Weekend Explorer

Dick Young Forest Preserve

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by Jayne Bohner

At 1,010 acres, Dick Young Forest Preserve is by far Kane County’s largest single holding. Popular among Scout groups and botanists alike, many regard it as the county’s flagship for biodiversity. The preserve, a bowl-like depression encircled by uplands, is home to a 10,000-year-old marsh; a fen, prairie, woodland, and savanna; a 40-acre lake; and rare flora and fauna.

After The Nature Conservancy held the property for a brief time, the Forest Preserve District of Kane County purchased the first parcel in 1978. Originally named Nelson Lake Marsh Forest Preserve, the site was renamed in 2001 in honor of renowned local conservationist Dick Young. (See our Fall 1997 profile on Nelson Lake Marsh, and compare 1997 and 2006 maps to see how the preserve has grown.)

Because of its enviable mix of rich wetland, woodland, and grassland habitats, Dick Young Forest Preserve is known most as one of the premier birding sites in Kane County. The preserve also harbors rare butterflies that exist in only a few preserves across Chicago Wilderness, including the Baltimore checkerspot and swamp metalmark. Visitors may also see beavers and muskrats navigating through the wetter terrain, and coyotes, foxes, and voles moving along the uplands.

A stone silo marks the parking lot on Nelson Lake Road, a handy landmark for visitors who walk the three miles of looped trails that circle both the marsh and lake. The silo also serves as a reminder of the land’s farmers, who were unable to drain this basin and so left its original ecosystems largely untouched. A shortcut heads due west from the parking lot through the preserve’s grassy landscape to an observation deck on the edge of the water. There, in spring and fall, birders have reported greater white-fronted geese, snow geese, and as many as twenty kinds of ducks. During summer, the site is popular with herons, egrets, and cormorants. Visitors may also spot nesting sandhill cranes picking their way through the shallows, while yellow-headed blackbirds cling to emergent plant stems.

The main loop heads north from the parking lot until it hooks west and finds Nelson Lake Marsh. The marsh is the heart of 172 acres that were dedicated in 1981 as an Illinois Nature Preserve. Geologically speaking, the marsh is a “kettle,” a scar left by blocks of buried, slow-melting ice separated from the Wisconsin Glacier some 10,000 years ago. It’s a fertile sanctuary for plants — from mucky peat moss to swamp milkweed, great water dock, water parsnip, mad-dog-skullcap, and blue flag. Coots, American and least bitterns, and soras spend time in this wetland vegetation.

The trail continues counter-clockwise through the middle of the preserve where the marsh and 40-acre Nelson Lake border farmland that the Forest Preserve District is now restoring to prairie. The wide open spaces attract eastern meadowlarks, dickcissels, and many native sparrow species. Birders have spotted Brewer’s blackbirds, rusty blackbirds, horned larks, lapland longspurs, and snow buntings, too. From this side, the trail heads east across the Audubon Bridge, skirts along an adjoining farm, and travels through woodland habitat on its way back to the parking lot.

In addition to foot traffic, the preserve’s mowed paths welcome cross-country skis and snowshoes, when weather permits, as well as leashed dogs. The site also has a latrine, picnic tables, and a water pump at the parking lot, as well as benches along the trail. To volunteer to help restore the native landscape at the preserve, call Angelique Dunning at (847) 741-8350. To download the Forest Preserve District’s new audio guide to Dick Young Forest Preserve, visit their home page.

Roaming

For those looking for further outdoor adventure, Fabyan Forest Preserve at 1925 Batavia Avenue in Geneva, (630) 232-5980, offers hiking and bicycling trails, riverfront fishing, a Japanese garden, and an 1850s windmill, which is now open for tours on Saturdays and Sundays between May 15 and October 15, from 1 to 4 p.m. Part of the former estate of George and Nelle Fabyan, the preserve also features the Fabyan Villa Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Batavia Depot Museum, 155 Houston Street in Batavia, (630) 406-5274, is located in an 1854 station that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum features the Lincoln room, with furniture from Batavia’s Bellevue Place where Mary Todd Lincoln stayed in 1875, a 1907 caboose that showcases early railroad life, and artifacts from Native American tribes who once lived in the area. The museum is open every day but Tuesday and Thursday, from 2 to 4 p.m., March through November.

The museum is a short walk across the Fox River from the Batavia Riverwalk, (630) 879-5235, which features a play area, picnic area, shelter, and fishing area, access to the Fox River Bike Trail, and a series of Batavia-made windmills, which give the town its nickname, the “The Windmill City.”

Foraging

A restaurant for every appetite lies near Route 31 between Batavia and Geneva. Kathy’s Riverwalk Diner at 134 W. Wilson in Batavia, (630) 879-5299, is a cozy, warm establishment that is open for breakfast and lunch. (Don’t forget to try their famous pancakes.)

For still more festive fare, Don Manuel’s at 1890 Mill Street in Batavia, (630) 879-7979, offers an authentic, gourmet Mexican menu. Don Manuel’s is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. O’Brien’s Pub & Grill at 12 N. River Street in Batavia, (630) 406-9200, features sandwiches, salads and dinners with a touch of Irish flair. Take advantage of sidewalk seating and an outdoor beer garden in the warmer months.

Bedding Down

In Geneva, both the Oscar Swan Country Inn at 1800 West State Street, (630) 232-0173, and the Herrington Inn and Spa at 15 South River Lane, (630) 208-7433, offer unique overnight experiences. An 1860s farmhouse turned 1930s country estate, the Oscar Swan Country Inn is now a bed-and-breakfast with multiple dining rooms and a garden room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Rooms range from $99 to $169 per night and include breakfast. The Herrington Inn and Spa features rooms and suites, each with fireplaces, jetted tubs, and turndown service complete with milk and cookies. The rustic stone lobby features a lounge and the entrance to Atwaters, which serves lunch, dinner, and Sunday breakfast. Rooms start at $199.