Dellwood Park West

At 196 acres, Dellwood Park West (DPW) is a site of extremes and marked differences. The southern portion of DPW property was once actively mined and used for the disposal of slag, a byproduct of the steel production at a steel mill that was once located adjacent to DPW.

The middle and north portions of DPW were not mined or used for slag storage. The middle portion of DPW was in agricultural uses (livestock, small grains, corn, soybeans) until 1992. The northern portion of DPW was not farmed and is a part of a larger Illinois Natural Areas Inventory site called Lockport Prairie East, which contains a population of a Federally-endangered plant species (leafy prairie clover) and remnants of native dolomite prairie. (Download the full project description here:  Wetland Restoration Projects: Dellwood Park West (25.76 kB).)

Location: Route 171 & Woods Drive, Lockport, IL

Funding source: Material Service Corporation Settlement Fund

Owner & land manager: Lockport Township Park District

Size of project site: 75 acres

Project date: 2001

Partners: Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Lockport Township Park District, Openlands (formerly CorLands), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Action: Formulation of restoration management plan, drainage and tile inventory, soil analysis, hydrologic restoration, cutting and removal of shrubs and trees, prescribed burning, native seeding, control of invasive herbaceous species, monitoring of existing populations of federally-listed leafy prairie clover.