Van Patten Woods Forest Preserve — Attraction in Illinois

I hate to share that these woods have been decimated by supposed restoration efforts. I remember fondly the experience of visiting what was the lovely densely forested Van Patten Woods before the 2020 clear cutting. Upon returning to the woods I could hardly recognize where I was, I checked the map confused as to what happened, then I saw all the big tree stumps and that the first duff was all wood chips.

What they called "restoration", was supposedly to target invasive trees, however tons of large ancient beautiful OAK trees were taken down alongside the buckthorns and the trees were given to a lumber company who produces wooden shipping pallets.

I recommend that if the forest preserve district wants to do more prairie restoration they focus on turning some of the many corn fields in our region back into prairie and do not cut down beautiful old growth woods with hundreds of year old oaks and cottonwoods to achieve this goal.

The whole project reeks of lumber industry interests masquerading as restoration, which in this day and age we have had enough of. What's left of our old trees needs to be protected, especially in our forest...

It’s a special place. I have videos on my iphone of Canadian Geese flying in v formations overhead at a truly breathtaking angle that I cherish and watch all the time, The majesty of field sized v formations of geese overhead while beavers swim from their dams is a moment I’ve experienced. Sterling lake is so clean you can observe natural aquatic plant life sprinkled with the brilliant pan fish of North America. You can hike along the floodplains and as the seasons change watch a beautiful metamorphosis. Also its a big equestrian location which means large wide trails that are easy to walk and talk with groups of people no problem, it is very accommodating for everyone. My only wish is it had some natural footpaths with roots and boulders for those craving a more robust hiking experience, it is trully some gorgeous land that as a flood plain, fowl sanctuary and fishers delight overall really nice. There is a leash law so you do need to keep dogs...

We attended a child's birthday party here with our children the park is brand-new is all very clean in all of the little Pavilions and play areas that they had the grounds are very well maintained there wasn't an abundance of cigarette butts or Garbage from previous users laying around everything was clean there was even a patrol car that went through to make sure people want parking on the grass and doing anything that shouldn't be done we are considering using this venue to host one of our children's upcoming birthdays and we know other family members that have already booked for graduation and summer parties the prices to rent an area are very reasonable and it is close to gas stations and local shopping for any needs...