Official Government Website
Departments: Forest Preserve

Merritt Prairie

Jim and Helen Merritt, professors at NIU, donated this 40 acre site in 1989; 16 more acres added a few years later. This preserve is about as hilly as DeKalb County gets. There are 2.5 miles of hiking trails, but it might seem like a lot more with all the up and down included. The old one-room Pierce Town Hall building sits near the preserve entrance. Three quarters of the preserve are still cool-season grass pasture intermingled with patches of shrubs and thin patches of prairie species that were over-seeded in the brome-grass slopes. About ten acres of planted prairie and four acres of wetland mitigation expand the native structure and diversity.

FACILITIES AND RECREATION

  • 56 Acres
  • Cross Country Skiing
  • Hiking
  • Picnic Areas

Forest Preserve Maps

 

Merritt Prairie Forest Preserve

14401 Keslinger Rd.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-895-7191

Merritt Prairie Forest Preserve

14401 Keslinger Rd.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-895-7191

Jim and Helen Merritt, professors at NIU, donated this 40 acre site in 1989; 16 more acres added a few years later. This preserve is about as hilly as DeKalb County gets. There are 2.5 miles of hiking trails, but it might seem like a lot more with all the up and down included. The old one-room Pierce Town Hall building sits near the preserve entrance. Three quarters of the preserve are still cool-season grass pasture intermingled with patches of shrubs and thin patches of prairie species that were over-seeded in the brome-grass slopes. About ten acres of planted prairie and four acres of wetland mitigation expand the native structure and diversity.

FACILITIES AND RECREATION

  • 56 Acres
  • Cross Country Skiing
  • Hiking
  • Picnic Areas

Forest Preserve Maps

 

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