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Keay Nature Center Improvements
START DATE
Fall 2022
PROJECTED END DATE
Ongoing
LOCATION
Corner of Hibbard Rd. and Skokie Blvd., Wilmette, IL
About the Project
Keay Nature Center History
Keay Nature Center, a nature park at the corner of Skokie Blvd. & Hibbard Rd., is a peaceful space featuring winding paths, a pond and waterfall feature, plus a wide variety of native trees and shrubbery.
Starting in October 2022, the Park District began a series of improvements at Keay which were completed in the spring of 2023. Partially funded by a generous donation from the Ouilmette Foundation, improvements included:
- New nature play and picnic areas were built into the park, made from locally sourced dead and declining trees
- Rotten wood timbers were replaced with permeable brick and turfstone pavers to eliminate rutting during park maintenance
- Paths were repaired with granite gravel
- The park was cleaned and cleared of plant debris.
The improvements were celebrated on April 20, 2023 at our first Earth Day at Keay event.
The Inception of the Project
Invasive Species Improvements – Starting in the winter of 2024, the Park District ramped up our restoration efforts at Keay Nature Center! We’ve spent years monitoring the park for invasive species, and found more and more aggressive, non-native plants in our woodland space.
Examples include:
- buckthorn (Rhamnus)
- honeysuckle (Lonicera )
- lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)
- common reed grass (Phragmites australis)
These plants choke out delicate native species and damage the ecosystem. As we clear out these plants and open up the space, the ground will receive more light, and the native understory will have a chance to thrive. We also plan to add more native trees, shrubs and perennials to cultivate the native landscape.
Planning Goal and Outcomes
The goal of our 2024 Invasive Species Improvements is to promote biodiversity, preserve wildlife habitats and support the park to eventually require minimal intervention.
This process will take multiple years and must be done in phases. While it’s unrealistic to permanently eradicate all invasive species, we can move closer to restoring Keay’s ecosystem through good management efforts.
Documents and Downloads
Project Timeline
Updates
April 2023
EARTH DAY AT KEAY
Saturday, April 22, 2023On April 22, we celebrated Earth Day at Keay! The Wilmette Board of Park Commissioners cut a ribbon to officially invite visitors to the enhanced Keay Nature Center. Visitors explored the trails and learned about nature, plants and trees with a scavenger hunt, and created bird feeders at our craft station.
Special thanks to the Ouilmette Foundation for funding the recent upgrades around Keay Nature Center!
November 2022
The project is near completion.
October 2022
The bid for this project has been approved by the Board, and work is underway. The entire project should be completed by the end of the year, including bump-outs for the nature play areas distributed around the park adjacent to the path.
June 2022
Superintendent of Parks and Planning Kristi Solberg worked with Gewalt Hamilton Associates to create nature play space designs along the pathways in the park. Read all about the Keay Nature Center project in July’s Board Brief e-newsletter, here
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