Nature Centers

Located on the northwest side of Chicago, North Park Village Nature Center features a 46-acre natural area and educational facility, situated within the 155-acre North Park Village campus. This park offers trails that wind through woodland, wetland, prairie, and savanna. A discovery room, a hands-on table of natural objects, and interactive displays are highlights of the Nature Center. In addition to the Nature Center, visitors can also enjoy exploration through Walking Stick Woods, a 12-acre woodland with trails and nodes designed for Nature Play. 

Northerly Island Park is a 119-acre natural area and park situated along the Lake Michigan shoreline south of Chicago’s Museum Campus. Chicago's famous architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham imagined Northerly Island as one of the northernmost points in a series of manmade islands stretching between Grant and Jackson Parks and exists as the only island to be completed. The site of the Century of Progress World Fair in 1933, Northerly Island has since been transformed into an urban nature sanctuary, making it the ideal location to investigate the intersection of Chicago’s natural and built environments. 

The Ford Calumet Environmental Center at Big Marsh Park sits on a 300-acre site on the southeast side of Chicago in the area commonly known as the Calumet Area Reserve. Once an active industrial property, the vision of Big Marsh is to provide a new type of recreation in Chicago that joins habitat restoration with public use. Roughly 45 acres are developed for eco-recreation opportunities including hiking, adventure courses, and off-road biking, while other areas of the site are reserved for more passive recreation including birdwatching and nature hikes.  

For more information on programs at each nature center, visit the links above.