The Illinois Prairie Path http://jendar.tchmachines.com/~iskuxxi/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.51 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://jendar.tchmachines.com/~iskuxxi//nucleus/nucleus2.gif The Illinois Prairie Path http://jendar.tchmachines.com/~iskuxxi/ Closures xml-rss2.php?itemid=10 through FermiLab in Batavia. During Orange and Red Homeland Security Status periods, FermiLab is required to bar entry to all but official business and employees of the facility.
]]> News/events xml-rss2.php?itemid=10 Sat, 29 May 2010 17:34:43 -0500 Trail Etiquette xml-rss2.php?itemid=8
  • Cyclists and equestrians should give an audible warning when overtaking another user by calling out 'passing on the left'.
  • Users should make an effort to stay to the right when traveling the Path.
  • Cyclists should not travel at excessive speeds.
  • Care should be given when approaching horses to avoid "spooking" them.
  • Cyclists (really all users) should stay on the surfaced portion of the path and not damage native vegetation and landscaped areas.
  • Cyclists should wear helments at all times.
  • Pets must be leashed and you must clean up after them.
  • No motorized vehicles are allowed (county law). Power-assisted wheelchairs are allowed.
  • No firearms, kites, or model airplanes.
  • No hunting.
  • No alcoholic beverages or controlled substances.
  • We provide trash containers at many intersections - please use them.
  • Camping is not allowed on the Path. The Path is adjacent to several county forest preserves. For camping information call the DuPage County Forest Preserve District, 630-790-4900, or Kane County Forest Preserve District, 630-232-5980.
    • ]]>     Tools xml-rss2.php?itemid=8 Sat, 29 May 2010 08:35:38 -0500     Trail Amenities xml-rss2.php?itemid=7
    Perhaps its the only spot where one has ever spotted that strange little finch with the purple throat and silvery-yellow wings that brings him back every afternoon. A place to run with the little one in the jogging cart. Everyone seems to be doing her own thing. And loving it.

    To most, its a bike path that goes somewhere. Or part of their weekly equestrian adventure. Whatever you use the Prairie Path for, we are out there too. That's why we have amenities along the trail to help make it a more pleasant trip.

    Along the Path you'll find:
    • Comfort Stations (bathrooms or port-a-potties)
    • Drinking fountains or water pumps
    • Benches to rest awhile
    • Native Prairie restorations
    • Forest Preserve trails extending from the Path
    • Interpretive signs at points of interest
    • Parks, playgrounds and gazebos
    • Informational showcases
    • Many downtowns have the all-important ice cream store nearby
    • Trash containers at many intersections (please use them!)
    ]]>     Tools xml-rss2.php?itemid=7 Sat, 29 May 2010 08:31:15 -0500     Join xml-rss2.php?itemid=6 IPPc Membership Form

    Become a Member of The Illinois Prairie Path
    a not-for-profit Corporation



    The Illinois Prairie Path Corporation is a private not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation which is financially funded solely from donations made by its members. Members recieve the IPPc newsletter and one multi-colored IPPc trailmap. In addition, tax-deductible contributions will be used by the PATH's all-volunteer board of directors to:

    • Preserve, restore, and re-establish prairies along the trail. The IPPc spends thousands of dollars each year towards this effort alone.
    • Preserve open space. Our successful effort to protect the 8.3 acres adjacent to the Path near Glen Ellyn is one example.
    • Sponsor Eagle Scout projects to construct amenities along the Path. Many of the guardrails over streams, new benches, and erosion control barriers were installed, replaced or repaired this way.
    • Place and maintain trash containers and a comfort station along the trail.
    • Install and repair display cases, mile markers and benches.
    • Coordinate trail cleanups. 1,000 volunteers help with the Path's sponsored annual Earth Day cleanup each April.
    • Support trails. The IPPc makes annual donations to the Conservation Foundation Trails Project and the Illinois Trails Conservancy.
    • Work with municipalities, counties, and the State of Illinois to promote trail safety awareness and improvements.
    • Assisted Maywood and Forest Park with the completion of the new Des Plaines River bridge and Main Stem extension.
    • Help to develop the recently revised DuPage County Trail Maintenance Policy, protecting the natural beauty of the Trail system.


    Click here for a list of membership benefits.

    To become a member (and get the new $6.00 color map free) mail our application, and your check made payable to ILLINOIS PRAIRIE PATH, to the following address:

    Illinois Prairie Path
    P.O. Box 1086
    Wheaton, IL 60187

    ]]>     How To Help xml-rss2.php?itemid=6 Fri, 21 May 2010 16:09:25 -0500     Member Benefits xml-rss2.php?itemid=5
    • You will receive the quarterly illustrated Newsletter that features articles on Path development, events, nature study, history, and other information of interest to trail users.

    • You will receive one deluxe color Illinois Prairie Path trail map.

    • You will help establish policy by electing members to the board of directors and acting on corporate business at the annual meeting of members held on the first Sunday in November of each year.

    • Your tax-deductible contribution will be used to plant trees and flowers, maintain and establish prairie remnants, pay a scavenger to place and empty trash barrels and a comfort station along the trail, install benches and mile markers, install display cases which contain maps and other trail information, coordinate an annual Earth Day cleanup, landscape the Path at street intersections, and work with municipalities, counties, forest preserve districts, park districts, and the State of Illinois to improve the Path and add to the system of interconnecting trails of which the Path is part.


    For a membership application, click here.
    ]]>     About Us xml-rss2.php?itemid=5 Sat, 8 May 2010 18:45:00 -0500     Mission Statement xml-rss2.php?itemid=4 Mission Statement for The Illinois Prairie Path
    a not-for-profit corporation

    Adopted March 5, 1991, revised February 4, 2002



    To advise and assist the various governmental agencies
    responsible for maintaining and developing a safe,
    public, multiple-purpose trail open to all called The
    Illinois Prairie Path, located on, or connecting the
    various segments of, the right-of-way of the old
    Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric railroad in Cook,
    DuPage and Kane Counties, Illinois. Major concerns of
    the corporation are recreation, prairie restoration,
    land preservation and beautification, conservation of
    natural resources and ecosystems, preservation and
    interpretation of historic sites, and the connection
    of The Illinois Prairie Path to other trails to form
    a regional network of "greenways."

    GOALS

    1. Complete the Cook County section from First Avenue,
    Maywood and east across the Des Plaines River to
    the CTA station in Forest Park. Needs site plan,
    adequate funding, responsible management and
    continuity.

    2. Promote the development of connecting trails:
    a. Along the east and West Branches of the DuPage
    River,
    b. To various points along the Great Western Trail
    (support constructing a bridge over Grace Street,
    St. Charles Road and the Union Pacific Railroad
    in Lombard; add safe non-motorized crossings
    with push-button light and sidewalks at regular
    one-mile intervals along North Avenue),
    c. Through the Lincoln Marsh to connect the IPP to
    the Great Western Trail,
    d. Along the Butterfield Road corridor with
    push-button lights and sidewalks for
    neighborhood access,
    e. Along the Salt Creek to the Illinois-Michigan
    Canal,
    f. Along the EJ&E RR r/w to the Illinois-Michigan
    Canal,
    g. Any other trails connecting with The Illinois
    Prairie Path.

    3. Support the following standards and management
    goals:
    a. Preserve and enhance trail continuity; minimize
    parking lot encroachments on the Path but provide
    adequate parking for Path users where necessary;
    mitigate impacts of new roads, railroads, etc.,
    crossing the Path; support grade separations, or
    push-button stoplights if grade crossings cannot
    be avoided.
    b. Support continued use of relatively inexpensive
    limestone screenings as the surfacing material
    acceptable to most users, with asphalt reserved
    for short stretches having major erosion or other
    special problems; encourage path widening to ten
    feet in high-traffic areas.
    c. Support separate trails for horses where
    equestrians are more than 1% of users, according
    to officially recognized user surveys.*
    d. Provide amenities, such as logo signs, display
    case stands with maps of the trail, plantings,
    benches, drinking fountains, trash containers,
    toilet facilities, and mile markers. Provide a
    few signs indicating points of interest.
    e. Support police protection all along the Path.

    4. Support official recognition by DuPage County and
    other governmental agencies concerned in any way
    with the trail that the name of the trail on the
    old CA&E right-of-way is, and always has been, The
    Illinois Prairie Path, the name given it in 1964 by
    May Theilgaard Watts and the other Path founders.
    Support official recognition of the green-and-white
    logo design by the founders and registered with the
    Illinois Secretary of State. It has been used and
    displayed on the trail since 1967.

    *All surveys done to date agree that the bicyclists
    represent 80% of users on all sections, and
    joggers, 15%; the rest are mainly hikers except in
    the Wayne area, where more than 1% of regular path
    users are equestrians.

    ]]>     About Us xml-rss2.php?itemid=4 Sat, 8 May 2010 18:38:43 -0500     About the Trail xml-rss2.php?itemid=3
    It spans approximately 61 miles in Cook, DuPage, and Kane Counties in northeasten Illinois. A former right-of-way for the old Chicago Aurora & Elgin electric railroad, it was the first U.S. rail-to-trail conversion in the nation in the 1960's. More on its history here.

    The emblem shown here and on signs, road crossings, and even our custom trash containers, provides several clues to the Path's origin and uses. They include railroad spikes arranged in an inverted Y and three circles.

    The railroad spikes indicate that the trail follows the right-of-way of the former Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railway, an electric line which carried commuters and freight between Chicago and the western suburbs as far as the towns along the Fox River from Elgin to Aurora. The CA&E suspended commuter operations in 1957 and freight operations in 1959. The right-of-way was finally abandoned in 1961.

    The inverted Y forms a rough map of the Path route: from First Avenue, Maywood, to Wheaton; then branching to Elgin and Aurora (with additional spurs to Geneva and Batavia).

    The symbols in the 3 circles suggest just some of the many ways to enjoy the Path - on foot, bicycle or horseback.

    Users of the Path enjoy the scenic 61 miles, which includes many Illinois recreated prairie restorations.

    The Path is surfaced primarily with a crushed limestone surface, which is easy on feet and bike tires alike, and sheds water quickly following rainfall.
    ]]>     Tools xml-rss2.php?itemid=3 Sat, 8 May 2010 15:40:56 -0500     Menu Test xml-rss2.php?itemid=2 Maps xml-rss2.php?itemid=2 Sun, 2 May 2010 11:51:20 -0500 Welcome to Nucleus CMS v3.5 xml-rss2.php?itemid=1
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