Carol Stream residents enjoy access to lots of public open spaces in and around our boundary. These open spaces are either owned and maintained by the Village of Carol Stream, the Carol Stream Park District, or the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.

In addition to active recreation (e.g. parks and playgrounds), much of that open space includes natural areas (e.g. streams, wetlands, ponds, prairies, and forests) for passive recreation. Open spaces with detention basins and retention ponds have had their turf grass replaced with native grasses and flowers (i.e. "naturalized" landscapes).

Natural areas and naturalized landscapes lessen the environmental impact of development, support the urban ecosystem, and increase land values by:

• reducing runoff from rainfall,
• filtering urban pollutants out of storm water,
• preventing erosion of the soil,
• providing habitat and food for animals and insects,
• adding oxygen to the atmosphere,
• cooling the surrounding urban environment, and
• creating passive recreational space.

The following video from The Conservation Foundation provides an overview of the benefits for landscaping with native grasses and flowers versus traditional turf grass.

For these reasons, it is important that Carol Stream preserve and maintain these natural and naturalized areas. Carol Stream's Code of Ordinances requires that development protect natural areas whenever feasible and encourages designing with naturalized landscaping.

!! PLEASE, DO NOT DUMP YOUR YARD WASTE !!!

If you live adjacent to an open space with naturalized landscaping, please do not dump landscape debris (i.e. grass clippings, leaves, sticks, etc.). This debris can increase the smoke produced when conducting a prescribed burn (see below for more on prescribed burning). Refer to our webpage on Residential Garbage & Recycling for options regarding its proper disposal.

In addition, remember to always "Scoop the Poop!". Aside from taking away from the enjoyment of our open spaces, dog waste can pollute our local waterways with dangerous levels of e-coli bacteria. Because of its importance to the community, the Board of Trustees has made dumping of pet waste a violation of Carol Stream's Code of Ordinances.

Monitoring & Maintenance

The Village actively maintains and monitors its naturalized landscapes. Without this maintenance, many non-native and invasive species (aka weeds) will take over and replace the native plants. Maintenance includes herbiciding, prescribed burns, high (6-8") mowing, selective cutting of woody plants, over-seeding, and supplemental planting.

The 2024 Prescribed Burns at the following locations have been completed:

Among the options, prescribed burning's low cost and minimal effort makes it the single-most important tool for controlling weeds. Burning the dry, dead plants exposes the soil to the sun’s warmth, which triggers growth and seed germination. Their deep roots help native plants quickly recover from the fire and compete against weeds. It also destroys the upper parts of weedy shrubs and trees so that over time they weaken and eventually die. Carol Stream typically burns at the beginning of spring when the snow has melted and before the rains.

The greater height of native plants also means that more trash and debris collects along the edges. This detracts from their natural aesthetics and often negatively impacts the public's perception of these areas. If you would like to help keep these areas clean, please visit our Volunteer Opportunities webpage for more information and to sign-up for the annual Pond & Stream Sweep typically held in May.

The following links are good starting places to learn more about native plants:

• Wild Ones Greater DuPage Chapter
• The Conservation Foundation
• Natural Communities, LLC
• DuPage County Stormwater Department's Wetlands and Buffers Program
• Living with Wetlands, A Handbook for Homeowners in Northeastern Illinois

COMMUNITY PARK

The Village owns 51 acres of open space behind (i.e. east of) the Carol Stream Park District's 17 acre Community Park, while the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County owns an additional 14 acres. Winfield Creek flows through what was once a mix of wetlands and farm fields. When the area developed, the lagoons were carved out for use as stormwater management and the property was deeded to the Village. A portion of that property was then enhanced to become "Communities Park", a joint-venture between the Village of Carol Stream and the Park Districts of Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, and Wheaton. When the intergovernmental agreement between these agencies expired, the park's ownership reverted to the Village. In 2017, the park portion was deeded to the Carol Stream Park District, who then began its reconstruction in 2023/24.

EXOTIC WEEDS: "Exotic weeds are plants not native to North America which, when planted either spread vegetatively or naturalize and degrade natural communities, reduce the value of fish and wildlife habitat, or threaten an Illinois endangered or threatened species."

While the Village has added recreational amenities to the open space (i.e. parking, benches, trails, bridges, etc.), management of the trees and vegetation was left to "nature". Unfortunately a handful of aggressive species, some of them in the Illinois Exotic Weed Act (ex. Glossy Buckthorn, Japanese Honeysuckle) as well as many aggressive native species (ex. Siberian Elm, Boxelder) have come to dominate the landscape.

In 2020 the Village began taking steps to re-naturalize the area, which involved removing 5 acres of the overgrown understory (i.e. 6-inch diameter trees and smaller) south of the lagoons. The cleared understory was then seeded with native grasses and flowers and is now being actively managed. The understory in the 7 acres north and west of the lagoons will be cleared in 2024. 

In addition to the native grasses and flowers, the Village and Park District are teaming up to re-populate the forest with a diversity of native trees and shrubs. The first major effort will involve planting nearly 70 trees thanks to funding from a Trees Forever Illinois Community Canopy Planting Grant. Volunteers are needed for both the fall (mid-October 2024) and spring (Arbor Day 2025) plantings. For more information on how to participate, please contact the Engineering Services Department.

Please call the Engineering Services Department at (630) 871-6220 or via email if you have any questions or want more information.

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