Agencies
Services
Nature Preserve Area
3
County
Cook
Location And Access
From Western Springs at jct. Hwy. 34 (Ogden Avenue) & Wolf Road, take Wolf Road north 0.3 mi. The nature preserve is east of Wolf Road and south of 31st Street. Special Note: Trails and parking are available at this preserve
Description
Prior to settlement, Salt Creek Woods Nature Preserve was composed primarily of upland oak-dominated woodland, floodplain woods along Salt Creek, and some prairie. Although nearly all of the prairie that formerly occurred on this site has been lost, important elements of the prairie survive at Wolf Road Prairie Nature Preserve, located nearby at the northwest corner of the intersection of 31st Street and Wolf Road. The woodlands that remain at Salt Creek Woods are distributed along a moisture gradient from dryer sites along the upper slopes of the gently rolling Tinley ground moraine to more moist sites located along Salt Creek. Along the dryer slopes, bur and white oak, and hickory predominate. In the alluvial deposits along Salt Creek and near the small glacial ponds that dot the preserve, elm, cottonwood, and silver maple commonly occur.
Ownership
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Dedicated
January 1965 as the 8th Illinois Nature Preserve
Size
245 acres
Topographic Quad
Hillsdale
Topo Map
For Further Information
Contact: Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Conservation Department, 536 North Harlem Avenue, River Forest, IL 60305 (708/771-1330)
