The public is invited to a celebration at Hadley Valley preserve marking two decades of wetland restoration tied to an O’Hare Airport expansion project.

The celebration will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Friday, Aug. 8, at Hadley Valley – Gougar Road Access in Joliet. Officials will be on hand to discuss the success of the restoration efforts, and site tours will be offered.

The event, which will highlight environmental work made possible by $26 million from the O’Hare Modernization Mitigation Account, known as OMMA, is being co-hosted by the Forest Preserve District of Will County and Openlands, a conservation organization that works to protect natural and open spaces in northeastern Illinois and the surrounding region.

“Through OMMA, Openlands led the re-wilding of natural spaces on a scale never before seen in our region, restoring vital wetlands and native habitats that connect people to nature and protect biodiversity for generations to come,” according to officials from Openlands. "Since its creation, OMMA has become a regional model for ecological restoration, fiscal responsibility and long-term environmental stewardship."

OMMA was created in 2005 to compensate for the loss of 280 acres of wetlands caused by an $8 billion airport expansion project. The Forest Preserve District received $6 million from the fund to support restoration work at Hadley Valley and Messenger Woods Nature Preserve in Homer Glen.

At Hadley Valley, the OMMA-funded project stretched from Gougar Road to Interstate 355 and became the largest restoration effort in the Forest Preserve’s history. Nearly 148,000 native plants were installed, and about 1.5 miles of Spring Creek were restored. The award-winning work began in 2007 and ultimately restored 192.8 acres of native habitat. 

At Messenger Woods, the oldest preserve in the District, the OMMA funding restored 90 acres in the northwestern portion of the preserve from 2009 to 2010. This project consisted of restoring hydrology to 30 acres of wetlands, protecting eroding ravine heads, and recreating a 60-acre mosaic of woodland savanna and prairie. 

In addition to Hadley Valley and Messenger Woods, OMMA funds supported restoration and long-term ecological management at the Drummond Flood Plain at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Will County and Deer Grove Forest Preserve and Bobolink Land and Water Reserve in Cook County. Altogether, the partner organizations restored 530 acres of wetlands and 1,620 acres of protected natural space adjacent to those wetlands.