Within Deer Creek Preserve flows Deer Creek, a tributary of Thorn Creek. This heavily wooded Preserve, located on Thorn Creek Lane between Park Forest and University Park, is part of the greater historic grove that also included what is now Thorn Creek Woods Nature Preserve. The preservation of the 35-acre Deer Creek Preserve in 1994 was triggered by a 5-acre land donation from Naturalists William and Mary Lou Stanley.