Golden Oaks Farm

Farm Foundation

Lunch at Farm Foundation (Included with Registration) 

Urban Farm Center

Liberty Prairie – Prairie Crossing Conservation Farm

4:00 PM Return to the College of Lake County - Grayslake Campus 

5:00 PM Optional: Join fellow attendees from all of today's field trips at a networking/social gathering at Bills Pizza and Pub North

The native seed nursery at Rollins Savanna was established in 2005 as a source of native seed for restoration projects across the Lake County Forest Preserves properties. The nursery has grown steadily since then, now yielding over 500 pounds of seed from over 300 different species of native species each year. The nursery gives our restoration ecologists access to rare plants that are cost prohibitive or unavailable from commercial nurseries. 

This tour will include an in-depth look at our nursery beds, seed processing facility, greenhouse and aquatic nursery. Be prepared for a 1.5 mile hike, partially off trail. 

Chicago Botanic Garden

Go behind the scenes for a rare look inside the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Nursery and Production Greenhouses and the Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank. Learn how the Garden’s production department grows more than half a million plants each year, and how their work supports the Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science and Action and the natural areas that make up more than half the Garden’s Glencoe campus. 

Then bundle up to check out the millions of native seeds frozen in the Garden’s Seed Bank and learn why banking seed is critical for preventing extinctions, supporting habitat restoration, and contributing to scientific research.  

Schedule: 

8:00 AM registration begins at the College of Lake County Grayslake Campus 

8:30 AM Bus Departs. 

Stops include:

4:00 PM Return to the College of Lake County - Grayslake Campus

5:00 PM Optional: Join fellow attendees from all of today's field trips at a networking/social gathering at Bills Pizza and Pub North which is a short drive from the campus.

Formally established in 2010, the Lake Plain Coalition unites state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, volunteers, and other partners in a shared effort to conserve and manage the Lake Plain. Today, more than 20 organizations work together to protect the ecological integrity of this unique landscape—demonstrating what can happen when partners move beyond individual sites to work toward a common vision.

Morning field trip schedule:

8:30 AM Meet at parking lot southeast of North Point Marina for check-in. North Point Dr, Winthrop Harbor, IL 60096

8:45 AM Intro to the Lake Plain Coastal Preserves and the Lake Plain Coalition

9:00 AM Illinois Beach State Park

10:00 AM Spring Bluff Forest Preserve

10:45 AM Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area

12:00 PM Return to parking lot southeast of North Point Marina

LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED

Tour Schedule:

9:30 AM Meet at the Lost Valley Visitor Center in Ringwood for check-in

10:00 AM Overview of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge in the Savanna Room at Lost Valley Visitors Center

10:30 Load buses

Stops include:

2:30 PM Return to Lost Valley Visitor Center

5:00 PM Optional: Join fellow attendees from all of today's field trips at a networking/social gathering at Bills Pizza and Pub North which is a short drive from the campus.