Plum Valley Ravines began with land donations in 1977 and 1979, and has rapidly grown to 826 acres today. Plum Valley Ravines extends the greenway to the Cook County line and is immediately adjacent to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s Plum Creek Preserve.

Recreational facilities and public access are funded and being planned but do not currently exist. This portion of the greenway contains the steepest ravines, buttonbush swamps, various woodlands, and past and potential massasauga (a State-endangered snake species) habitat. A preservation goal is to join these parcels to Moeller Woods to create one larger preserve. Natural resource management, enhancement, restoration, and monitoring activities started in 2002.

In 2012, the Forest Preserve District is installing a 2,743-foot permanent firebreak at Plum Valley Ravines to improve the implementation and management of prescribed burning activities. View more information about this project.

Photograph Courtesy of Ron Molk