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Springbrook Prairie
Naperville

Maps

The main entrance and off-leash dog area are on the north side of 83rd Street 0.5 mile west of Book Road.

The model-craft area parking lot is on the west side of Plainfield-Naperville Road 0.5 mile south of 75th Street

Hours

The preserve is open one hour after sunrise to one hour after sunset.

General Info

Dogs are allowed at the forest preserve but must be on leashes under 10 feet long. Alcohol is prohibited. Read our complete rules and regulations.

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Things To Do

Natural Features

The 1,829-acre Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve in Naperville is a birder's paradise in addition to offering trails, picnicking areas, an off-leash dog area, model craft field and state-designated nature preserve and land and water reserve. It offers some of the best displays of summertime blooms. 

Springbrook Prairie is a regionally significant grassland for breeding and overwintering birds and home to meadowlarks, dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows, woodcocks and bobolinks as well as state-endangered northern harriers, short-eared owls, and Henslow’s sparrows.

Restoration work along Spring Brook added more-natural twists and turns to the waterway and created a wider, shallower bank along the stream. These changes have slowed the flow of water, improved aquatic habitat, and allowed the brook to more easily pour over its banks and into the preserve during heavy rains.

Springbrook Prairie contains the largest grassland community in DuPage County and has one of the healthiest streams in the area.

In 2013, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission gave 1,650 acres of the forest preserve an extra level of protection by designating it as the Springbrook Prairie Nature Preserve and Springbrook Marsh Land & Water Reserve.

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History

Before the District acquired Springbrook Prairie between 1974 and 2002, DuPage County farmers cultivated the parcel's rich soil for many decades. Springbrook Prairie was once slated to be the site of a 200-acre dragon-shaped lake with a swim beach and campground. Naperville residents and forest preserve neighbors played an important role in keeping this preserve a vast and open landscape.

Near Springbrook Prairie

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Greene Valley

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McDowell Grove

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Waterfall Glen