Property near Forest Preserve and Conservatory Area- Problems with Animals?

My biggest issue with this would be the rules of the land, who sets the rules of what you can and cannot do while living there.

For instance, what if they say you cannot fish in any water on the land because it's a conservatory? Or that you can't make changes to the land such as cutting down a tree?

We are surrounded by deer, fox, raccoons, coyote, owls, hawks, and (apparently - I've never seen them) rats. We are urban, but our house sits along a wooded ravine that is considered park land. I love it - we chose this because of the ravines and animals. I grew up in the country and this finally feels like home to me. I was so disappointed to hear our new neighbors complain about the animals eating their hostas (deer) and worrying about their outdoor cats (coyotes and, misguidedly, fox). The rats are a result of urban farming - compost and chickens - and I've never seen them.

Personally, I can't imagine why anyone would move here and then complain about the animals that have always lived here. Yes, it makes gardening tricky, but I love seeing the animals. And cats are not allowed to roam freely here - those people are violating the law and not looking out for the best interest of the cat. We will be installing a motion sensor camera to see them when they come by and we are learning about natural means for keeping them out of our garden. We are even thinking of putting out a S. lick for the deer. And I hate hostas, so they are welcome to ours!

We have friends in a similar kind of situation though they are not surrounded by an official preserve, just a lot of woods. If you get this house you need to be OK with not having plants that are attractive to deer, period; it's not worth fighting off the deer, spending money on chemicals that repel deer from your favorite flowers and shrubs etc.--you either accept that the deer will eat everything or you don't buy this house. The friends like the deer and other animals so that's fine with them.

Our friends' issue hasn't been animals but ticks, which deer bring, which can carry serious diseases including Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Our friends have never caught any diseases but if you have young kids who will want to play outside, it's worth a thought. Having known people who have had both those diseases I would not want to live in an area where the chances of tick bites were greater. But again, if that does not worry you, it's not an issue, like the animals arent' for our friends.

Really the biggest issue to me would be snow. You are in the Chicago area-- big snow. As someone else posted, how does that long dirt drive get plowed? Does the access road that goes into the preserve and connects to your dirt drive get plowed by anyone? Are you willing to invest in serious and expensive snow removal equipment of your own? I would wager that no county or city government's going to plow inside a nature preserve. And a dirt drive is going to be ruts and holes pretty quickly once winter hits. I would factor in the costs of your own snow removal equipment plus extra work on your cars from driving on a rutted dirt road. That would be the deal-breaker for me if I lived in your snowy area (and I used to!).

The Brazilian cherry floors aren't going to plow your driveway during a Chicago winter.
That's what I'd be concerned about--10-15K for a Ford 250 with a plow.

We live in a development that backs up to woods that connect to a state forest. We love it, but we accepted early on that we are living on land that was once these animals' habitat!

Yes, bird feeders can be a problem with squirrels (we have a baffle and they are up high) and bears (we haven't seen any). We have small dogs and the absolutely are not outside alone even for 5 minutes - we have coyotes and hawks. We have to keep the eaves in good repair and the areas where the gutters attach to the wood - otherwise squirrels will find a way in to next in the attic insulation. But birds also eat insects, and the bats that live naturally in the area do a decent job on mosquitos.

We don't keep any standing water, even in a flowerpot or a child's shovel, but then again, people in cities have to worry about a rain-filled bottle cap on their roof which is enough for a few thousand mosquito eggs. Yes, there are ticks, but there are ticks in the suburbs too!

Deer can eat the lower foliage of bushes particularly in bad winters, but you can choose landscaping carefully to have reduced problems. I remember growing up watching deer on my grandparents' property, and thinking how wonderful it was. So I enjoy the deer we have here. I just don't drive fast, particularly at night - the "deer in the headlights" image is very real, and they can come out from the snowbanks or the woods' edge very quickly.

There are plenty of animal-proof trash containers. We have found squirrels are clever enough to pry the lid off a small metal garbage can (we kept birdseed in one until we learned otherwise!) but the large, 2-wheeled cans with the heavy flip lid are too much for them and for the raccoons. We have had a problem unless the can was filled so much that the lid didn't close.

We covered our son's sandbox so it wasn't a litter box for outdoor domestic cats, let alone wild animals. But our son also had fun going on nature walks, (we always took a bucket), digging for salamanders, watching tadpoles in the vernal ponds and creeks, built ant farms in clear plexiglass containers so he could watch the tunnels develop, and a whole host of other things. He spent a lot of time away from TV screens and video games, and he turned into a curious, exploring, creative child who could make his own fun.

I don't believe in excessive fear of bugs or mice - they are part of nature. Somehow, a few spiders and field mice in the house now and then are less worrisome and annoying to me than the cockroaches and rats we had in the city. So my point is, animals are around us all the time - it's a question of what we notice and what irritates the hell out of us.

For practical purposes, you have to be sure your driveway is plowable - you need a reliable plow person (and you need to budget for that), or you need a plow yourself. You may be at the end of the power lines, so a glitch or outage anywhere along that line will affect you (I'm 2 houses from the end of ours, so anytime some knucklehead drives drunk on a Saturday night at takes out a pole a half mile away, I lost power!). The major storms of the past few New England winters and autumns (Irene, Sandy, blizzards), we had to prepare. You could consider a generator to give back-up power to the refrigerator and a few lights.

For practical purposes, remember that you are far from the stores - so you won't want to plan on running out every time you run out of pretzels. That eats up time and gasoline. But getting organized and occasionally managing without "essentials" is a great experience for kids too!

Finally, consider if you are in a neighborhood with other children. There's not much traffic on our streets so the kids are out all the time in this neighborhood, and it's a great thing. Other kids may enjoy visiting your house too!

Veggie gardens can be fenced, you'll learn about natural deterrents to rabbits (fox urine spray, marigolds), your kids might learn to grow veggies and actually eat something that didn't come wrapped in cellophane, and you'll occasionally sacrifice tulip bulbs to the chipmunks and the flowers to the rabbits if you don't protect them. But the garden centers can help you with easy ways to do that without artificial chemicals.

You can also make this "oasis" a place that friends want to come visit.

Good luck!

That house sounds dreamy to me...but I LOVE nature and we used to live in Alaska which I miss a lot. If you put out birdfood or even hummingbird feeders, you will attract other animals as well. We used to get bears eating out of our bird feeder! Never put out your trash early. Put it out that morning and not the night before. If you put out water you will attract animals. They like to eat your gardens, so you have to take extra steps to try to protect them. The chipmunks here will eat certain flowers I plant in the spring. They love geraniums for example...and will eat the whole plant when it is small! I have learned to plant what works. I have learned to put up a little fence/cage around my raised vegetable beds. The deer might really get into veggie gardens! If it were my house I'd put up a see-through kind of fence (the wire kind) bc I have dogs. Then my gardens would go inside the fence. My dogs tend to keep away any wildlife. I would love that house, but I personally like having wildlife around.

If you like to garden or have any kind of nice landscaping at all you need to deer proof the property. This means six foot high fencing, or planting things that the deer won't eat (which is very limited.)
We live adjacent to two regional parks. We have plenty of deer, turkeys, raccoons, rabbits, possums and other things around the neighborhood. My only real concern is protecting my plants and my cat, who likes to go outside. We have recently started hearing coyotes in the distance, and there have been foxes spotted on the golf course.
Our regional parks have a website full of information about plants, animals, roads/water, seasonal hazards, etc. I would imagine the forest preserve has something similar? I would check with them, and also with people who live around there, if you can.

Just the usual animal issues. Deer eating the flowers/veggie garden, raccoons getting into trash bins, skunks being skunks, opossums snooping around at night. You might see some snakes. You will probably have a few more spiders getting into the house. You may or may not see some foxes but they are shy so they shouldn't bother you (unless you have fowl). We live near a water source so we get geese. They can be loud and they poop everywhere. You'll have the usual rodentia which shouldn't cause any problems. Moles might try to take over your yard. Sometimes we see bobcats. They are skittish.

Illinois doesn't have any resident populations of black bears or mountain lions so the big scaries shouldn't be an issue for you.

If you want pets, make sure they are indoor cats and large dogs. Small, outdoor animals will be picked off by predators. If you think your little dog is safe, you've never seen a hawk or owl dive out of a tree and snatch one up.

I live in a Chicago suburb and I back to a wooded cemetery and golf course. I regularly see deer, coyotes, fox, raccoons, opossums, rabbits and, unfortunately, skunks. I have problems with the raccoons, skunks and opossums making homes under my deck and eating my bird seed. Rabbits and deer eat my pretty flowers (except for one year when we had more than the regular number of foxes who ate the rabbits).

And I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I love the wildlife, except for those stupid skunks. I think your potential home sounds wonderful! I hope you are able to get it! You'll learn to live with the wildlife.

We live in a semi-rural area... there are houses all around us,and we are just 1 mile from the city limits. We have about 1/2 acre. There is a small horse pasture across from us that backs up to a very wooded area.

We see deer on a daily basis... on the roads, in our yard, everywhere. A couple of years ago, during dove season, we could hear the people across the road talking as they were hunting dove. In the past, the gentleman that owns much of the land across the way, has had bow-hunting deer leases on his land.

A neighbor across the road (backs up to 100+ acres of woodland/pasture) has had coyotes in his FRONT yard during the day, going after his chickens.

Yes, the deer nibble in the garden, and nibble the peaches on our trees.

I've not had problems of cats disappearing due to predators, though.

And... we love it out here!

As someone else posted, who is going to plow your long dirt driveway? We don't have to deal with snow/ice down here except very rarely, and we have a standard length driveway, although it is not paved.

Live outside of NYC and have many deer in our yard all the time. We have had coyotes, and lots of other critters. So not much different. We are in a development on 1/2 acre.

J. G-

Seems that one cannot get away from animals/ wildlife regardless of where one lives. We live in NYC, my parents home is on a 50'x100' lot 2 blocks from the subway. They routinely have racoons, possum, squirells, owls, birds of prey and the occassional fox/ coyote, no rabbits moles voles deer or bear though.

You would just have to adjust to your new surroundings. Fence and burried fence your garden, keep your animals indoors, keep an eye on the kids, be careful about bird feeders and trash. It could be awesome.

Best,
F. B.

Deer and rabbits love to eat rose bushes. You can get 'poultry fencing', it's plastic and looks like regular chicken wire to put around your gardens, I have even seen people make a top or roof over their gardens to protect plants from animals.
If you regularly put moth balls around the property line it will help to keep rodents out. I have have heard garlic also works.
I would leash dogs to make sure they are not running or carried off. You may need to watch them while they are out until you are sure they are safe from predators.
About the driveway ---- since it is dirt it will be difficult to shovel. While I agree a gravel or dirt driveway looks nicer it might be better to pave it for ease of use. You will need a large snowblower or plow.
The DNR ( Department of Natural Resources) will help with information to deal with animals. They also offer live traps to help keep the invaders down.

Do you have pets? I would worry about the resurgence of the coyotes that keep eating people's pets out here.

Like other posters said, the snow will probably be your biggest issue. If the owners have a Bobcat to help shovel the snow, ask them to include it in the home sale.

Don't forget about mud and flooding if we get rainfall like we did last year. And all the mosquitos. West Nile virus is alive and well out here.

Otherwise, the house sounds fantastic!

If you don't like country living then don't buy it.

You will have mostly deer eating your plants and flowers. I would think there may be bears in the woods up there as well but they usually keep away from people unless you have bird feeders in the yard. I had friends in PA who had black bears in their yard all summer eating from the feeders.

Most larger animals will stay away from people but the little critters can be annoying. Like raccoons getting into the garbage, rabbits eating gardens, etc. I lived in the country in PA and now here in FL and the insects can also be just as annoying (only in summer up there).

there are plenty options to protect your garden.

That sounds wonderful! Crossing my fingers that this works out for you--it really sounds like a nice place.

You can expect more raccoon, so be sure to have good garbage cans with tight fitting lids.

I'd also expect maybe some coyotes, so if you have any small animals, never leave them outside alone.