Park view: Byron Forest Preserve properties offer something for everyone

BYRON, Ill. — No matter how you like your outdoors, from recreation to education to preservation and even stargazing and tree-hugging, the Byron Forest Preserve District in rural Ogle County has something for you.

“I don’t mind us being a hidden gem, you try to keep a little bit of balance,” said Todd Tucker.

Tucker is the executive director of the Byron Forest Preserve District and has been with the district for 25 years, starting as a summer intern.

As the name states, the primary mission of the Byron Forest Preserve District is to preserve natural lands. The elected board of directors and Tucker have taken that mission to heart.

The district was formed in 1980 with a primary goal of preserving and protecting open spaces. The Jarrett Prairie Nature Preserve and the Prairieview Golf Course was acquired shortly after the district was formed, in three separate tracts for a total of 600 acres.

During Tucker’s time as director, the district has gone from 850 acres to over 2,200, via purchases made with grant funds. The forest preserve district is a taxing body, and the majority of the property taxes that support it come from the nearby Exelon Byron Generating Station.

The variety of opportunities for public enjoyment at the district’s properties is as diverse as the properties themselves.

Jarrett Prairie Nature Preserve is the headquarters of the district and also houses the J. Weiskopf Observatory and the Jarrett Prairie Center.

“This preserve is our focus and where we do all of our stuff. We do our programming out here, the trails get used a little more,” Tucker said.

The preserve district offers programming for preschoolers through adults. In the summer, nature preschools and day camps are a big draw, and the Jarrett preserve hosts a Halloween on the Prairie event and winter hikes and programming.

Tee Time

Adjoining the Jarrett preserve is the 18-hole public Prairieview Golf Course.

“It’s rated third or fourth in the state of Illinois. It’s a full 18, bentgrass tee to green. It’s a high-end, championship-style course. We’ve got 60 sand traps,” Tucker said.

One of the more unique structures in the Jarrett preserve complex also is the most visible. The J. Weiskopf Observatory crowns the hill that overlooks the prairie preserve.

The observatory originally was in the backyard of Dr. Jerome Weiskopf, a local physician, who donated it to the district. The observatory hosts scheduled events and is open during the summer in the evening and in the winter on Saturday evenings.

One of the newest district properties hosts one of the more unique natural phenomenon.

The Bald Hill Prairie Preserve is home to the biggest tree in Illinois and the second highest point in Ogle County. The district closed on the Bald Hill property in 2017.

“After we closed on it, we were walking out there, and we found a big cottonwood tree,” Tucker said.

After they cleared debris from around the tree, which grows at the bottom of a ravine, they measured it and sent in its measurements to the Illinois Big Tree Register.

At 28.5 feet in circumference and 122 feet tall, the cottonwood claimed top honors as the biggest tree in the state. It’s estimated to be around 200 years old.

While cottonwoods can be susceptible to wind and lightning, the Bald Hill cottonwood grows at the bottom of a ravine.

“For this 160 acres, there is 180 foot elevation difference. This is all the way at the bottom of a ravine. This one is protected from wind and storms,” Tucker said.

Standing Tall

The district hosts an annual free Bald Hill Big Tree Day in the spring around Arbor Day that includes tours out to see the supersized cottonwood.

The district also hosts occasional guided tours out to see the tree, and visitors can park at the Bald Hill site and make the four-tenths of a mile hike, one way, out to see the tree for themselves.

Hiking out to see the tree has become a popular activity. Bald Hill also is home to a species of endangered owl, the ground-nesting short-eared owl and an endangered plant, the woolly milkweed.

“We get a lot of people who go hiking in Bald Hill to see the state’s biggest tree. It’s in a ravine, and you have to hike up and down some hills,” Tucker said.

That includes not only people from out of the Ogle County area, but those who live just across the Rock River in Byron and in nearby communities such as Rockford, Dixon and Forreston.

“The amount of people we get who tell us they never knew this stuff was here, so many of them are from town or from the local area,” Tucker said.

That includes another lesser-known property, the Nardi Equine Prairie Preserve.

The original 300 acres for the horse trails was donated in 2003 by Chicago businessman and equine enthusiast Stephen J. Nardi and his wife Deirdre, for the purpose of equine use. Tucker wrote a grant that allowed the district to acquire 200 acres next to that.

Walkers and runners also can use the Nardi preserve trails.

“We have 550 acres with equestrian trails for people who want to bring their horses out. We don’t have overnight camping, but it’s a nice daytrip,” Tucker said.