A Sandy and Swampy Urban Island: A summary of ecological problems and solutions at Sand Ridge Nature Center
Introduction Since September of 2014, I have been serving the Forest Preserves of Cook County as a naturalist at a Chicago-area suburban nature education center situated in a 300 acre urban nature preserve. Sand Ridge Nature Center (SRNC), which geographically straddles the border of South Holland and Calumet City in Illinois, is named for the ancient high Toleston Beach Ridge that formed as the water levels of Lake Michigan began receding after the end of the last major ice age (figure 1) (Forest Preserves of Cook County, 2016) . The former 6,000 year-old beach ridge is still partially intact in several forest preserves, with one the longest remaining stretches on the northern end of the nature center property along Michigan City Road (figure 2). The present extent of Sand Ridge Nature Center includes all of the land north of U.S. Highway 6 to Michigan City Road, then from Paxton Avenue east to Illinois Highway 83 (Torrence Avenue) along the municipal boundaries of South Holland