If private landowners don’t remove invasives alongside natural areas, species like buckthorn will persist in forest preserves and parks, regardless of habitat restoration efforts.

The Chicago Bears are teaming up with the Lake County Forest Preserves to remove invasive buckthorn from the property surrounding Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

It can be hard to tell one tree from another in winter, but there's a simple trick to identifying invasive buckthorn. 

Skokie Lagoons may look like an oasis of green but a lot of that lush vegetation is actually an invasive species called European buckthorn. WTTW News tagged along as a group of volunteers charged into the thicket and tackled this enemy. 

How local forest preserves are using fire to maintain the Chicago area's natural ecosystem, much like Native Americans did prior to European settlement.