The Untapped “National Park” in Chicago’s Back Yard

If someone told you there was a stretch of land in Cook County larger than ten of the country’s 61 national parks, would you believe them? Not just the Indiana Dunes, but something potentially much bigger.

Jay Readey, the managing director at the Harvey Housing Initiative of the Southland Development Authority, knows how unlikely it sounds. That’s why he’s made it his mission, at least one of them, to change the way people think about the Southland.

“There’s 70,000 acres in the Cook County Forest Preserve System,” Readey said. “That’s a larger land mass than 10 or 11 of the 61 primary national parks in the United States.” The gems and largest chunks of the Preserves, he added, are in the Southland.

Putting it into an even more jarring, though pleasantly surprising, perspective, he continued: “Usually you have to travel a lot farther to get to a national park. This one’s right outside Chicago with a few parcels inside.”

But no one really thinks of it that way. That’s part of why Readey sees an untapped market.

Even more surprising, roughly 45,000 of those acres form a continuous green ribbon that stretches from the Indiana border in Lansing all the way west to the Palos Hills. That uninterrupted stretch is what Readey calls “a beautiful opportunity” for recreation and reinvestment.

“We call the South Suburbs the ‘Green Playground’ of the Chicago Region,” Readey said. “It’s hiking, biking, horseback riding, golfing, waterways, and then trying to connect that with business opportunities.”

He sees potential for everything from kayak rentals to nature-based hospitality to youth programming. But to get there, the Southland Development Authority (SDA), where Readey serves as a senior leader, is helping aspiring entrepreneurs navigate the infrastructure behind those ideas. That includes market research, capitalization, and business planning.

“We believe the Southland as a whole is an under-recognized, under-utilized asset,” Readey said. “It’s just a matter of getting people out here to enjoy these opportunities and then making sure they know where to go after for food, entertainment, that kind of thing.”

Readey’s vision is not a marketing gimmick. He knows the real ecological value in the land.

“I remember thinking, why are we putting all this time, effort, and money into preserving land so close to the big city?” he said, recalling his time on the board of Friends of the Forest Preserves. “Why not just go 70 miles south and preserve farmland?”

The answer, he learned, is rooted in both geography and history.

“The land and waterways surrounding Chicago and the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan are special. It’s the reason Chicago is even here,” he said. “It’s incredibly fertile. I love the word fecund. It means it generates life.”

This biologically rich zone is called the Calumet Crescent. It is, as Readey describes it, a looping curve that wraps through the South Suburbs, into northwest Indiana, and out toward Michigan City. Within it are prairies, marshlands, and wetlands, all of which are increasingly rare.

“There’s a section you pass driving through Markham on I-294. It’s called the Gensburg-Markham Prairie,” he explained. “(The Prairie) is globally and historically significant because of the rare presences of black soil prairie and sand prairie.”

Meanwhile, the Little Calumet River and the Cal-Sag Channel were key stops on the Underground Railroad, a fascinating fact that only recently has come to be known.

“There are all these important historical sites that people have just really uncovered in the last five years,” Readey said. “The New York Times actually featured a story on canoeing the Underground Railroad through South Chicago, but there was no commercial service to do it. It was just special groups.”

That gap between narrative and infrastructure is exactly what Readey wants to close.

“We’re working with a group called SUM Ventures, run by Josh Ellis, who used to lead Chicago’s Great Rivers Project,” Readey said. “SUM takes corporate and community groups out on outdoor retreats and explorations, and we’re committed to working with him to build the infrastructure so people can regularly access these trips.”

One of those trips starts in Gouwens Park in South Holland. From there, visitors can paddle downriver to Harvey. Part of the trip involves either passing Kickapoo Woods or continuing to where the Little Calumet meets the Cal-Sag.

“When you’re canoeing that stretch, you’re in the wilderness,” Readey said. “It’s overgrown, full of birds, fish, it’s relatively clean. And then you pass under a bridge and realize… oh, that was Halsted, the longest street in Chicago. You’re right there. But you’re also just out there.”

Readey sees all of this ecological treasure, with its historical richness and weirdly accessible proximity to places you wouldn’t think, as a massive untapped opportunity.

“The ability to bring residents back to the Chicago area and house them in livable suburbs in the Southland is an incredible opportunity,” he said. “And the outdoor assets help us capitalize on that.”

But he’s also realistic.

“It’s just a technical challenge now. We have dozens of jurisdictions here. But the advantage is that the outdoor beauty is already here,” Readey said.

Despite those challenges, the path is clear, and it’s also clear that it’s a challenge Readey is ready to accept.

About the Southland Development Authority (SDA)

The Southland Development Authority is a nonprofit business organization launched in 2019 by business, civic, and political leaders from around the Southland who recognize the potential of the region’s people, businesses, and real estate. Our mission is to bring the resources and capacity needed to achieve transformative, inclusive economic growth for the south suburbs with a focus on investments in the Southland’s communities, industry, housing, and workforce.