By Alyssa Nyberg, Restoration Ecologist at Kankakee Sands
Our Kankakee Sands prairies are always growing and changing. As I write this article, the prairie flowers are beginning to bloom and the yellows of sand coreopsis are astounding. With June comes the changing of colors from the yellow of coreopsis to the purple of spiderwort, the white of foxglove, and the pink of phlox. All throughout the year the colors will change, the height of the plants will change, and the insects and birds visiting the plants will change, too.
Each of the prairie plantings at Kankakee Sands changes significantly from year to year as well. There is a general trajectory that most prairie plantings take – it begins with the sowing of the prairie seed on freshly harvested agricultural ground. The following few years are ones of annual plants and a weedy scraggly appearance. And then at long last, after four or five years, the prairie finally become beautiful and lush, with a multitude of native plants and insects and wildlife, growing better each and every year.
And for our Kankakee Sands project, there are even more changes afoot this 2024 year! Kankakee Sands is still the 8,400-acre prairie that is owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy – free and open to the public ever day of the year. We just entered the construction phase of a project valued at more than two million dollars, which includes the cost of planning, design, signage and construction of visitor improvements and access to the site. The project is funded by generous grants and donors and the goal is to for Kankakee Sands to a welcoming, safe, educational and fun experience for all ages and abilities.
The visitor improvements happening this year will take place at three locations and will include the following:
• Kankakee Sands office – A new fully-accessible welcome area with a large pavilion, educational signage, bathrooms, viewing platform, improved parking and concrete pathways.
• Kankakee Sands Bison Viewing Area – A new pavilion, viewing platforms, spotting scopes, bathroom, and improved parking area with accessible pathways.
• Kankakee Sands Nursery – An accessible gathering place for outreach and programming with a new pavilion, signage, trails and an improved parking area.
As construction is underway, access to the Kankakee Sands Main Office, Bison Viewing Area and Nursery will need to be restricted until late fall. But rest assured other areas at Kankakee Sands such as the 2-mile Grace Teninga Trail and the 1.6-mile Conrad Station Trail, remain open for hiking and nature observation.
Thank you all for your patience as the construction is underway. And thank you to the many sponsors and supporters of the visitor improvements!
To stay abreast of construction updates, visit our TNC-Indiana Facebook page.
To follow our construction progress, check out the live webcam stationed currently at the Kankakee Sands office location.
Later this year, when we have the reopening of the Kankakee Sands welcome area, Bison Viewing Area and the Nursery, we will be so excited to welcome you back to enjoy the improvements. Please be thinking about friends or family members who you might want to invite out in the fall. We’d love to have you, your friends and your family visit Kankakee Sands and experience the improvements firsthand!
The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands is an 8,400-acre prairie and savanna habitat in Northwest Indiana, open every day of the year for public enjoyment. It’s an exciting year for Kankakee Sands, as we are making major improvements to popular areas within the preserve. If you plan to visit, please check our Facebook page to see if any of the areas you want to see will be impacted by the construction. For more information about Kankakee Sands, visit www.nature.org/KankakeeSands or call the office at 219-285-2184.
Friends of the Sands 