Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area
Location:Northeast Illinois, in Grundy County, 50 miles southwest of Chicago and
1 mile southwest of the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines
rivers.
Facilities:Picnic areas, restrooms, hiking trails (7 miles), visitor center. A
boat launch and boat rental concession is available at Heidecke
Lake, a 2,000-acre cooling pond that lies adjacent to Goose Lake
Prairie.
Activities:Hiking, picnicking, interpretive programs; fishing and hunting at Heidecke Lake.
Special Features:At one time more than half of the state of Illinois was covered with
prairie, which is how it earned the nickname "the Prairie State."
Today, the 2,500-acre Goose Lake Prairie is the largest remnant of
prairie left in
Illinois. Goose Lake itself was drained by settlers in 1890 in order to
gain more farmland, leaving only the ponds and marshes that remain at
the site today. Most of the prairie is now made up of tall prairie
grasses, and the rest consists of broad-leaved flowering plants known
collectively as forbs.
Address:5010 N Jugtown Rd
Morris, IL 60450
Phone:815-942-2899
Web: dnr.state.il.us/Lands/Landmgt/PARKS/I&M/EAST/GOOSE/HOME.HTM
Size: 2,537 acres.
See other parks in
Illinois.