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Rock Run Preserve – Black Road Access

Location: Will County, Troy Township, T35N, R9E, City of Joliet
MSCSF-funded work: Interpretive signage for restoration and natural areas management
Wetland Preservation and Enhancement Account funded restoration work: 46 acres
Owner: Forest Preserve District of Will County (FPDWC)
Partners: Will County Forest Preserve District, USACE, CorLands, Conservation Fund/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission

Action: Cutting and treatment of shrubs and trees, treatment and follow-up to control herbaceous invasive species, and design and installation of interpretive signage.

Summary: The Black Road Access area is a part of the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s Rock Run Creek Preserve system. It did have a matrix of native plants in place, but it was being increasingly choked out and overrun by brush and other invasive species. Like Theodore Marsh, its location along Rock Run and its similarity in geologic character to sites along the Des Plaines makes it a place that is important not only in its own right but as a potential seed source for restoration efforts at Lockport Prairie, Romeoville Prairie, and elsewhere.

In the winter of 2004 CorLands, in conjunction with the Northeastern Illinois Wetlands Restoration Fund, providing funding for the FPD of Will County to initiate restoration (brush cutting, tree removal, herbaceous weed control) on 46 acres of the Black Road Access property along Rock Run Creek. In the fall of 2004 the FPD of Will County conducted a prescribed burn of the restoration area. The remnant wetland and prairie plant communities have responded robustly.

MSCSF’s portion of the Black Road Access project was to fund the development and placement of interpretive signage regarding natural area and management along the recreational trail that borders the restoration area. Similar signage was also developed and installed at the Theodore Marsh restoration site, which is located along Rock Run Creek upstream of Black Road Access. The signage provides another opportunity to present information about natural areas and their management needs to local citizens.