Skokie Lagoons
Encyclopedia
Skokie Lagoons is a nature preserve in Glencoe
and Winnetka, Illinois
, owned and managed by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County
. The park is bordered by Dundee Road
to the north, Forestway Drive to the east, Willow Road to the south, and the Edens Expressway
to the west. Within the park, there are seven inter-connected lagoons totaling 190 acre (0.7689034 km²). Water flows southward from the Chicago Botanic Garden
through the lagoons to the Skokie River
. The overall water level in the lagoons is controlled by the main control dam at Willow Road. Three low dams keep the water levels below the inner islands. Recreational opportunities at Skokie Lagoons include biking, fishing, boating and birding.
name Chewbab Skokie ("Big Wet Prairie") or Skokie Marsh. The marsh was partially drained by local farmers, leaving a peat
bog. During spring floods it became a lake that inundated adjacent property and roads. Between 1933 and 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps
executed a plan to bring the waters under control. Several thousand workers moved four million yards of earth to recontour the land, creating the artificial lagoons of today.
From 1955 to 1974, a Nike
anti-aircraft site was located within Skokie Lagoons, north of Tower Road.
High waters erode the shoreline, filling the lagoons with sediment and damaging the fish habitat. From 1995 to 1999, the Chicago Audubon Society began a program of shoreline restoration. Thousands of plants were added to the shoreline to help limit erosion. Once it was realized that most of the plants in the southern, downstream lagoons were lost during high water, restoration efforts were concentrated on the upstream lagoons. Efforts were made to clear invasive species such as garlic mustard
and buckthorn
, and replace them with native plants and grasses like goldenrod
, tall coreopsis
, compass plant, cup plant
, aster, coneflower
, switchgrass
, rattlesnake masters
, woodland brome
and cinquefoil.
In 1996, the FPDCC began a restoration program, which included the use of aquatic herbicides to improve shore fishing, dredging to remove sediment, poisoning and restocking the fish and building a boat launch south of Tower Road. The 2008 Illinois EPA assessment of the water in Skokie Lagoons listed "Fish Consumption" and "Aesthetic Quality" as "Not Supporting" due to mercury, total suspended solids, phosphorus, aquatic plants and algae.
, walleye
, northern pike
, channel catfish
, bluegill
, crappie
, and bullheads.
Glencoe, Illinois
Glencoe is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 8,723. Glencoe is located on suburban Chicago's North Shore. Glencoe is located within the New Trier High School District. Glencoe is regarded as one of the most affluent suburbs on...
and Winnetka, Illinois
Winnetka, Illinois
Winnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011...
, owned and managed by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Cook County Forest Preserves
The Cook County Forest Preserves are a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are set aside as natural areas. Cook County contains Chicago, Illinois, and is the center of a densely-populated urban metropolitan area in northeastern Illinois...
. The park is bordered by Dundee Road
Illinois Route 68
Illinois Route 68 is an east–west state highway in northeast Illinois. It runs east from Illinois Route 72 in the Dundee area to the Interstate 94/U.S. Route 41 concurrency in Glencoe. This is a distance of ....
to the north, Forestway Drive to the east, Willow Road to the south, and the Edens Expressway
Edens Expressway
The Edens Expressway is the main major expressway north from the city of Chicago. For most of its length, the Edens carries Interstate 94; it also carries U.S. Route 41 from Wilmette to its northern terminus. Only the short portion from the Spur Ramp to the expressway's end in Highland Park does...
to the west. Within the park, there are seven inter-connected lagoons totaling 190 acre (0.7689034 km²). Water flows southward from the Chicago Botanic Garden
Chicago Botanic Garden
Located at 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois, USA, the Chicago Botanic Garden is a living plant museum situated on nine islands featuring 24 display gardens and surrounded by four natural habitats: McDonald Woods, Dixon Prairie, Skokie River Corridor, and Lakes and Shores. The Garden is open...
through the lagoons to the Skokie River
Skokie River
The Skokie River is a river that flows through the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. It flows almost parallel to the shore of Lake Michigan, and historically discharged its outflow into that lake via the Chicago River...
. The overall water level in the lagoons is controlled by the main control dam at Willow Road. Three low dams keep the water levels below the inner islands. Recreational opportunities at Skokie Lagoons include biking, fishing, boating and birding.
History
The site of Skokie Lagoons was previously a marsh, known by the PotawatomiPotawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
name Chewbab Skokie ("Big Wet Prairie") or Skokie Marsh. The marsh was partially drained by local farmers, leaving a peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
bog. During spring floods it became a lake that inundated adjacent property and roads. Between 1933 and 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
executed a plan to bring the waters under control. Several thousand workers moved four million yards of earth to recontour the land, creating the artificial lagoons of today.
From 1955 to 1974, a Nike
Project Nike
Project Nike was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft missile system, the Nike Ajax, in 1953...
anti-aircraft site was located within Skokie Lagoons, north of Tower Road.
High waters erode the shoreline, filling the lagoons with sediment and damaging the fish habitat. From 1995 to 1999, the Chicago Audubon Society began a program of shoreline restoration. Thousands of plants were added to the shoreline to help limit erosion. Once it was realized that most of the plants in the southern, downstream lagoons were lost during high water, restoration efforts were concentrated on the upstream lagoons. Efforts were made to clear invasive species such as garlic mustard
Garlic Mustard
Garlic mustard is a biennial flowering plant in the Mustard family, Brassicaceae. It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, and northwestern Africa, from Morocco, Iberia and the British Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and east to northern India and western China...
and buckthorn
Buckthorn
The Buckthorns are a genus of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall , in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae...
, and replace them with native plants and grasses like goldenrod
Goldenrod
Solidago, commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Most are herbaceous perennial species found in the meadows and pastures, along roads, ditches and waste areas in North America. There are also a few species native to Mexico, South...
, tall coreopsis
Coreopsis tripteris
Coreopsis tripteris is a plant species of the genus Coreopsis in Asteraceae. Coreopsis species are commonly called tickseeds. This species is one of the tallest growing coreopsis and plants bloom late summer into fall. Native from Eastern and Central United States, were it is found growing in...
, compass plant, cup plant
Silphium perfoliatum
Silphium perfoliatum is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in Asteraceae, the aster family, it is native from Eastern and Central North America. It grows in prairies, open woodlands, and on stream banks....
, aster, coneflower
Coneflower
Coneflower is a common name of at least four genera of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae:*Dracopis*Echinacea*Rudbeckia*Ratibida...
, switchgrass
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum, commonly known as switchgrass, is a perennial warm season bunchgrass native to North America, where it occurs naturally from 55°N latitude in Canada southwards into the United States and Mexico...
, rattlesnake masters
Eryngium yuccifolium
Eryngium yuccifolium is a common herbaceous perennial plant, native to the tallgrass prairies of central and eastern North America, from Minnesota east to Ohio and south to Texas and Florida. In the Chicago Region this species has a coefficient of conservatism of 9...
, woodland brome
Brome
Brome can refer to:*several species of grass, see Bromus*Brome, Suffolk*Brome, Germany, a municipality in Lower Saxony, Germany*Brome, Quebec, a village in Quebec, Canada* Brome, a former provincial electoral district in Quebec now part of Brome-Missisquoi...
and cinquefoil.
In 1996, the FPDCC began a restoration program, which included the use of aquatic herbicides to improve shore fishing, dredging to remove sediment, poisoning and restocking the fish and building a boat launch south of Tower Road. The 2008 Illinois EPA assessment of the water in Skokie Lagoons listed "Fish Consumption" and "Aesthetic Quality" as "Not Supporting" due to mercury, total suspended solids, phosphorus, aquatic plants and algae.
Biking
A 1.6 miles (2.6 km) asphalt bike path runs to the west of the lagoons between Willow Road and Tower Road, and a 4.2 miles (6.8 km) loop encircles the lagoons between Tower Road and Dundee Road. Connected to 20 miles (32.2 km) North Branch Bicycle TrailNorth Branch Trail
The North Branch Trail is a Class I bicycle trail located in northwestern Cook County, Illinois. The trail starts at the corner of Caldwell and Devon Avenues in Chicago, and from there it continues north approximately to Lake County...
Fishing
Fishes present are bassBass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
, walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
, northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
, channel catfish
Channel catfish
Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...
, bluegill
Bluegill
The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...
, crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
, and bullheads.