East Branch Riverway

East Branch Riverway Forest Preserve in Glen Ellyn is a 129-acre complex of wetlands urrounding the East Branch DuPage River. The marshes provide water detention across two miles along Interstate 355 and feature a wide variety of rushes, milkweeds and sedges, and regionally rare species such as pickerel weed and swamp rose mallow.

Natural Scene

The forest preserve attracts state-endangered black-crowned night-herons and rare pied-billed grebes, northern rough-winged swallows and common nighthawks. Spotted sandpipers and mallards have been observed nesting here, and beavers, mink, muskrat, bullfrog, common whitetail dragonfly and giant floater mussel are also known to frequent this preserve.

Driving Directions

East Branch Riverway is on Roosevelt Road, 0.25 mile west of Interstate 355. It does not have a parking lot.

History

The Forest Preserve District acquired parcels of East Branch Riverway between 1935 and 2005. It was used as wetland mitigation during the construction of Interstate 355 in 1988. Marshes at the forest preserve provide water detention along 2 miles of the interstate.