Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
Home to over 20 miles of trails, historical ruins, sweeping prairie landscapes plus a herd of bison, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie is one of the best natural treasures in our region.
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Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
Since the early 1990s, Openlands has worked to establish, restore, and protect the Chicago region’s largest conserved open space, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Will County, Illinois.
Following several years of advocacy by Openlands and a coalition of 23 partners, President Clinton established Midewin in 1996 as the nation’s first national tallgrass prairie. Now stretching across more than 19,000 acres, Midewin is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, and with the support of a broad coalition, we are together working to expand public programming, restore globally-rare landscapes and habitat, and ensure that this spectacular natural treasure is permanently protected for future generations.
Midewin is today considered one of the most important conservation initiatives in Illinois of the 20th century and a model process for the conversion of surplus federal property to public open space. It is home to a herd of American bison and countless species of wildlife, and it is part of the national mosaic of your public lands.
We encourage you to visit the prairie, and you can start planning your visit to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
Grant Creek Watershed Restoration Project
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie is on a journey of renewal! This area is part of a long-term project designed to transform the upper Grant Creek Watershed and restore it to healthy native grasslands interlaced with meandering headwater stream channels. Low quality trees and shrubs are being removed from 1,300 acres (~1,000 football fields) of an abandoned bunker field and land that is currently a mix of stream channels, trees and shrubs, and agriculture.
While the site may initially look barren, woody removal is the essential first step in restoring the vast, open grassland and complex stream habitat that once thrived here. Clearing trees and shrubs will allow the prairie, stream, and floodplain wetlands to return and flourish, providing critical habitat for rare grassland birds like the Henslow’s Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark. And we all will benefit from this unique opportunity to enjoy the diversity of plants and wildlife returning to the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie!
Restoration projects like this one are helping to revive our state’s namesake as the Prairie State, improving biodiversity and the health of the entire region.
This project is a partnership of the US Forest Service, the Wetlands Initiative, and Openlands. It has been made possible by generous funding from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.
