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 Arlene Shoemaker is the best example of a swamp White Oak woodland in Kane County.
Most of this land is in the Indian Creek flood plain, and the Drummer and Wauconda soils have a high water table that was too difficult to drain for either agriculture or urban uses. So, it has survived as a system of meandering trapped pockets of tangled Buttonbush, Pagoda Dogwood and Common Bur Sedge, with spreading swamp White Oaks and Shagbark Hickories providing a canopy from the more elevated flats. The fallen logs in the water pockets serve as an interesting habitat for Clearweed and the rare Stalked Water Horehound, and this difficult to penetrate retreat has provided a home for all manner of birds and wildlife in the surrounding residential setting. This can be observed and enjoyed from the abutting prairie path and the limited trails and road skirting the edges.
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