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B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Mason Township

Mason Township has 749 acres of parks, 446 for every 1,000 residents

33% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 6.8 miles of mapped trail cross Mason Township, 0.2 per square mile of land. 3% of Mason Township’s land is conserved, about 749 acres.

Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
3%
749 acres · of 37.1 sq mi of land
Trails
6.8 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
749 ac
446 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
33%
of residents within ½ mile

What kind of outdoors town is Mason Township?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Mason Township have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Mason Township is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Mason Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 55%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. 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
Who protects it

749 conserved acres

3% of Mason Township’s land. Who manages Mason Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State natural resources747 ac
Town or city2 ac
State Conservation Area · 747 acLocal Park · 1 acUnknown · 1 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Wildcat Hollow State Habitat Area
State Conservation Area
State natural resources747Open
Edgewood Park
Local Park
Town or city1Open
Edgewood Ball Field
Unknown
Town or city1Open
Trails & water

1 named trail

Named trails
County Road 350 North0.3 mi
When to get out

August is the best month for walking in Mason Township

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.710.711.813.214.314.914.613.712.411.110.09.4
High (°F)374253667584878680685342
Rain (in)3.02.43.45.04.94.84.23.43.13.53.82.8

February is the driest month (2.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 5.0 inches fall in April, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Mason Township →

Next door

Mason Township and its neighbors

Mason Township has the most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Mason Township3%0.244633%B−
West Township— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Larkinsburg Township— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Union 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 Mason Township

How much of Mason Township is conserved land?

3% 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.

Is there public land near Mason Township?

1,022 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Mason Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 750 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Mason Township have?

Ahead of 55% 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 Mason Township neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →