Searls Park Prairie Nature Preserve

Searls Park is a large city park located in northwest Rockford, Illinois. The park encompasses 230 acres of land, originally a farmstead owned by the Searls family who settled in Winnebago County during the 1850s. In 1944, Emily J. Searls donated the land to the Rockford Park District, establishing it as a public recreational area.

A significant feature of Searls Park is its prairie preserve. In 1984, 66 acres of the park were dedicated as the Searls Park Prairie Nature Preserve, which is considered one of the best remaining examples of a black soil prairie in northern Illinois. The preserve contains wet and wet-mesic prairie representative of the Rock River Hill Country Natural Division. The mesic prairie is dominated by prairie dropseed, Indian grass, and little bluestem, while the wet prairie features tussock sedge, blue-joint grass, and cord grass.

The park offers a variety of recreational opportunities for visitors. It features wooded paths suitable for walking and jogging, as well as baseball diamonds for sports enthusiasts. The park's expansive open spaces are ideal for activities such as kite flying and casual games.

One of the park's most popular attractions is the Canine Corners Dog Park, which is one of the largest fenced-in public dog parks in Illinois. This 24-acre site, located opposite the baseball diamonds, provides a spacious area for dogs to exercise and socialize off-leash.

Searls Park also serves as a natural habitat for various plant and animal species. The prairie preserve is home to three state-listed threatened or endangered species of plants and many rare wetland and grassland birds.