What is Chicago Wilderness?

Embedded in one of North America’s largest metropolitan regions and stretching from southern Wisconsin, through northern Illinois, into northwestern Indiana and southwestern Michigan, Chicago’s Wilderness is a network of natural areas that includes nearly 360,000 acres of protected lands and waters. These natural areas are home to a wide diversity of life: thousands of native plant and animal species live here among the more than nine million people who also call the region home.

The Chicago Wilderness alliance is a regional alliance that connects people and nature. Our more than 240 member organizations work together to restore local nature and improve the quality of life for all living things by protecting the lands and waters on which we all depend.

Landscapes

The Chicago Wilderness region contains a great biological diversity (biodiversity) of plants and animals living in a variety of natural communities. Biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal species and ecosystems within a geographic area. A natural area is considered “healthy” when there is a high level of biodiversity, an optimal balance of plant, animal, and fish species.

On a regional scale, biodiversity is more than just a diversity of species, but it also encompasses the variety of natural areas, or ecosystems, within Chicago Wilderness — such as prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and waters.

It may be helpful to think about the concept of biodiversity as a set of nesting dolls. The smallest doll is the genetic diversity within a certain species — all the genetic variation in green herons, for instance. The next biggest doll is the diversity of species within a particular natural community — the variety of plants, animals, and insects in a particular prairie, for example. The next doll is the variety of natural communities within a particular region — the prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and waters of Chicago Wilderness. The biggest doll is biodiversity — in the broadest terms, it is the biology of the entire globe; in the smallest terms, it is the diversity of the very genes that make up life.

Prairies: The Legacy of the Land

Throughout much of Midwestern history, the prairie stretched to the horizon and waves of grasses and splendid wildflowers dominated the landscape. Early accounts tell of grasses tall enough to hide a person on horseback. That height must have been rare, but settlers often lost cattle in the pastures of August.

Midwestern prairies were approaching extinction by the 1930s, as millions of acres were converted to cornfields and pasture and developed for residential and commercial purposes. This prompted ecological restoration efforts that continue to this day. The USDA Forest Service Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Will County is the largest prairie restoration ever undertaken. Established in 1996 on the site of the former Joliet Army ammunition plant, Midewin totals more than 15,000 acres.

Prairies are highly interconnected webs of life. Hundreds of plants and animals are inextricably linked to the health of the prairie. Toss a hula hoop on the ground in one of the Chicago region’s remaining prairie remnants and you might find as many as 30 different prairie plants growing within that circle; in a few acres of prairie, we might find a hundred plant species. Animals such as the plains leopard frog, spotted turtle; birds such as the meadowlark, bobolink and sandpiper; and rare insect species are highly dependent on prairies.

Prairies contribute significant ecological benefits to humans as well. Prairies are able to retain considerable amounts of precipitation, minimizing flood damage. Grasslands also store more carbon per acre than most other ecosystems.

Prairies are fire-dependent ecosystems. Without fire, they are overgrown by trees and shrubs that choke out prairie plants. New growth in the prairie sprouts with minerals released by fire. Historical accounts indicate Native Americans set fires every year to improve foliage for bison and elk. Today, restoration groups use controlled burns to reinvigorate prairies and keep them healthy.

Visit a prairie in your area to appreciate this unique ecosystem and support restoration efforts by volunteering to collect and clean seeds, plant native species, or monitor plants and animals.

Landscaping with native plants and creating a mini-prairie in your backyard is a great way to preserve Chicago Wilderness and create a healthier environment year after year. Native plants provide shelter and food to native wildlife more consistently, even during drought or freezing conditions. Native plants are beautiful, hardy, easy to maintain, and better for the environment because they require no fertilizer or mowing.

Woodlands: A Forest by Many Names

Although a forest most readily comes to mind when thinking of trees, several types of wooded communities comprise the unique heritage of Chicago Wilderness.

In savannas, trees stand as lone sentinels among grassland. The bur oak is the most iconic tree of the Midwestern savanna, although white and red oaks are also common. Middlefork Savanna in Lake Forest, Lake County, is a defining example of a savanna in Chicago Wilderness. The 500 acre savanna is located on the middle fork of the Chicago River’s North Branch.

Sun-dappled open woodlands of the Chicago region are one of the most distinctive and diverse in the native landscape. Trees in woodlands grow closer together than those in savannas and are transitional areas between savannas and forests. Open woodlands are home to spectacular concentrations of wildlife, thanks to the many native nut bearing trees — oaks, hickories and walnuts.

Flatwoods develop on land that is flat or gently sloping and are globally endangered habitats, according to The Nature Conservancy. A layer of clay below the surface restricts the movement of water into the ground. During the spring and early summer, water may stand on the surface in puddles and shallow ponds. Flatwoods are crucial amphibian breeding grounds. Salamanders, frogs and toads lay eggs in the ponds, safe from fish. Flatwoods also provide habitat for endangered and threatened plant species such as the purple-fringed orchid and dog violet.

Forests are dense with trees; the treetop canopy covers 80 — 100% of the habitat. Birds, insects, amphibians and reptiles all depend on forests, as do many of the 50 native mammals of the region, including the beaver, river otter, bats, star-nosed mole and white-footed mouse.

The Forest Preserve District system in some counties of Chicago Wilderness is unparalleled among the major metropolitan areas of the country. Founded in Illinois in 1915 for the “education, pleasure and recreation of the public,” forest preserves remain highly active centers of education and restoration.

Healthy woodlands are complex systems important to human health and enjoyment, supporting clean water, clean air, a beautiful landscape and recreation. Volunteers play a critical role in restoration activities, including cutting and removing invasive plants, picking up litter and helping monitor wildlife.

Wetlands: A Natural Filter

Chicago Wilderness is home to one of the most diverse collections of wetlands in North America. Marshes are the most extensive type. Concentrated along rivers and low-lying areas, they can be recognized by the characteristic clumps of vegetation emerging from standing water. Fens occupy hillsides where a constant flow of ground-water from upland areas keeps them wet and the groundwater is rich with calcium and other minerals. Sedge meadows are formed in areas where soil is saturated with water but not submerged. Species dwelling in sedge meadows have keenly adapted to the challenge of living on soil that is sometimes under water and sometimes above. Other types of wetlands in Chicago Wilderness include bogs, panes, seeps, springs and swamps.

Historically, wetlands have been viewed as unpleasant places best avoided or filled in to accommodate development. However, wetlands are nature’s flood control centers, and people living in flood plains can certainly appreciate storm water and drainage ending up in a wetland rather than the basement. Beyond flood control, wetlands serve as a natural filtration system. Water improves in quality as it winds its way through a wetland. Sediments settle into the ground while certain chemicals in the water are broken down and/or removed from the water. It should be noted that the natural services of wetlands should not be abused — wetlands are not water treatment facilities and care must be taken to protect these fragile ecosystems.

Most of the wetlands in the Midwest have been drained or filled; Illinois alone has lost approximately 90% of its wetlands. Although the Federal Clean Water Act forbids the filling of wetlands, they still require rigorous protection and conservation.

The wetlands that remain provide important habitat for plants and animals. Orchids like white lady slippers grow in the remaining wetlands. Ducks like the blue-winged teal scoop up duckweed and snails. Great blue herons, great egrets, and black-crowned night herons fish in shallow wetland waters.

Beavers disappeared from the Chicago region by 1850 due to trapping. Now beavers have returned to build lodges in wetlands and along streams. Muskrats are also a common sight in wetlands in Chicago Wilderness. If you arrive at a wetland early in the morning you might even catch sight of a mink turning in after a long night of hunting.

Still and Moving Waters: A Natural Treasure

The waters of the Chicago region have been subjected to the same kinds of humiliations as other rivers in major industrial, population, and agricultural centers. They have been used at times as open sewers. They have been dumping grounds for industrial wastes and been muddied with run-off from plowed fields. The Chicago River in Illinois and the Grand Calumet in Indiana got the worst of this treatment, although no river escaped without some damage. Over the last 30 years, since the passage of the Clean Water Act and other legislation, conditions are slowly improving.

Several endangered and threatened species live in the lakes, streams, and rivers of the Chicago region, most of them in the lakes of the Fox River watershed, including small fish like shiners and rainbow darters and mussels like the creek heelsplitter. Rivers are also homes to fish like smallmouth and largemouth bass.

Lake Michigan forms the eastern border of the Chicago Wilderness region. Lake Michigan is the sixth largest lake in the world and its role in the Chicago region cannot be overstated. The lake and its surrounding beach and dune communities support rare populations of plants and fish and are highly significant points on the route of millions of migratory birds each year.

For more information on the natural history of Chicago Wilderness, download or order a copy of the Chicago Wilderness Atlas of Biodiversity.

Geographic Area

Chicago Wilderness spans from southeast Wisconsin to northeast Illinois into northwest Indiana and southwest Michigan.

The boundaries of Chicago Wilderness are not political; the boundaries are based on watersheds, or drainage basins, defined as the land area from which surface water (precipitation) drains into a stream, channel, lake, reservoir, or other body of water.

If you still think Chicago Wilderness is an oxymoron, we encourage you to get out and explore! You won’t have to go far to discover natural wonders. Visit Chicago Wilderness magazine’s “Into the Wild” to plan your next adventure!