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New Nature Preserve Overlooks Lake On North Shore

FORT SHERIDAN, Ill. (CBS) -- A nature preserve overlooking Lake Michigan opens Saturday, with some artwork already built in.

As WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports, Openlands has finished up two years of restoration on a 77-acre bluff and beach parcel, where native species have been reseeded and augmented with artwork.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports

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Among the artworks is a 12-foot obelisk, shining in the lakefront wind.

"It's painted in stripes of blue, so every color you see represented there is something that the lake has borne in one of its moods," said site manager Aimee Collins.

In a quiet ravine nearby is another obelisk, with bands of green from trees surrounding.

"I look at that bright, bright, almost electric green there. A little farther up, you have a yellowish green," Collins said. "We hope that this installation will really encourage people to stop and observe their surroundings.

Openlands opens up its Lakeshore Preserve with a party starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, off Patton Road, on the east side of the town of Fort Sheridan between Highland Park and Lake Forest.

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