The Moraine Valley campus is surrounded by Cook County Forest Preserves. Most of us drive by without much appreciation of the open land. The amount of work that goes into sustaining these green spaces is staggering, not only financially but also the amount of strategic planning to keep these spaces viable for future generations.
You may have recently noticed the smoke billowing out of the Preserves that surround the college. During the spring and fall, the Cook County Forest Preserve conducts a prescribed burn. This procedure “helps to stimulate the growth of native plants and hinder invasive vegetation. Simply put, native plants in this area evolve alongside periodic fires, while most invasive species introduced to this area later did not.” View this short video on A Day in the Life of a Cook County Burn Crew.
Check out the MVCC catalog or the science databases for more information on this topic