Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
3
County
Cook
Location
The site is in south Cook County, just southwest of the junction of I-80 and I-57. The Villages of Tinley Park, Matteson, and Country Club Hills are adjacent or nearby. It is immediately north and northeast of Bartel Grassland Land and Water Reserve.
Description
Bobolink Meadow Land and Water Reserve lies mostly in a former glacial lakebed that was in agricultural production before the 1960’s and has undergone a major hydrological and plant community restoration facilitated by the 2008 O’Hare Modernization and Mitigation Account. More than 300 acres of the site’s wetlands were created or enhanced because of the mitigation funding, and approximately 500 acres total have been restored to a mosaic of mesic to wet prairie with interspersed patches of sedge meadow and shallow emergent communities. The open, graminoid communities at this site, combined with similar habitats within the Bartel Grassland Land and Water Reserve, which lies immediately adjacent to Bobolink Meadow, provide approximately 900 acres of contiguous grassland habitat. These two sites combined are one of the most important protected grassland complexes in the Chicago region for breeding grassland birds. It supports the second largest population of bobolinks in Illinois, as well as a state-endangered species and many other species considered in Greatest Need of Conservation that nest on site.
Ownership
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Natural Division
Morainal Section of the Northeastern Morainal Natural Division (#3a)
Registered
June 2017
Size
918 acres
Access
The site is open to the public. There are two asphalt access lanes and parking lots; one north of Flossmoor Road, and the other east of Central Avenue.
Topographic Quad
Harvey & Tinley Park
For Further Information
Visit the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Website or Contact the INPC
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov