Boger Bog
38 acres | 1 mile of trail
Site Hours
Open Daily Sunrise to Sunset (Some sites are subject to Seasonal Closures or closures due to special circumstances).
Entrance
2100 Cherry Valley Rd, Bull Valley
About
This intimate 38-acre site features a one mile nature trail with interpretive signs along a 300-foot boardwalk describing the wetlands communities and the plant and wildlife aspecies they support. The boardwalk was designed and built using green technology, which left the existing patterns of surface and groundwater undisturbed. A well placed council provides a natural gathering place for visitors or small groups to pause and enjoy the natural setting and views of a fen on one side and a woodland on the other. It is also the perfect place to enjoy a picnic lunch and observe the wildlife. An ADA accessible picnic shelter and restrooms are also available on site.
Not truly a bog (an acidic wetland community) but more of a graminoid fen (a grass-dominated alkaline wetland community), the site is comprised of numerous natural communities including a silt-loam prairie, calcareous seep and spring, an oak woodland and sedge meadow. The fens support calcium-loving plants like big and little bluestem and Indian grass, and provide habitat for frogs and turtles. An oak woodland also exists on site that sits a top a moraine and is dominated by red and white oaks that provide sanctuary for deer, turkeys, raccoons, possums and birds.
History
Frederick C. Boger purchased 38 acres of land in Woodstock in May of 1955 with money he earned singing in his church choir. This parcel of land served as a quiet place of retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life for over 40 years. When Boger passed this land to the District in 1999, he had two simple requests: that the land would be named “Boger Bog” and that it would be open for the public to enjoy as much as he had enjoyed spending time there. Following nine years of restoration as well as design and construction, Boger Bog opened to the public in the summer of 2008.
Visitors to Boger Bog can not only connect with nature as they walk through the site, but also with the history of the land. Mr. Boger collected a lot of interesting materials that the District tried to incorporate into the final design of the site; terra cotta tiles that are presumed to have come from the Chicago World Fair in the 1930’s were used on the roof of the shelter, and the granite cobblestones that make up the council ring and shelter columns came from the old streets of Chicago. 
