Marsh Wetland Boardwalk

The central lowlands found at Subat Forest Preserve contain hydric soils and seasonally floods during wetter years.  The prairie flowers and grasses transition to a marsh habitat dominated by cattails and other wetland-dependent species like Swamp milkweed and Sweet Joe Pye weed.  This Chronolog will document the District’s efforts to contain Common reed (Phragmites australis), the most aggressive non-native species Kendall County is contending with today impacting all open wetland areas today.  Common reed forms an interconnected network of matted roots spreading by rhizomes which can grow over 10 feet in a growing season, runners which can extend 43 feet from the parent plant, and by seed.  Roots can extend over two meters below the surface, making control all the more difficult.