Ribbon-cutting held for Dunning Read Natural Area at Irving Park Rd.  & Oak Park Ave.

by BRIAN NADIG

A ribbon-cutting was held on June 24 for the Chicago Park District’s Dunning Read Natural Area, a 23-acre site at 4050 N. Oak Park Ave. that about 25 years ago was targeted for a Home Depot.

Community uproar halted the proposed sale of the state land for a large hardware store, and community groups, including the Irving-Council Community Council, volunteered to help preserve the land as a conservation area.

However, resources to help properly manage the space, including the clearing of invasive species of plants, were not always being properly provided, and efforts began to have control of the land transferred from the state Department of Natural Resources to the park district, said area resident Ed Bannon, who recruited members of the community to serve on the Dunning Read Park Advisory Council.

The council sponsors activities at the natural area and provides recommendations on its land management to the district.

State Senator Robert Martwick (D-10) and state Representative Lindsey LaPointe (D-19) supported the land’s transfer, which occurred in 2022, and along with Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th) they attended the recent ribbon-cutting.

The park district has been making several noticeable improvements on the space in the past six months, Bannon said.

“They wanted to make (the conservation area) accessible, so they had to go in and open the trails,” said advisory council member Jeff Daube, who also is the lead steward for the site. The site has about 0.8 miles of walking trails, according to the park district’s Web site.

“Basically what you see is teasel, buckthorn and phragmites” in terms of the invasive species,” Daube said of the land.

Stewardship days are usually held from 9 a.m. to noon on the third Saturday of each month, and recently some of the buckthorn was removed as part of a Boy Scouts Eagle Project, Daube said.

There are tentative plans for an event at the site this fall that could include crafts and informative presentations on the conservation efforts and the wildlife in the area, Daube said.

In 2018 the Friends of the Parks honored Brian and Mary Stevens for their stewardship efforts at the Dunning-Read site. Brian Stevens is president of the advisory council, which normally meets at 6 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month at the Dunning Library, 7455 W. Irving Park Road.

Visitors can access the natural area via the driveway on Oak Park leading to the Chicago-Read Mental Health Center, as a sign will direct motorists south toward a parking lot next to the conservation space.

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