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Busse Woods biology

Busse Woods, the heart of the forest preserve, is a mature Great Lakes hardwood forest. A 440-acre (1.8 km&2) segment of the woods, the Busse Forest Nature Preserve, is listed as a national natural landmark as a surviving fragment of ''flatwoods'', a type of damp-ground forest formerly typical of extremely level patches of ground in the Great Lakes region. Parcels of land with slow rates of precipitation runoff into adjacent Wetland s and Stream s were likely to develop into flatwoods. A flatwoods forest is characterized by Red Maple , Swamp White Oak , and Black Ash trees. The black ash trees of Busse Woods are threatened by the Emerald Ash Borer , which was reported in Illinois for the first time in 2006.

Other parts of Busse Woods are better-drained and include species more typical of the forests of northern Illinois, such as the Basswood , Hickory , Sugar Maple , and White Oak , the latter species being the State Tree of Illinois.


Busse Woods recreation

An 11.2-mile long (18.0 km) paved Bicycle trail circles through the forest preserve. In contrast to the natural area, the northwest and southwest quadrants of the preserve are dominated by ''Busse Lake'', a 590-acre (2.4 km&2) artificial Reservoir that serves as a flood-control catchment for Salt Creek and by the tall Skyscraper s of eastern Schaumburg.