Special Edition: In Plain Sight

Wave hello to The Lake Plain Coastal Preserves—one of the rarest, most diverse ecosystems on Lake Michigan.

The Lake Plain covers 15 miles of shoreline and over 4,500 acres between Waukegan, Illinois and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Here, ancient beach ridges tell stories spanning 3,000 years of restless freshwater tides. Eastern prickly pear, a drought-tolerant cactus, thrives beside arctic bearberry, a cold-climate shrub. Endangered piping plovers continue their species’ comeback story each season they return to nest.

Visitors find what they didn’t know they were seeking. Environmental stewards discover their calling, families create memories across generations and others take solace in nature.

The Lake Plain Coalition, an alliance led by the Lake County Forest Preserves, other public agencies, private organizations and individuals, is proving collective care can preserve the irreplaceable.

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Forest Preserves Mentioned:

• Spring Bluff (Winthrop Harbor)

Selected Links and Sources:

• American beachgrass, Illinois Wildflowers
• Ancestral Lake Michigan, Illinois Natural History Survey
• Arctic bearberry, Illinois Wildflowers
• Blanding’s Turtle Recovery Program
• Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
• Creeping juniper, Illinois Wildflowers
• Crown vetch, Illinois Wildflowers
• Culver’s root, Illinois Wildflowers
• Dune willow, Illinois Native Plant Society
• Eastern prickly pear, Illinois Wildflowers
• “EPA Sites in the City of Waukegan,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Every Acre Strong
• Forest Preserves calendar
• Giant reed, Illinois Wildflowers
• Glossy buckthorn, Illinois Wildflowers
• Horizons subscriptions
• Illinois Beach State Park, Illinois Department of Natural Resources
• Indiana Dunes, Indiana Dunes Tourism
• Kalm’s St. John’s wort, Illinois Wildflowers
• Lake Plain Coalition, lakeplain.org/about
• Lake Plain Conservation Fund, Preservation Foundation of the Lake County Forest Preserves
• Piping plover, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• “Piping Plover Chicks Hatch at Montrose, While Waukegan Is on Second Nest Watch After Series of Dramatic Plot Twists,” WTTW Chicago
• Pitcher’s thistle, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
• Prescribed burns
• "The Ramsar List,” Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance
• Reed canary grass, Illinois Wildflowers
• Rusty patched bumble bee, USFWS
• Sharing Our Shore–Waukegan, Lake County Audubon Society
• Summer 2026 Horizons
• The Lake Plain Coastal Preserves, lakeplain.org

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If you like what the forest preserves do for you, please consider donating to the Preservation Foundation of the Lake County Forest Preserves’ fund for Lake Plain Conservation.

Your gift directly supports habitat restoration, species monitoring, education programs and operational expenses for the Lake Plain Coalition. Learn more and give at lakeplain.org.

Subscribe to Horizons at LCFPD.org/horizons.

Have questions or comments? Send them to WordsOfTheWoods@LCFPD.org.

This episode of Words of the Woods was written, hosted and produced by Brett Peto, environmental communications specialist at the Lake County Forest Preserves. Featuring research and expertise from Belynda Alberte, Gary Glowacki and Carolyn Lueck.

We used the following recordings from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library with permission:

ML16930661
ML27747281

Other sound effects and music from Storyblocks. Audio editing and mixing by Brett Peto. Episode cover art © Becca Heuer Photography.

Words of the Woods is a production of the Lake County Forest Preserves in Libertyville, Illinois.