1
Witkowsky State Wildlife Area
Nature preserve
1,028 acres8.5 mi of trail
Walnut TrailCedar TrailOak TrailHickory TrailEarth Station Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Rice
Rice, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 31% of Rice is conserved land, roughly 5,922 acres. There are about 16 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Witkowsky State Wildlife Area (8.5 mi), Casper Bluff Land and Water Reserve (3.5 mi), and Winston Tunnel State Natural Area (1.4 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Rice, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Rice outdoors
Conserved land
31%
5,922 of 18,883 acres
Trails
16 mi
0.5 mi per sq mi · 14 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
4
named on the map
Bike routes
2.1 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 2.1 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Casper Bluff Land and Water Reserve
Managed by Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation
83 acres3.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Winston Tunnel State Natural Area
Nature preserve
227 acres1.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
Managed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
11 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Beaches in Rice
Bellevue Beach
Trails
Named trails
Unpaved 13.7 mi
- Walnut Trail3.9 mi
- Cedar Trail1.9 mi
- Oak Trail1.3 mi
- Hickory Trail0.8 mi
- Alpine Slide0.4 mi
- Earth Station Trail0.1 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
5,922 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 1,102 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths2.1 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Rice
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Recreation Management Area 3,031 acState Conservation Area 1,280 acConservation Easement 1,234 acNational Wildlife Refuge 429 acPrivate Conservation 285 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ms Rv Pools 11-22 Recreation AreaRecreation Management Area | Army Corps of Engineers | 3,031 | Open |
| Witkowsky State Fish and Wildlife AreaState Conservation Area | State natural resources | 1,054 | Open |
| Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife And Fish RefugeNational Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 429 | Restricted |
| Apple River Canyon State ParkState Conservation Area | State natural resources | 226 | Open |
| Princess Mine Algific SlopePrivate Conservation | Private owners | 155 | Restricted |
| Casper Bluff Land and Water ReservePrivate Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 84 | Open |
| Rice Algific SlopePrivate Conservation | Private owners | 46 | Restricted |
| Asgard Natural Heritage LandmarkPrivate Historic or Cultural | Private owners | 18 | Closed |
| Princess Mine Algific Slopes Natural Heritage LandmarkPrivate Historic or Cultural | Private owners | 1 | Closed |
History
Historic places to visit
EffigyIn Casper Bluff Land and Water Reserve · Archaeological site
MoundIn Casper Bluff Land and Water Reserve · Archaeological site
Prospect Hill Methodist Episcopalian CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Rice and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice | 31.4% | 16.0 mi | 4 |
| East Galena | 2.9% | 9.3 mi | 5 |
| Elizabeth | 5.3% | 0.0 mi | 4 |
| Hanover | 29.8% | 30.9 mi | 8 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Rice's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20.9-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.