Enjoy the Natural Beauty of Skokie Lagoons in Winnetka

Winnetka is home to a number of natural areas, including Skokie Lagoons. These wetlands are a great spot to take a break from the city and relax in a natural setting, especially in the warmer months when they offer respite from the heat.

The lagoons are part of the 190-acre Cook County Forest Preserve. These pristine waterways are perfect for birding, biking, and canoeing or kayaking.

Birding is a popular activity at the lagoons, and there are many different species to see, including Painted Turtles and Alligator Tortoises. A number of birding groups visit the lagoons for guided walks and classes.

There are paved trails that run around the lagoons, making it easy to explore them on foot or bike. The lagoons are also accessible by boat, and there is a small marina with a concession that offers canoe and kayak rentals.

Fishing at the lagoons is also an enjoyable pastime. Shore anglers can access a variety of natural and man-made clearings throughout the lagoons.

The lands where the lagoons are located were once the traditional homelands of the Council of Three Fires, which included the Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes. These tribal groups used the lagoons for fishing, gathering food, and hunting.

After European contact, settlers arrived in the area to graze their livestock and harvest peat for warmth during winter. This caused irreparable damage to the marsh’s ecosystem. In the mid-20th century, President Franklin Roosevelt and his Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began work to restore this area to its natural state.

Between 1933 and 1941, thousands of men worked seven-hour days to create this project. This was the largest public works program in the nation during the Great Depression.

In the mid-1920s, a 10-company crew began digging out the swamp that had formed in the Skokie Valley between two ridges of glacial drift. The name for this area is derived from the Potawatomi “che-wabskoki,” which means “large marsh.”

Today, the lagoons are managed by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPCC). To protect them from future erosion and environmental harm, FPDCC has implemented emergency projects to control peat fires, divert untreated sewage and dredge out over a million cubic yards of sediment.

As part of the Forest Preserve District’s stewardship program, staff and volunteers work to restore habitat at Skokie Lagoons. This includes removing a thick curtain of buckthorn and other invasive plants, cultivating native plants and dispersing native seeds to increase biodiversity.

This effort is done in conjunction with the iNaturalist Community Science group, which tracks the presence of native species at a particular location. These observations are shared with the Forest Preserves staff and help guide the design of future projects.

In addition to the lagoons, a number of wetlands on the Forest Preserve are considered high-quality aquatic resources. These habitats are protected under the Illinois Wildlife Protection Act and could be affected by this project.

Dedicated stewardship volunteers, led by BackYard Nature Center, have worked at the Skokie Lagoons since 2009, planting native grasses and trees, removing invasive species, and helping to educate visitors about their importance to the local ecosystem. As of 2017, more than 300 individuals have been trained as stewards.

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