New to the 14th District, the Skokie Lagoons comprise 894 acres in Glencoe and Winnetka, making it a prime destination for water exploration, featuring public boat access, canoe and kayak rentals, fishing, biking and hiking trails, and picnic areas.
The Skokie Lagoons area has gone through significant changes through the centuries. Initially a large marsh that were part of the traditional homelands of the Council of Three Fires – the Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes, the marsh’s ecosystem suffered irreversible damage at the hands of settlers who used the land for grazing livestock and harvest peat to burn for warmth during the winter.
In 1920, the Forest Preserves of Cook County acquired land in the Skokie Valley with plans to create lagoons for recreation and flood and mosquito control. In total, four million cubic tons of soil were excavated during what became the largest public works program in the country during the Great Depression.
The Skokie Lagoons provide critical habitat for wildlife despite including migrating ducks, herons, cormorants and mammals like coyote, mink, and gray and red fox. New to the 14th District, the Skokie Lagoons comprise 894 acres in Glencoe and Winnetka making it a prime destination for water exploration, featuring public boat access, canoe and kayak rentals, fishing, biking and hiking trails and picnic areas.
The Skokie Lagoons provide critical habitat for wildlife including migrating ducks, herons, cormorants and mammals like coyote, mink, and gray and red fox. The Lagoons are also home to a variety of fish including bluegill, sunfish and largemouth bass.
Staff and volunteers continue to do restoration work on the wetlands, uplands and prairies surrounding the lagoons, focusing primarily on removing a thick curtain of buckthorn and other invasive species, cultivating native plants and dispersing native seeds to increase biodiversity.