Lake Renwick Preserve

Lake Renwick Preserve is located southeast of Plainfield, Illinois, on U.S. Highway 30. Unsupervised visitation by the public to most of the preserve is banned from March until mid-August to prevent disturbance to nesting birds. The public is welcomed to a dedicated birdwatching area, the Copley Nature Park, year around, and is welcomed to the entire preserve from mid-August until the end of February.^[1]

During the non-nesting months, the public often uses a 2.9-mile (4.6 km) system of trailways throughout the preserve area, the Lake Renwick Bikeway. The Bikeway reuses a system of railroad spur-line-rights of ways, lake isthmuses, and truck paths once used to remove and haul out the aggregates quarried from the lake basins. The Bikeway provides access to various spots used for bank fishing.^[4]

During the nesting months, those interested in supervised birdwatching are urged to make prior arrangements with the Forest Preserve District and its guides. Nesting activities are described as reaching their peak in June, as the wading birds teach their young how to catch fish.

A 320-acre (1.3 km²) parcel of the Lake Renwick Preserve, comprising most of Lake Renwick itself, was listed in 1992 as an official nature preserve of the state of Illinois.^[2][3]

• Lake Renwick Visitor Center at the Forest Preserve District of Will County

41°35′59″N 88°11′8″W / 41.59972°N 88.18556°W / 41.59972; -88.18556