Santa Fe Prairie

Entrance to the prairie

A caboose in remembrance when the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway owned the prairie before 1997.

My second geocache.

      

 This is how Santa Fe Prairie looks like in the winter. A few trees and marshes dot the prairie.

            This past week I went to Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve in Hodgkins, IL. Santa Fe Prairie is a very high quality prairie and there is only only another of its kind in Illinois.Santa Fe Prairie is a gem in the midst of an industrial park. The small 10 acre prairie boasts more than 250 native prairie plants, but unfortunately one of my worst nightmares, teasel, is slowly creeping in on the borders of the prairie. Other undesirable plant species that I have encountered were poplar trees, giant ragweed, narrow-leaved cattail and Canada goldenrod. What I found very interesting about the prairie is that there were native roses (most likely pasture rose was present), some rare trees that they had flagged off for protection, a giant sea of Indian grass with wild bergamot, tall coreopsis, wild quinine, mountain mint, yellow coneflower, prairie dock, rosin weed, and some big bluestem. My visit was in early December so I think that I have only caught a glimpse of what the prairie could look like in the summer when everything is in bloom. It has been mentioned that there are some rarer species in the prairie such as turk's cap lily, butterfly milkweed, pale purple coneflower, bobolinks, and meadow voles.

     While I was there I found a geocache in a very secret location that I cannot speak of. Geocaching has been a recent hobby for me especially when I am out and about in cool areas like Santa Fe Prairie.

For more information about the prairie click on this link:
http://www.chicagowildernessmag.org/CW_Archives/issues/summer2001/IWsantafeprairie.html