Somme Preserves

Includes Somme Prairie Grove, Somme Woods and Somme Prairie Nature Preserve

Somme Prairie Grove

Somme Prairie Grove is a 90-acre preserve located at the northwest corner of Dundee Road and Waukegan Road. Volunteers have created thoughtful self-guided nature tour information for six seasonally specific walks in the preserve. Take a self-guided tour to learn all about the flora and fauna. Because of ground-nesting birds at Somme Prairie Grove, dogs are discouraged here. Learn all about this amazing space, the available trails and download the self-guided tours at their website HERE.

Somme Woods

Somme Woods is the 269-acre easternmost area of the three Somme Preserves, and the most wooded. Many parts of the woods now have a much more open feel, with woodland wildflowers once again thriving under giant oaks. Somme Woods offers a picnic shelter and tables, which are busy with reserved groups on summer weekends but a peaceful place for an impromptu meal at other times. See the full description at the Forest Preserves of Cook County HERE.

Somme Prairie Nature Preserve

West of the train tracks and Chicago River, 74-acre Somme Prairie Nature Preserve is mainly open grassland. Dedicated as a state nature preserve for its high-quality prairie community, Somme Prairie also has a network of natural-surface footpaths that allow hikers to feel a part of the prairie, observing plants and insects up close. Given Somme Prairie’s nature preserve designation, dogs are not allowed.

To find out how you can join one of the regular volunteer workdays here, visit the Forest Preserves’ volunteer page HERE.