Natural Resources

Managing Natural Resources

The Forest Preserve District’s picnic shelters, trails, parking lots and other developed areas make up only 10 percent of the forest preserve system. The remaining 90 percent remains in a natural state. To that end, the District works to create ecological conditions that sustain and preserve native plant and animal communities in DuPage County’s prairies, wetlands and woodlands.

 

DuPage Plants and Wildlife

Read about the diverse plants and animals that live in DuPage County’s forest preserves and ways that Forest Preserve District ecologists monitor and manage certain species.

 

Habitat Restoration

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage works to foster ecological conditions that sustain and preserve native plant and animal communities in the county’s prairies, wetlands and woodlands.

 

Mosquitoes in the Forest Preserves

The District monitors and manages mosquito populations in DuPage County forest preserves, including using larvacide to control the Culex mosquito which may, if infected, transmit West Nile virus.

 

Natural Resources Volunteers

Become one of the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who work each year to help the county’s prairies, wetlands and woodlands by collecting and planting seeds, maintaining the native-plant nursery, removing invasive vegetation, and participating in plant and animal surveys.