Highlights
Bluff views over river, rich woodland wildflower display, historic homes nearby

Stats
300 acres, a 2-mile footpath following the river, 370+ native plant species

Behind the scenes
Thatcher volunteers hold workdays every month, and an Earth Day celebration each spring

Getting there
The Metra Union Pacific West Line (River Forest Station) unloads right beside the preserve. The Green line el (Marion-Harlem stop) is 1 mile east. Or, exit I-290 at 1st Avenue, Maywood. Go north to Washington Blvd, then turn east to Thatcher Ave. Parking available on Thatcher

Spring 2005

Remnant high-quality floodplain woods along Des Plaines River, lined by bluffs of oak-hickory savanna.

Cook County, Illinois

Just ten miles west of downtown Chicago, an extensively forested 300-acre habitat straddles the Des Plaines River for two miles, forming the entire western boundary of River Forest, Illinois. Formally divided into three parcels — Thatcher Woods, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Woods, and Thomas Jefferson (TJ) Woods — the preserve is known collectively as Thatcher Woods.

The Thatcher Woods corridor preserves a cross section of the ancient Des Plaines riverbed, with bluffs rising on both sides of a curving floodplain. The original owners — Ashbel Steele, the first permanent white settler of River Forest in 1838, and David Thatcher, who settled here in 1854 — purchased the land for their own homes and for future development. They never plowed or grazed it, so the landscape remained in good ecological condition when the Forest Preserve District of Cook County purchased it in 1917.

Pileated woodpecker. Photo by Art Morris/Birds As Art.

But after a century of fire suppression, invasive plant species moved in. In May 1990, citizens organized the Thatcher Woods Savanna Restoration Project (TWSRP) to save Thatcher’s rich remnant habitat. As restoration progressed, the local community began to rediscover the exceptionally high-quality woodlands in their midst.

Today, more than 370 native plant species live here. Visitors can walk a two-mile trail (called the Heritage Trail by local volunteers) through a recovering Thatcher Woods, beginning with a half-mile hike through the oak savannas along the upland bluff of TJ and GAR Woods. At Madison Street just east of the river, head north on the ancient Potawatomi trail that parallels the river, still an earthen footpath. White and yellow trout lilies, bloodroot, bellwort, spring beauty, and toothwort grow in profusion under the white, red, bur, and swamp white oaks in early spring. A little later in the season, look for yellow pimpernel and wild coffee. Hikers will soon encounter a backwater lagoon, where they might spot a great white egret or kingfisher feeding, or perhaps painted turtles sunning on a fallen log.

In GAR Woods, large kingnut hickory, hackberry, black walnut, butternut, black ash, and red mulberry trees occupy the high-quality mesic (moderately moist) floodplain forest. A mesic oak savanna rises 15 feet above the floodplain. Here, bright-orange Michigan lilies poke up occasionally from the dense, sunny ground cover. According to the stewards, deer do live here, but in small enough numbers that they don’t harm the native plant understory.

Further north along the trail is Thatcher Woods Glen, where visitors can stop and view historic homes in a quiet residential neighborhood beside the woods, including the David Thatcher House and three residences designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Back on the trail, stop at the Trailside Museum of Natural History to observe living native wildlife up close. Then cross Chicago Avenue into Thatcher Woods for a leisurely walk along the river trail through the wet mesic floodplain, where a pileated woodpecker was recently observed hectoring hikers. In summer, be sure to look west across the river bluff for the bright wildflowers of the prairie being restored there.

The path gradually rises to a river bluff that provides a beautiful passage along the upland oak-hickory forest, especially during the winter. Thatcher Woods ends at North Avenue, though forest preserve paths continue along the river. For further information on joining a volunteer workday or to arrange a tour, call (708) 848-7175.

— Victor Guarino