1901 Joliet Junior College (as it would be named) begins with six students at Joliet Township
High School.
1968 Final proposed campus utilization plan is completed for construction of new campus on former 400 acre Richards farm land. Included in the proposal are buildings set among a
124-acre natural landscape devoted to the study of agriculture, horticulture, geology, ecology, botany and zoology. The north perimeter road was shortened to avoid impacting rare calcareous fen and other sensitive areas.
1969 JJC moves into temporary buildings on its new campus on Bush Road, now Houbolt
Road.
1976 To commemorate the N ation’s bicentennial, two interconnected looping nature trails are constructed by the Grounds Department and Rich Rivera with leadership from Dr.
William Zales, professor of botany and local conservation activist.
1978 JJC Arboretum was conceived and planting began. Funding provided by the Joliet
Junior College Foundation.
1980s Main Campus prairie restoration began by Dr. Zales and with help from his students.
An elevated, wooden walkway is constructed along the wetter parts of the forest trail.
1992 Construction of a North Campus in Romeoville is proposed. In the proposal naturalized plantings surround the buildings and an eleven-acre prairie restoration is included.
1993 North Campus opens in Romeoville. Biology students and visitors can travel a loop trail through prairie restoration. Annual controlled burning of the prairie maintains the open native community of plants.
1993 Natural areas restoration work becomes known as the Ecological Restoration Project coordinated by Andy Neill, newly hired biology faculty member. The Oak Savanna adjacent to G-Building and wooded ar ea north of Cronin’s School House becomes the next experimental phase of campus restoration work.
1994 Bill Zales and Virginia Piekarski began collecting lake data several times a year as part of the Illinois Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program sponsored by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency. Over the years other faculty have assisted in the effort especially Dr. Polly Lavery. The program measures a variety of standard water quality parameters that serve as indicators of water quality. These data would prove important in initial meetings to rehabilitate the lake in 2006.
1998 Board of Trustees approved two separate resolutions for continued protection and active stewardship of the natural areas and for linking the college campus with the Rock Run
River Corridor Greenway Plan in cooperation with the Will County Forest Preserve
District.
1999 College dedicates the Dr. William M. Zales Arboretum and Nature Trails to honor Dr.
Zales’ retirement from decades of teaching botany, conservation and land stewardship.
New college master plan is drafted and reflects a commitment to protecting the natural

areas while meeting the growing demands for more instructional and support serve space.
2001 Natural Science & P.E. Department proposes that a full-time natural areas manager be hired to better coordinate the active stewardship and restoration of the natural areas.
2006 In December, 2006, JJC was awarded a $35,000 Conservation-2000 grant from the
Illinois Department of Conservation for enhancing and managing its rare fen wetland community and restore upland dolomite prairie.
Lake Management Team was established to investigate and propose a plan to rehabilitate the water quality of the campus lake. A final study determines that excessive nutrients from the surrounding watershed have washed into the lake and accumulated in
8,000 cubic yards of sediments. The rehabilitation project calls for the removal of the nutrient rich sediment and the construction of biofiltration swales on the uplands and storm sewer filtration. Restoration of the natural areas will also reduce upland soil erosion.
2008 February, the Natural Areas Restoration and Management Plan is released. The plan details a multi-year process for restoring and managing native plant communities that were historically present prior to European settlement in Illinois. The plan will fulfill the mission of the college and natural areas resolution by providing students and the community with on-going learning opportunities in restoration and conservation principles.
2008 November, community members approved an $89 million building bond referendum. In addition, $70 million in Board of Trustees’ approved bonds were acquired supported by student fees. While all of the building bond referendum and most of the student fee supported bond monies are designated for new buildings and associated support structures, a portion of the bond monies were dedicated to the complete restoration of the natural areas as detailed in the Natural Areas Restoration and Management Plan.
Having designated natural areas on campus helps the college to earn a higher LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification level too.
2009 Virginia Piekarski and Jennifer Giangrego secured a Section 319 Grant, pending final approval of the USEPA and the IEPA who administers the “Non-point Source Pollution
Control Program” of the Clean Water Act. If approved, $190,000 will be used to implement “best management practices” installing vortex separators, bioswales and a wetland enhancement. The grant will require a matching project from JJC to dredge the nutrient rich sediments from the lake.