The Forest Preserve District of Will County’s recent land acquisition expands the district’s oldest preserve while also pushing the district’s total acreage past the 24,000 mark.

The forest district on March 27 purchased almost 106 acres north of Bruce Road and east of Cedar Road around Messenger Woods Nature Preserve in Homer Glen.

“We’re very excited about this new addition to Messenger Woods,” Juli Mason, the forest preserve’s director of conservation programs, said in a news release.

“The property includes remnant woodlands that will expand the protected area of high-quality woodland habitat. As the existing agricultural fields are restored to native plant communities, we’ll be able to create a larger, more resilient buffer to protect the nature preserve,” she said.

The forest preserve district said the land acquisition will allow the district to eventually extend the Spring Creek Greenway Trail, connecting Hadley Valley Preserve and Messenger Marsh Preserve.

The first land purchase by the Forest Preserve District Board in January 1930 was 124 acres at Messenger Woods, according to the release. The district was created by referendum in 1926 and organized in 1927.

“Because Messenger Woods was one of the district’s earliest acquisitions in the 1930s, this feels like a full-circle moment,” Mason said. “It’s especially meaningful that this latest land purchase marks a major milestone, bringing the District’s protected lands to more than 24,000 acres.”

The board approved the acquisition of the 143-acre Homer Township parcel that would become Messenger Woods at a cost of $17,851 — or $124 an acre.

The recent acquisition cost $4.2 million and is part of the forest preserve district’s 2025–2030 Capital Improvement Program, which set aside $25 million for land preservation.

In 2025, the district added 495.27 acres to Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve in Crete Township, 241 acres to Kankakee Sands Preserve in Custer Township, and 40 acres to Riverview Farmstead Preserve in Plainfield.