The Park District of Highland Park works with many partners to maintain and nurture its designated natural areas, all 350 acres of them. Working with other agencies, including the Shedd Aquarium, the Chicago Botanic Garden, Lake-Cook Audubon, and local school districts, builds a shared understanding that guides the management of our natural areas.
The Park District was among the first to participate in a citizen science project launched in 2017 by the Shedd Aquarium’s research team in collaboration with the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology. The Shedd started the project to increase their understanding of the local impacts of climate change and contribute to the natural history of Great Lakes fish.
The Park District provided initial observations with three of 17 monitoring sites located in Highland Park. Their staff and volunteers join others throughout the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior borders in Wisconsin and Michigan. “We work with scientists at the Shedd to track migratory fish that are moving out of Lake Michigan into the Ravine streams that are tributary to the lake,” says Rebecca Grill, natural areas manager for the Park District. “Seeing the results from the other sites gives us a sense of what is happening on the larger scale and over time.”
The Park District is also a longtime partner in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plants of Concern program. The project was launched in 2001 to monitor rare, threatened, and endangered plant populations. “The Park District can effectively and proactively protect our ecosystems and better manage our rare plant populations with the information gathered,” says Grill.
The Park District also helps record the migratory and resident birds that use the lakefront in collaboration with Lake-Cook Audubon, the local chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society.
One of the Park District’s most rewarding partnerships has been with local school districts for the “Trout in the Classroom” program, a collaboration between the Park District, North Shore School District 112 and 113, Highland Park High School Environmental Science students, the Gary Borger Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Heller Nature Center staff, and our own Natural Areas Program.
“Trout in the Classroom” culminates in fish release events, at which students release rainbow trout they’ve raised in their classrooms into select ravine streams. One of the program’s hopes is that once they reach maturity, the fish will return to the ravines to spawn, indicating that they are a healthy wildlife habitat.
What makes these partnerships so important, according to Grill, is that by collecting and sharing information regionally, we create a more comprehensive picture of what is happening long term. It is also a chance for Highland Park to highlight our community’s unique natural habitats. “These regional connections are an important tool in decision making to keep our natural areas healthy and protected,” she says.
Imagine that your backyard covers 800 acres. If you live in Highland Park, in a way, it does. That is the size of the land cared for within the boundaries of the Park District of Highland Park.
Caring for this big outdoor space is a team overseen by Dan Voss, Director of Parks. “It definitely requires a multi-pronged approach,” notes Voss. “There is a difference in managing a large community park such as Danny Cunniff Park with its athletic fields and playgrounds and a woodland preserve such as Heller Nature Center.
Consider the District’s newest park –The Preserve of Highland Park. Located adjacent to the Recreation Center of Highland Park, the new park includes 100 acres of green lawns, nature-based play areas, specialized native gardens, restored woodlands, and walking and biking trails that connect neighborhoods, downtown Highland Park, and regional biking trails.
The first thing a new visitor to The Preserve may notice is that half of the Park’s acres are planted with native flowers and select grasses that thrive there. These new habitat areas are a welcome addition to the land already managed by the District’s natural areas program led by Rebecca Grill, natural areas manager.
“It’s a park that will attract people who won’t necessarily seek out a forest preserve or even our own Heller Nature Center,” Grill says. “At the same time, it is a park we will manage a little bit differently than our other large community parks such as Cunniff or Fink Parks.
One surprise may be the necessity of mowing native areas. “That surprises people,” Grills says. “They say, ‘Why did you cut everything down? It looked great.’ We have to think down the road, and sometimes we have to mow down areas to add additional seeds, or because we have invasive annual weeds growing.”
At the same time, there will be more traditional gardening going on than at any of the designated natural areas as found in parks such as Heller. Specialized gardens that showcase pollinator plants, native shrubs, and native plants in a traditional garden bed will require careful pruning and care of native shrubs and a small grove of apple trees.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t have green spaces within The Preserve,” Grill continues. “That was deliberate in creating areas for picnicking or areas for a pick-up ballgame. Stepping in and out of natural areas into those mowed green areas will give visitors a sense of stewardship.”
For those areas, traditional parks maintenance including weed whipping, lawn mowing, and trash removal will be essential. “To cover both aspects, the District has been able to bring on staff that has specialized skills in ecological restoration and knows how to manage a traditional park,” says Voss.
An essential part of the Park District’s management program is its volunteers. Grill estimates volunteers perform about 2,000 hours of community service annually. “A core group helps us every Friday working in different locations,” she says. Put these all together, and you get a success story like the Skokie-River Woods project. Since 2009, roughly 15 acres of wetlands on the parcel of land along Highway 41 have been restored or enhanced. This was done in consort with the City of Highland Park, which owns the land, the Lake County Forest Preserve District, the Stormwater Management Commission (SMC), grant money through the Illinois Department of Resources and volunteer groups such as the Boy Scouts, whose troop members pulled invasive plants like buckthorn. In 2016, the Park District won an SMC award for best management practices.
“We’re fortunate that Highland Park residents appreciate, enjoy, and understand their natural areas,” Voss says. “We’re very appreciative we have support from our Park Board and lucky we’re able to have a budget that allows us to not only have staff to maintain the areas but also to bring in contractual services that we would otherwise not have the manpower to perform.”
To inquire about volunteering with the Park District of Highland Park, contact Liz Ricketts at ericketts@pdhp.org.
Join us on Saturday, June 4 from 10am – noon, for the Community Grand Opening Celebration of The Preserve of Highland Park, our new park and natural area! Enjoy a morning of free fun activities including:
The Preserve of Highland Park
1207 Park Ave West
Highland Park, IL 60035
Conversion of the site from its historical use as a golf course began in November 2020. Today, The Preserve of Highland Park celebrates nature and our place in it. The unique 100+ acre property was designed to take advantage of the interesting golf-related topography and includes green lawns, nature-based play areas, specialized native gardens, restored woodlands, and walking and biking trails that connect neighborhoods and downtown Highland Park, and regional biking trails. Visitors can immerse themselves in the sights, sounds, and experiences of nature and outdoor play.
Plans are underway to renovate portions of Centennial Ice Arena including an improved drop-off area, lobby, multi-purpose room, locker rooms, office space, restrooms, and viewing into the gymnastics rooms. Once approved by the Park Board, the project is expected to begin in early summer 2022.
To make way for construction, our gymnastics programs have moved to Lincoln Elementary School gymnasium. Our gymnastics families can park in the lot adjacent to the gymnasium in the northwest corner. The lot entrance is at Oakwood (Oakwood and Green Bay Road). Additional parking is located on Lincoln Avenue. Gymnasts can enter the building through Door A3.
Lincoln Elementary School
711 Lincoln Ave West
Highland Park, IL 60035
During our regular annual maintenance, a potential issue was uncovered on the rink floor. The Park District is awaiting the results of a formal engineering assessment conducted in early July on the condition of the rink and facility and repair options. While we hope to have the ice rink safely operational before Fall, the formal engineering assessment and repair options may indicate the need for a more robust repair. For this reason, we are not currently accepting registrations for our Fall skating programs.
We understand the significant impact this unexpected information has on our skaters. The continuation of hockey and figure skating programs and services are important to the Park District, and the formal engineering assessment and repair of the ice rink is a priority. We will provide additional information on this page and via email to our skating families as soon as information is received. If you have any questions, please contact Carol Sassorossi at csassorossi@pdhp.org or 847-579-4103.
Once the renovation project begins, ice skating programs will run and communication will be distributed to skating participants via email. Signs will be posted around the building indicating open entrances. Please be aware of adjusted parking and entrance configurations as we navigate through this exciting construction project.
Last October, the Recreation Center of Highland Park was honored to serve as GenderCool Project’s location for a recent docu-story. With generous support from Nike, the GenderCool docu-story is now a commercial that will run on several national networks.
The GenderCool Project is a youth-led movement bringing positive change to the world. The Champions are helping replace misinformed opinions with positive experiences meeting transgender and non-binary youth who are thriving.
Check out the commercial that is running now:
As of February 28, Governor Pritzker lifted the state’s face mask mandate based on the continued decrease in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and the increase in available ICU beds across Illinois.
While the Park District of Highland Park strongly encourages everyone to make a conscious decision regarding their health and safety, we are following these new guidelines as we have done throughout the pandemic and have moved to a “mask optional” position in Park District facilities and programs for both participants and staff. Additionally, the Park District is following the North Shore School District 112 mask-optional position for all our youth programming, including pre-school-aged programs.
We understand that some individuals may choose to continue to wear a mask, and we ask that everyone be respectful of one another’s decisions. Bullying or harassment regarding masking/non-masking will not be tolerated. As a reminder, even though we are transitioning to a new mask optional position, the Park District will continue taking measures to keep our facilities, staff, and participants as safe as possible.
Remember, to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, consistently follow the Lake County Health Department guidelines:
If you have any COVID-19 questions, call the Illinois COVID-19 hotline at (800) 889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov. You may also want to consider signing up for updates from the Lake County Health Department.
As the local, state, and national landscapes continue to evolve, the Park District will remain vigilant and continue to keep you informed.
Connect with your park district! Download your new Park District app and have all the information you need at the touch of a button. The app is your destination for:
Download the app before December 31, 2022 and receive a $5 coupon you can use at any Park District location (some restrictions apply).
We are so excited for you to experience our new app first hand; let us know what you think. Check out the video below that highlights the new features and how to navigate the new app to get you started.
The Park Board approved a temporary repair of the Park Avenue Boating Facility concrete ramp. On June 1, 2021, a section of the concrete ramp collapsed, resulting in the ramp’s closure for the remainder of the 2021 boating season. The temporary repair project will allow for safe use of the boat ramp from Memorial Day Weekend 2022 through Labor Day Weekend 2022. The total cost for the project is $34,500. It will include casting a new concrete topping over the damaged portion of the submerged concrete ramp, filling a void below the upper part of the concrete ramp, and repairing damaged concrete at the top of the ramp.
Costs for permanent replacement of the concrete boat ramp and breakwater at Park Avenue are expected to be reviewed by the Park Board on March 9, 2022. If approved, that project would begin in Fall 2022 and be completed by the beginning of the 2023 boating season.
Plan Your Spring Adventures
Our Spring Guide is now part of our newly designed website. Browse and sign up for events, memberships, passes, and programs directly from the website. No more flipping through pages on a hard-to-read digital brochure and we are saving trees by not printing a seasonal brochure!
Get the most out of springtime with our:
Welcome to Our New Website & App!
We’ve got a whole line-up of new online experiences for you! Now you have an easier way to learn about our Park District, find important information, and get your transactions done faster so you can move on with your day.
New Website
Our new website was designed with a fresh new look and feel, improved functionality, and a more enjoyable viewing experience no matter what device you are using. The new site is jam-packed with handy new features and carefully organized based on our users’ preferences, including:
Hold on to your hats. There is more!
We’ve got a new App!
Connect with your park district! Download your new Park District app and have all the information you need at the touch of a button. The app is your destination for:
Download the app before December 31, 2022 and receive a $5 coupon you can use at any Park District location (some restrictions apply).
We are so excited for you to experience our new website and app first hand, and let us know what you think. Check out the graphic and video below that highlight the new features and how to navigate the new website and app to get you started.
