Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area

Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Map of the U.S. state of Illinois showing the location of Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area
Location	Cass County, Illinois, USA
Nearest city	Chandlerville, Illinois
Coordinates	40°00′15″N 90°10′00″W / 40.00417°N 90.16667°W / 40.00417; -90.16667Coordinates: 40°00′15″N 90°10′00″W / 40.00417°N 90.16667°W / 40.00417; -90.16667
Area	16,550 acres (6,698 ha)
Established	June, 1993
Governing body	Illinois Department of Natural Resources

The Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area (JEPC) is a conservation area located within Cass County in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is 16,550 acres (6,698 ha) in size. A mix of plowed upland prairie and Panther Creek woodlands, the site is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is drained by the Sangamon River. It is named for former Governor of Illinois Jim Edgar.

Originally part of the territory controlled by the Illinois Confederacy of Native Americans, the Panther Creek basin was largely settled by the 1850s. As the basin is adjacent to the historic road between Springfield, Illinois and Beardstown, Illinois, now Illinois Route 125, it was relatively attractive as farmland.

Acting on the basis of rapidly increasing forecasts in Illinois demand for electricity, the Chicago-based electric utility, Commonwealth Edison, purchased farmland making up the future Jim Edgar site in 1968-74 for potential use as a coal-fired generating plant and adjacent 5,000-acre (2,023 ha) cooling pond. For this purpose the parcel was renamed "Site M."

The "Site M" power plant would have burned high-sulfur Illinois coal. Due to the passage of the federal Clean Air Act, the use of Illinois coal for electrical power purposes became less economically attractive to Commonwealth Edison in the 1980s and 1990s. After holding the land in 1974-1993, the utility agreed to sell it to the state of Illinois.