Natural Areas Management
Bolingbrook Park District manages a total of 1,107 total acres of which 487.4 acres are wetlands, prairies and woodlands. Our dedicated natural resources staff work tirelessly to manage and enhance our community’s natural areas. Every year they embark on a number of restoration projects as well as performing maintenance on areas restored in the past.
Wetland Management
Wetlands are typically a transitional zone between terrestrial habitats and open water. They come in many different classifications based on the types of vegetation and water source. Some common wetland categories include: marshes, fens, bogs, wet prairies and sedge meadows. Surface water does not need to be present for an area to be considered a wetland.
Wetlands perform many vital functions for our local ecosystem. Some of these functions include:
- The deep root systems of native wetland plants help reduce erosion along waterways and ponds, especially during flooding events.
Wetlands can help reduce the severity of flooding by holding water after storms and slowly releasing it down stream. The soils of wetlands are capable of holding much more water than other soil types.
- Wetland vegetation helps to filter out pollutants from storm water and road way runoff before it enters our groundwater.
Provide habitat for many aquatic and terrestrial animals to breed, forage, and find shelter.
Proper restoration and management are necessary for a wetland to continue to provide all of these benefits. Typical wetland restoration tasks include:
- Removing invasive species such as phragmites, cattails, purple loosestrife and reed canary grass.
Maintaining or removing excessive woody growth such as willows, cottonwood, alders, buckthorn, and honeysuckle. - Maintaining or removing excessive woody growth such as willows, cottonwood, alders, buckthorn, and honeysuckle.
Seeding or plugging native plant species to develop a species diversity to help establish a healthy ecosystem for fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and insects.
Some parks with wetlands currently being restored by the Bolingbrook Park District are:
Prairie Path Wetland
Prairie Management
Prairies are a type of grass land common in the midwestern United States. They are typically made up of a combination of tall grasses and flowering plants. Most of these plants are incredibly drought tolerant due to their extensive root systems. Some prairie plants have roots that can grow up to 20 feet deep. In the 1820’s, Illinois had 22 million acres of prairie. During the late 1800’s and 1900’s most of this was converted for agriculture purposes. Today there are less than 2,300 acres of high-quality prairie in Illinois.
Prairie restoration and management are important to help ensure that we do not lose these great ecosystems forever. Prairies not only add beauty to the landscape, but they are also important habitat for wildlife and a great source of food for our pollinators. It is important to know that unlike traditional landscaping, prairie plants can take longer to establish and if significant invasive management is needed, it can take several years to start to see a prairie’s true beauty.
Some of the restoration methods utilized to maintain or restore a prairie are:
- Mechanical control (hand pulling, mowing, or brush cutting) of annual and biennial weeds such as queen Anne’s lace and sweet clover.
- Chemical control of perennial weeds such as reed canary grass, Kentucky blue grass, Canada thistle, teasel, crown vetch, and white clover.
Prescribed fires are also conducted every few years to help control woody plants and some invasive plant species.
Some parks where the Bolingbrook Park District is currently restoring prairies are:
Woodlands Management
Woodlands are an ecosystem dominated by trees. These plant communities are typically described by the types of trees that dominate the woodland (Oak-hickory, maple-elm, etc.) and by the density of the tree canopy. Woodlands are important ecosystems for mammals, insects and birds.
Due to the introduction of several aggressive plant species, most woodlands need to be managed in order to protect a healthy diversity. Some common management practices for woodlands include:
- Removal by cutting and burning of invasive trees and shrubs including: buckthorn, honeysuckle, Russian and autumn olive, multiflora rose, oriental bittersweet, white mulberry, etc.
Removal by mechanical control or herbicide applications of invasive grasses and forbs such as: reed canary grass, garlic mustard, poison ivy, ornamental ground covers, etc.
- Thinning of native tree species like sugar maple. This has become necessary in some woodlands because years of fire suppression have resulted in unnatural tree densities that prevent sunlight from reaching the forest floor.
Some Bolingbrook Park District sites that contain woodlands are:
Invasive Species Management
The natural resources team works to remove invasive species from our natural areas using a variety of different methods. It is important to remove invasive species because they can often out compete native species for space and resources, not allowing them to grow or germinate. The result is the undesirable plant taking over large areas forming a monoculture (an area made up of a single species of plant). This can be devastating to an ecosystem because many native animal species are not adapted to use these invasive plants for food or shelter.
The control methods our natural resources team uses to help maintain or restore our natural areas are usually broken up into a few categories.
- Mechanical Control – hand pulling, mowing or brush cutting, usually of annual or biennial weeds, to prevent them from producing the seeds necessary to create the next generation of plants.
Chemical control – applying selective or non-selective herbicides to control perennial weeds when mechanical controls are not possible. All herbicide applications are performed by Bolingbrook Park District staff that are licensed by the state of Illinois in safe and proper use of herbicides.
- Brush clearing – cutting and removal of invasive tree and shrub species that have taken over our prairies and the lower canopy of our woodlands. The removed material is either burned on site via brush piles or chipped and used throughout our parks as mulch for trails or landscape beds.
- Tree thinning – cutting and removing select trees from a woodland in order to obtain a healthier tree density. When woodland canopies become too dense they prevent sunlight from reaching the forest floor reducing or completely preventing the growth understory plants and new trees.
Prescribed burning
Prescribed Burns
Every year in early spring and late fall, Bolingbrook Park District staff conduct prescribed burns in selected natural areas. Safety is our highest priority. All burns are led by an Illinois Certified Prescribed Burn Manager, and carried out by staff certified in wildland fire safety. Fire plays a role in managing our natural communities by helping to control undesirable woody vegetation. Prescribed fire is also beneficial to native plants and wildflowers. It encourages new seed growth by removing leaf litter or dead plant material; allowing sunlight to reach the soil, increasing seed germination and plant growth.
There are many variables we consider when determining which sites to be burned such as wind speed and direction, vegetation moisture, and humidity levels. Due to these variables, there is no set schedule in place as to which areas will be burned. If you have any questions about our prescribed burns, please contact our Buildings, Grounds and Natural Resources Department at (630) 739-4696.
