Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

Located forty miles southwest of Chicago, the 25,000-acre Joliet Army Arsenal had been the world's largest TNT factory, manufacturing high explosives for World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Openlands played a key role in the redevelopment of the arsenal, transforming the former military base into a unique nature preserve and public recreation area.

For safety and security reasons, most of the site was situated on open land—fields, pastures, prairie remnants, and wooded streams.When the arsenal ceased operation in the late 1970s, a rare opportunity arose for prairie to reclaim the landscape.

In 1996, the federal government transferred 19,000 acres of the Joliet site to the U.S. Forest Service to create the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, the nation's largest prairie preserve east of the Mississippi River. Beginning in 2004, nearly 6,400 acres of Midewin opened to the general public for non-motorized recreation use.

Today, 7,200 acres of Midewin and 32 miles of trails are open to the public. Activities at Midewin include hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, escorted tours, volunteer work projects, and deer and turkey hunting. Click here for more information about visiting the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.