Reclaiming a natural asset: Nature at the Confluence
By Kay Kruse-Stanton
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acre urban ecological park that members hope will bring
residents together, provide opportunities to learn about
the area’s natural and human history, and spur further
renovation and economic development. In time, the park
could encompass about 75 acres.
Beloit 2020, a private non-profit organization, is focusing
its considerable energy on turning the area into a 34.4-
“It’s where a Ho Chunk (Winnebago) village was, and it is
where the first European settlers started the community
that is today Beloit,” said Jeff Adams, professor emeritus
or decades the confluence of Turtle Creek and the
Rock River in South Beloit, Illinois, has been an
uninviting area of littered grasslands, dense woods,
and the detritus of more than 100 years of industrial use.
That’s about to change.
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