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Winter
2001
The
site of the restored Nippersink Creek is lush with prairie
and wetland birds. Winter brings cross-country skiing on
scenic trails
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| McHenry
County, Illinois |
Glacial
Park takes us outside our everyday experience and transports
us in time to a land on the eve of settlement, with all
of its possibilities stretched out before us in waving prairie
grasses and wetlands alive with the call of migratory waterfowl,"
says Restoration Ecologist Ed Collins, rhapsodizing about
the Conservation District’s 3,000-acre crown jewel
near Richmond.
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DIRECTIONS
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Take
Rte. 31 north to McHenry. Turn left on Harts Rd. and
travel 0.6 miles to the park entrance. Parking is available
at Weidrich Education Center (north of the entrance
or follow the park road around the curve to the parking
area east of the marsh). Other parking is available
on Keystone Rd., just east of the intersection of Barnard
Mill Rd. |
The
site’s 330 acres of dedicated Illinois Nature Preserve
provides habitat for 18 species of state endangered and
threatened plants and birds, including least bitterns, sandhill
cranes, upland sandpipers, black terns, pied-billed grebes,
yellow-headed blackbirds, Henslow’s sparrows, and northern
harriers.
In
1993, thirteen wild turkeys were reintroduced to the site.
Today, flocks of 20 to 50 wild turkeys can be seen flying
to their favorite oak perches at dusk.
Short-eared
owls top the winter visitor list. "Sometimes you’ll
see as many as five or six in the prairie at dusk,"
says Collins, "and they’ll get fairly close to
you. They’re not timid at all."
Hiking,
cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling (on restricted trails),
camping, and pets on leashes are welcomed all winter long.
Biking is only permitted on the Prairie Trail that runs
along the former Chicago and Northwestern RR line north
and south of Harts Road.
The
Nippersink Trail is one of the more forgiving beginner’s
cross-country trails while Deerpath Trail offers a bit more
challenge for experienced cross-country skiers. In January
and February when there is snow, the Nordic Ski patrol provides
hot chocolate and cookies at Weidrich Barn on weekends.
The site itself is open from 8:00 a.m. to sunset.
By
mid-March spring migration is underway and various waterfowl,
shorebirds, and raptors can be seen making their way through
the area.
For
more information, call (815) 338-6223.
—
April Anderson
See
also "Born Again River:
Remeandering the Nippersink," for the story of
the creek's ambitious restoration, led by Ed Collins, in
Glacial Park.
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