A great blue heron looks out from a rocky outcropping over an emergent wetland. Across the open water, an egret stands still upon a log. A nearby tree is rumored to be the place where two bald eagles, often seen flying overhead, have settled.
If not for the shadows of long-abandoned smokestacks and the occasional passing truck and freight train, it would be easy to forget that this is Chicago.
The birds are all congregating in and around Big Marsh, the official name of the park being developed in the South Deering neighborhood on the Far Southeast Side of the city. The area was once home to nine steel mills. None are in operation now, and not much has taken their place.
Big Marsh sits on land that is both a former industrial dumping ground as well as an ecological linchpin in the greater Calumet region. 鈥淭he whole Calumet is a mecca of biodiversity,鈥� says Lauren Umek, project manager for the Chicago Park District鈥檚 Department of Cultural and Natural Resources. 鈥淭here鈥檚 hardwood forest to the east, tallgrass prairies to the west, and an amazing network of physical and geologic structures that are host to biodiversity of global significance.鈥�
鈥淚f you want to see cool, amazing, rare birds, if you want to see this much nature and still be in the city,鈥� she adds, 鈥淏ig Marsh is the place to come.鈥� The ambitions for the park, designed by landscape architects Hitchcock Design Group and administered by the Chicago Park District, are as massive as its 278-acre scale. 鈥淭his is a new type of park, a new type of amenity to bring people together to coexist with nature,鈥� says Elizabeth Tomlins, the deputy director for the Chicago Park District鈥檚 Office of Budget and Management. 鈥淎t one point, the site was native marshland. Then the site was used for industry. We believe now that Big Marsh鈥攁nd some of the other projects in this part of the city鈥攃an be repurposed to let people and nature thrive in a re-visioning of the entire Southeast Side.鈥�
When complete, the park will consist of both passive and active recreation areas, including bird-watching lookouts, hiking trails, fishing holes, a restored hemi-marsh replenished with native plant and animal species, and at its heart, an extensive bike park鈥擟hicago鈥檚 first. The bike park is intended to rival the renowned Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, Colorado; a stated goal of the park鈥檚 champions, most prominently, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is to bring the U.S. National Cyclocross Championships to Chicago in 2020.
For nearly 50 years, the site acted as an informal repository for slag, the metallic waste material left after the smelting of ore. The rust-colored ground that bleeds through expanses of tall grasses marks the area鈥檚 degradation. 鈥淲e did a lot of soil boring on the site to determine what was out there,鈥� says Joel Baldin, principal and lead designer for Hitchcock Design Group, who led the master planning process for the park.
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