Expansion planned for Lake County's Wright Woods Preserve
One of Lake County's oldest forest preserves will expand by a few acres as part of a planned deal.
Lake County Forest Preserve District officials are expected to approve buying a 3.4-acre parcel for the Wright Woods Forest Preserve near Mettawa on Wednesday, July 11. The land will cost the district $327,000.
Named for Capt. Daniel Wright, one of Lake County's earliest settlers, the 747-acre preserve is on St. Mary's Road at Everett Road.
The land being eyed for acquisition is on Everett Road west of Elm Road, on the west side of the preserve. The owners already have signed a contract, officials said.
District leaders have had their eye on the site for some time, Executive Director Tom Hahn said during a recent public discussion. The heavily wooded site is home to two threatened plant species.
“It also protects the view along Everett Road, which we want to protect,” Hahn said in an interview this week. “We get a lot of comments from people who enjoy the scenic byways of Lake County. This will help preserve that experience for travelers in Lake County.”
The land includes a single-family house that will be demolished if it isn't needed for district operations.
Now the county's 11th-largest forest preserve, the first land for what became Wright Woods was acquired in the early 1960s. It's since been expanded and now includes trails, a pond and a fishing pier.
The historic home of onetime Illinois governor and two-time presidential candidate Adlai E. Stevenson II is part of Wright Woods, too.
Learn more about Wright Woods at lcfpd.org.
The forest board will consider the deal when it meets at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the ThunderHawk Golf Club, 39700 N. Lewis Ave., Beach Park.
The board normally meets at the county government building in Waukegan, but once a summer commissioners gather at one of the district's properties for an outdoor meeting.