Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve
Nature preserve
825 acres4.7 mi of trail
Wild Turkey Loop (2.09 mi)Coreopsis Trail (1.27 mi)Horned Lark Loop (1.1 mi)
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve - main parkingWebsite ↗
Photo: Bnperdue2010 · CC BY-SA 4.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Burlington Township
Burlington Township has 433 acres of parks, 261 for every 1,000 residents
The biggest trail networks: Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve (4.7 mi). 26% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 5% of Burlington Township’s land is conserved, about 992 acres.
Ahead of 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
5%
992 acres · of 33.8 sq mi of land
Trails
7.0 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
433 ac
261 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
26%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Burlington Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Burlington Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Burlington Township is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Burlington Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land5% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (7 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land261 acres of park per 1,000 residents (433 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13AParks close to home26% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 56%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve, with 4.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Cardinal Creek Forest Preserve
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Kane County
327 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
992 conserved acres
5% of Burlington Township’s land. Who manages Burlington Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Regional agency793 ac
State natural resources210 ac
County188 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)81 ac
State conservation13 ac
Town or city10 ac
Local Other or Unknown · 415 acAgricultural Easement · 270 acConservation Easement · 223 acLocal Conservation Area · 210 acUnknown · 167 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 190 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 5 of 14 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve 7 Local Conservation Area | Regional agency | 210 | Unknown |
| Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve 6 Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 188 | Unknown |
| Cardinal Creek Unknown | Regional agency | 167 | Open |
| Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve 1 Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 121 | Unknown |
| Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve 5 Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 74 | Unknown |
| Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve 4 Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 32 | Unknown |
| Burlington Park Local Park | Town or city | 10 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Burlington Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Burlington Township
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
3 named trails
Named trails
Unpaved · 3.8 mi
Wild Turkey Loop (2.09 mi)2.1 mi
Coreopsis Trail (1.27 mi)1.7 mi
Horned Lark Loop (1.1 mi)1.1 mi
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
2Basketball
2Baseball
1Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Burlington Township: April and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 34 | 46 | 59 | 71 | 80 | 83 | 81 | 75 | 62 | 47 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.8 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Burlington Township →
Next door
Burlington Township and its neighbors
Burlington Township has the second most mapped trails of the 5 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Hampshire Township11 miBurlington Township7.0 miVirgil Township6.0 miSycamore Township5.3 miPlato Township5.2 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington Township | 5% | 0.2 | 261 | 26% | B |
| Plato Township | 10% | 0.2 | 120 | 54% | B+ |
| Hampshire Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Sycamore Township | 2% | 0.2 | 28 | 83% | B− |
| Virgil Township | 7% | 0.2 | 679 | 61% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Burlington Township
Where can I hike in Burlington Township?
The longest trail networks: Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve, 4.7 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Burlington Township is conserved land?
5% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Illinois town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Burlington Township’s trails?
Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve and Cardinal Creek Forest Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Burlington Township?
17,204 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Burlington Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 598 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Burlington Township have?
Ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Burlington Township neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →