The public is invited to a celebration from 10 a.m. to noon Friday, Aug. 8, at the Hadley Valley Preserve in Joliet that marks two decades of wetland restoration tied to an O’Hare International Airport expansion project.

Officials will be on hand to discuss the success of the wetland restoration efforts, and site tours will be offered.

The event will highlight environmental work made possible by a $26 million grant from the O’Hare Modernization Mitigation Account in 2005.

It is being co-hosted by the Forest Preserve District of Will County and Openlands, a conservation organization that works to protect natural and open spaces in northeastern Illinois and the surrounding region.

At Hadley Valley, the OMMA-funded project stretched from Gougar Road to Interstate 355 and became the largest restoration effort in the forest preserve district’s history.

Since its founding, OMMA funding has restored wetland acreage at Hadley Valley, Messenger Woods Nature Preserve, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Deer Grove Forest Preserve and Water Reserve. It has restored 530 acres of wetlands and 1,620 acres of natural space adjacent to those wetlands.