The Gateway Trail passes through a landscape once dominated by oak forest, oak savanna, brush land, and prairie openings, where small remnants of these plant communities still remain and provide a unique recreation experience. Woodlands here include northern pin oak, bur oak, black cherry, aspen, birch, green ash, and basswood, mixed with brush thickets of gray dogwood, American hazel, and nannyberry, and interspersed with wetlands and small lakes. Two small gravel prairie remnants have been preserved through occasional prescribed burns, because these communities depended on occasional fires to maintain their character. In the absence of fire, invasive buckthorn, honeysuckle, Amur maple, and Siberian elm have been favored and over time replaced native shrubs and ground cover. A partnership with the Gateway Trail Association and DNR Trails and Waterways enabled invasive species control in selected plant communities through cut-stump treatment of woody plants followed by prescribed burns.