Agencies
Services
Land and Water Reserve Area
3
County
Cook
Location
The site is located on Superior Street in Calumet City, directly south of the Thornton Fractional North High School. It is separated from the Cook County Forest Preserve District’s Sand Ridge Nature Preserve by the Burnham Greenway, a former railroad right-of-way, which is now IDNR-owned, and a sand prairie owned and managed by ComEd.
Description
Superior Street Prairie Land and Water Reserve is one of the Chicago Lake Plain’s best examples of dune and swale ecosystems. The site’s wavy landscape creates a natural network of savanna on the dry ridges and wet prairie/sedge meadow in the swales. Water drains from the sandy ridges into low areas, which forms long, narrow wetlands that stretch across the reserve. It is included on the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory as Thornton-Fractional North Prairie for its Grade A dry-mesic sand savanna, Grade B mesic sand prairie, and Grade B sedge meadow/wet prairie communities. Approximately 300 different plant species can be found in the Superior Street Prairie including three state endangered plants.
Ownership
Calumet Memorial Park District
Natural Division
Chicago Lake Plain Section of the Northeastern Morainal Natural Division (#3c)
Registered
February 1998
Size
33.5 acres
Access
The site is open to the public, however, there are not any developed trails or amenities. Passive recreation like hiking, photography, bird watching, and nature observation are allowed.
Topographic Quad
Calumet City
For Further Information
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702
217-785-8686
DNR.INPC@illinois.gov
