Old boardwalks have become safety and maintenance issues

Trail building is a routine practice for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, but occasionally one is taken out of service.

Such will be the case with a milelong loop of grass, wood chips and three rickety boardwalks at Van Patten Woods Forest Preserve near Wadsworth.

Known as a green trail loop, the segment is on two ridges surrounded by wetlands and woodlands that are mucky much of the time.

The high points are connected by a 500-foot-long boardwalk originally built in the mid-1990s by the district's Youth Conservation Corps, a summer program involving construction, maintenance and natural resource education. Three shorter boardwalks cross smaller wetland areas.

The long boardwalk and one on the east leg of the loop are in disrepair, no longer considered safe for public use and will be removed.

"It looks like it was built by kids with hand tools," said Mike Tully, the district's chief operations officer.

Tully supervised the original construction (later replaced) in 1989 and has a soft spot for the structures. Replacing them to forest district standards would cost $250,000 or more, and the light use of that segment doesn't warrant the expense, he said.

The long boardwalk also is close to the ground, preventing vegetation from growing beneath it. That has created an erosion issue, which is affecting the wetland habitat that is a known location for the state-endangered Blandings turtles.

"It's created a dead zone and that dead zone has created a gully, which has created a safety issue," Tully said.

The boardwalks are anchored in soft soil and have a tendency to sink in wet weather and heave in freezing temperatures. Also, the milelong wood chip surface is the longest in the forest district system, has to be replenished every summer and is a maintenance issue, he said.

To deal with the safety, erosion and maintenance issues, staff has determined better signage is needed to curtail equestrian use at the preserve, and the trail loop needs to be removed. The most scenic portion of the trail will remain and be enhanced with a Des Plaines River flood plain overlook.

The entire area for the last two years has been undergoing a habitat restoration that will continue the next two years to remove invasive species, add native plants and repair the hydrology.

Board President Ann Maine said trails have been closed at Ryerson Woods in Deerfield but people get used to it with adequate signage.