Summer 2002

Great for birding, this former army shooting range retains original prairie and savanna, and is home to the Lake Michigan Biological Station

Lake County, Illinois

Driving through the back roads of the northern border town of Zion, you might happen upon an old army shooting range, now a nature preserve. Less visited than the Southern Unit of Illinois Beach State Park, the Northern Unit — including the Camp Logan area — is proof that former military bases can be important ecological conservation areas.

In 1973, the Zion Nuclear Power Plant went online immediately north of what was then the entire Illinois Beach State Park. In response to varied concerns among local citizens, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) soon acquired 243 acres to the north of the power plant. Occupied by a few beach houses, old military buildings, and a little-used rifle range, the site was rich with history.

The site was once home to Camp Logan, established in 1892 as an Illinois National Guard training facility. World Wars I and II brought a multitude of recruits to Zion for basic training, and the state-of-the-art shooting range was also used by FBI and police officers. In June 2000, the site was named a historical district, and you can still see a few of the remaining barracks and officers' quarters along the trails. Two other buildings on the site house the Lake Michigan Biological Station, which studies lake ecology and fishery management. Researchers conducted valuable research at this station in response to Lake Michigan's zebra mussel infestation, work that continues today.

While the National Guard leveled the original dune topography, they left much of the original prairie and savanna ecology intact. Instead of replanting or sodding, these areas were simply mowed. The flora you see today re-emerged from the mowed turf, and subsequent fire and weeding also helped.

Along more than eight miles of trails you will see a wide variety of flowers, ferns and grasses in the summer. Some of the showier blooms are those of wild bergamot, Culver's root, purple prairie clover, blazing star, orange butterfly weed, flowering prickly pear cactus, lead plant, fringed puccoon, fringed gentian, prairie coreopsis, prairie dock, western sunflower, Turk's cap lily, wood lily, primrose and spiderwort. One unusual and beautiful flower is the wild blue lupine, which grows in the black oak sand savanna and draws the Karner blue butterfly, a rare species that the park is seeking to attract. Around the ponds of Camp Logan, you can also see horsetail, sand cherry and dogwood shrubs.

Restoration takes many forms at Illinois Beach. The biggest challenges have been tearing down many of the old buildings and building up dunes with that material. On the second Saturday of every month, volunteers battle invasive weeds that threaten to choke out native plants in the prairie. Managers have successfully used beetles to reduce invasive purple loosestrife just outside the park's wetlands.

Both the Northern and Southern Units of Illinois Beach State Park are great for birding. In the summer you may see herons and sandhill cranes. You might also see black-crowned night-herons, sandpipers, grebes, bittern, sora, blue-wing teal, and peregrine falcons. Other rare species that have been seen at the park include Henslow's sparrow, piping plover, brown-headed nuthatch and red cockaded woodpecker. Coyote, fox and beaver also reside on the site. Hawk watching is a favorite activity in the fall (see Migration Hawk Watch: Thirty-One Peregrines In One Hour). For the fisherman, the Northern Unit's Sand Pond is stocked with catfish and trout.

Biking and hiking is permitted on the trails, and two picnic shelters are available. Seven spur trails will lead you out to the beach, and a bike trail connects the Northern and Southern unit, although it does take you on local roads. Ironically there is no camping in Camp Logan, but the Southern Unit of the park has campsites. Call (847) 662-4811 for information (no reservations). There is also a resort for lodging, (847) 625-7300. Call (847) 662-4811 to join a volunteer workday.

— Meghan Murphy