Oakton's Nature
Natural Area Remnants and Restorations
About
Oakton College manages about 80 acres of natural area remnants and restored ecosystems on its Des Plaines campus. This land was historically part of the homelands of many Indigenous Peoples, including the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Odawa, Kickapoo, Menominee, Miami, Sac and Fox, Ho-Chunk, and Illinois Peoples.
The biodiversity present in the communities today is a testament to the relationships developed with the Indigenous Peoples of the Midwest -
relationships of reciprocity that continue to present.
Explore the biodiversity of the Chicago Region within Oakton's Natural Areas.
View the major ecological communities below and click on the links to an interactive map to discover many of the species that call each of these
communities their home.
Ecological Communities
Woodlands, Savannas, and Prairies
Northern Flatwoods
A woodland community that develops in places where glaciers have left a layer of impermeable clay a few feet below the soil surface. Soil usually remains saturated above this clay, and flatwoods support ephemeral ponds in the spring that are important to wildlife such as salamanders, frogs, water birds, and insects with aquatic larval stages.
Upland Mesic Woods
A woodland community that develops in areas of higher ground, where water drains away more efficiently than in the flatwoods. Dominated by oaks and hickories, these woodlands are fire-dependent, as young oaks need sunlight to grow well, and periodic fires keep more fire-sensitive trees like maples from filling in the canopy and creating too much shade.
Floodplain Woods
A woodland community that develops next to major rivers and streams and experiences seasonal flooding in the spring. Plants and animals that live here need to cope with periods of standing water in the late winter and spring and also drier conditions later in the summer and fall. Maples, elms, ashes, and cottonwoods are common trees in the floodplain.
Restored Prairie
A grassland community composed of mostly herbaceous plants with deep root systems. Most of the original tallgrass prairie in Illinois has been converted into farmland, so restorations are important ways to bring this community back to the region. Prairies need periodic fire to thrive, which favors herbaceous plants over woody plants like trees and shrubs.
Shoreline Savanna
A community with a mix of woody plants and open areas dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are fire-dependent ecosystems as well. The trees that thrive in savannas tend to be oaks, which are adapted to regular fires with their thick, corky, insulating bark and dormant buds at the base of the trunk ready to grow after an intense fire.
