLacon Township3.0 miRichland Township2.3 miPartridge Township1.6 miSteuben Township1.3 miHenry Township0.9 miHopewell Township0.5 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lacon Township | 31% | 0.2 | 1,350 | 91% | A |
| Steuben Township | 12% | under 0.1 | 1,926 | 46% | B |
| Chillicothe Township | 15% | 0.2 | 174 | 71% | A− |
| Richland Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Hopewell Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Partridge Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Henry Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Lacon Township
How much of Lacon Township is conserved land?
31% 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 Lacon Township’s trails?
Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Area and Johnson's Grove Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Lacon Township?
14,177 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lacon Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3,134 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Lacon Township have?
Ahead of 90% 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 Lacon 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 →