Sale of land next to Ill. park almost complete

CHARLESTON — The sale of 140 acres of woods and ravines adjacent to Fox Ridge State Park to a nature-preservation group is scheduled to close week.

The Journal-Gazette in Mattoon reports that the Urbana-based Grand Prairie Friends group expects to pay about $412,000 for the privately owned tract known as Dolan Woods this week. Fox Ridge State Park is about 5 miles south of Charleston in eastern Illinois.

Grand Prairie Friends President Jamie Ellis said the group plans to remove invasive plant species from the site. The group is also trying to have the land registered by the state as a nature preserve.

Dolan Woods is adjacent to both the state park and Warbler Woods Nature Preserve.