Early settlers to Illinois, in an attempt to describe the unfamiliar terrain they were encountering, referred to it as “a sea of grass with pretty flowers.” Today, Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area serves as testimony to the prairies that once covered nearly 60 percent of the state.
Goose Lake Prairie was sculpted by glaciers. The flat landscape with its clay-based soils was formed as the last vast sheets of ice melted more than 14,000 years ago. The area became part of a continuous grassland that stretched from Indiana to the Rockies. Mound-building groups of Native Americans lived northwest of the area in what is now Morris. Tribes of the Illini confederation intermittently inhabited the area, hunting and planting corn, squash and beans. They and other Native Americans, including the Pottawatomie led by Chief Shabbona, existed with the land, making few permanent changes.

Located in Grundy County, Goose Lake Prairie is approximately 50 miles southwest of Chicago and 1 mile southwest of the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers. More than half of Goose Lake Prairie is a dedicated nature preserve, protected by law for future generations from any change to the natural environment. In addition to furnishing a look into Illinois’ past, the prairie provides important nesting habitat for endangered or threatened species of birds, such as the upland sandpiper and Henslow’s sparrow.

Directions

From I-55 to exit 240 Lorenzo Road/Pine Bluff Road travel west approximately 7.5 miles to Jugtown Road. Turn north on to Jugtown Road and travel 1 mile to entrance on the right side to Goose Lake Prairie State Park, Visitor Center, and park trails.


Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area
5010 N. Jugtown Rd.
Morris, IL 60450
815.942.2899