Every place has a History.
Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area is no different. Early settlers to Illinois,
in an attempt to describe the unfamiliar terrain they were encountering,
referred to it as “a sea of grass with pretty flowers.” Today, Goose Lake
Prairie State Natural Area serves as testimony to the prairies that once covered
nearly 60 percent of the state.
Located in Grundy County,
Goose Lake Prairie is approximately 50 miles southwest of Chicago and 1 mile
southwest of the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers. More than
half of Goose Lake Prairie is a dedicated nature preserve, protected by law for
future generations from any change to the natural environment. In addition to
furnishing a look into Illinois’ past, the prairie provides important nesting
habitat for endangered or threatened species of birds, such as the upland
sandpiper and Henslow’s sparrow.
History
Goose Lake Prairie was
sculpted by glaciers. The flat landscape with its clay-based soils was formed as
the last vast sheets of ice melted more than 14,000 years ago. The area became
part of a continuous grassland that stretched from Indiana to the Rockies.
At one time, well over half
of Illinois was covered with prairies, earning it the nickname of “The Prairie
State.” Goose Lake Prairie, whose original 240 acres were purchased by the state
in 1969 and which now totals 2,537 acres, is the largest remnant of prairie left
in Illinois. Buffalo, wolf and prairie chicken once inhabited the area that is
now Goose Lake Prairie.
Mound-building groups of
Native Americans lived northwest of the area in what is now Morris. Tribes of
the Illini confederation intermittently inhabited the area, hunting and planting
corn, squash and beans. They and other Native Americans, including the
Potawatomi led by Chief Shabbona, existed with the land, making few permanent
changes.
Settlers, relying on the
land for their livelihoods, made drastic changes to the area: they planted trees
to serve as windbreaks and fences for their farms; in an effort to gain more
farmland, they drained the 1,000-acre Goose Lake into non-existence; they
removed the underlying clay, first to make pottery and jugs and later for fire
brick; they mined coal beginning in the 1820s and in 1928 began strip mining the
land.
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The
Prairie’s Present
Goose Lake Prairie State
Natural Area is a study in contrasts. Tall Grass Nature Trail displays the
largest stand of tall grass prairie remaining in Illinois. Marsh Loop Trail
shows the ponds and marshes that resulted from the 1890 decision by local
farmers to drain Goose Lake. Prairie View Trail takes you to the highest point
in Goose Lake Prairie - a strip mine spoil mound - and offers a panoramic view
of reclaimed mine areas, prairie and prairie marsh.
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Grasses And
Flowers
Visiting Goose Lake Prairie
today is much like seeing the Prairie State as it was 150 years ago. Tall
prairie grasses, including big bluestem, Indian grass and switch grass, make up
60 percent of the prairie. By far the tallest of these is prairie cordgrass,
commonly reaching heights of 8 to 12 feet. When you're near 2-foot-tall northern
prairie dropseed, you may get the sudden urge to see a movie - its seeds smell
like hot buttered popcorn.
Broad-leaved flowering
plants, known collectively as forbs, compose the prairie’s other 40 percent.
Cream false indigo, shooting star and violets are the first to bloom toward the
end of April or early May, while New England asters and goldenrod bring up the
rear of the colorful display in early September. Autumn is a lovely time on the
prairie - some say its the prettiest season of the year - as prairie cord
grass, big bluestem, switch and other grasses turn bronze and
gold.
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Wildlife
Wildlife sightings are the
order of the day at Goose Lake Prairie. Animals living here include deer,
coyote, red fox, cottontail rabbit, muskrat, beaver and badger. Barred owls and
red-tailed, Kestrels and marsh hawks are among the birds of prey you may see.
Marsh birds such as red-winged blackbirds, killdeer, great blue herons and great
egrets might be spotted in the warmer months, while waterfowl species include
Canada geese, wood ducks, mallards and blue-winged teals. In addition to the
area’s year-round inhabitants like ringneck pheasants and northern bobwhites,
migrating birds include catbirds, eastern kingbirds and a variety of warblers.
The marsh is home to
turtles, snakes and frogs, while butterflies frolic among the flowers each
spring and summer. Rare papaipema moths, previously thought to be
extinct, have been found here.
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(quoted directly from IDNR web site)
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