Throughout the Illinois River valley, human history is entwined with a beautiful and abundant landscape, and in Bureau County that connection is preserved through both cultural and natural conservation. The Red Covered Bridge, completed in 1864 as part of the Galena Trail laid out in 1833 from Peoria to Galena, is one of just five covered bridges in Illinois still open to vehicle traffic and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. It recalls the frontier era, when settlers welcomed a bridge that spared them a wet crossing through Bureau Creek with horse and wagon. Nearby, the 7-acre Old Indian Boundary Line Prairie reflects the region's conservation story: before white settlers came to Illinois, tallgrass prairie covered roughly two-thirds of the state, but today less than 1/100th of one percent remains, and managers use prescribed fire there to restore native habitat and support prairie wildlife. At the 33-acre Warnecke Woods, the Bureau County Soil and Water Conservation District restores habitat by removing non-native trees, shrubs, and herbs so native plants can thrive and provide food and shelter for wildlife.