Fall 2004

The Greening of Sarah's Grove
When the Village of Schaumburg adopted a
Biodiversity Recovery Plan, it became
an unlikely leader in natural planning

By Debra Shore
Photos courtesy of the Village of Schaumburg

O ye of little faith. Know ye not that, yea, even in the land of IKEA, yea even in the land of Motorola and Woodfield Mall, there also lies Nature?

Be not unbelievers, I say, for the data gatherers and the mappers have gone forth onto the land and they have seen it and it is good. Naysayers will challenge you, that will be assured, but you have here the foretelling of a New Age, when men and women shall rise up against the ceaseless paving and reclaim the groves and grasses for all creatures. There will be doubters and skeptics in abundance, yea, but they will be silenced by the sweet sounds of birdsong and the happy murmurs of local waters. Come and rejoice, come and be thankful, for the Village of Schaumburg, née Sarah's Grove, has adopted a Plan for Nature.

To many, Schaumburg has been synonymous with urban sprawl. Known for its Woodfield Shopping Center — the largest mall in Illinois — its corporate campuses, and business parks, Schaumburg grew from a sleepy hamlet to an economic hub of 76,000 residents over the last 30 years. But through the efforts of a visionary village president and the recognition that the past can be prologue, Schaumburg has become the first municipality in the state to draft and adopt its own Biodiversity Recovery Plan. With this plan, Schaumburg places itself fully within the mission and vision of Chicago Wilderness: "to establish a broad policy of beneficial coexistence in which the region's natural heritage is preserved, improved, and expanded even as the metropolis grows." In other words, nature matters in the land of IKEA, and the future of Schaumburg may depend on how well it can reclaim and restore its natural history.

Prior to 1850, Schaumburg was called Sarah's Grove after a trio of Sarahs whose families lived there (Sarah McChesney, Sarah Frisbe, and Sarah Smith), and in recognition of its towering oaks and hickories. Indeed, some of the magnificent trees still stand in a park called Sarah's Grove and at nearby Friendship Village, a retirement community with a remaining grove.

The first step on the path to reclaiming nature in Schaumburg was to conduct a detailed inventory of natural areas and open spaces within the village and in adjacent communities, to evaluate the existing conditions, and to assess the potential for enhancing biological diversity. Village officials hired Applied Ecological Services to develop a recovery plan. The company would create manuals on native landscaping and biodiversity protection for residential and corporate developments, target specific high priority sites and make recommendations for their protection and restoration, and revise village ordinances and codes in order to promote biodiversity protection.

A tall order, but Village President Al Larson had seen the recovery plan developed by the Chicago Wilderness consortium and wanted to do the same for his town.

"As a kid growing up on the Northwest Side of Chicago, there were a lot of vacant lots and we called them 'prairies,'" said Larson. "We used to hunt for crayfish and for snakes — garter snakes — and this beautiful, beautiful green snake. We called them 'greenies.' We used to catch spiders — orb weavers — with a Mason jar and a cap."

Larson became Schaumburg village president in 1987 and was elected a commissioner to the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) in 1997. While serving as a NIPC commissioner, Larson learned about the Chicago Wilderness effort to develop a biodiversity recovery plan for the region. He was smitten. Why not develop a recovery plan for his own village, he thought? Why not conduct an assessment of the natural resources still present in the village and embark on a plan to protect and restore them?

How many would guess, for instance, that Schaumburg contains 2,475 acres of open space — admittedly, most of it turf grass with negligible ecological function? Still, how many would guess that four state threatened or endangered animals occur within Schaumburg, including the black-crowned night-heron, yellow-headed blackbird, black tern, and common moorhen?

Birds such as the common moorhen may have greater success nesting in Schaumburg with the new village plan. Photo by Rob Curtis/The Early Birder.

Applied Ecological Services' assessment gave officials a more detailed picture of Schaumburg's open space. They found that wetlands comprised 2 percent of the area in the village. Forested land covered 2.4 percent, and open water covered 3.5 percent. Parkland, which includes turf grass, agricultural land, old fields, and prairie remnants, comprised 10.2 percent of the land use.

While the study found that most of Schaumburg's open space was in a degraded ecological state, it also identified high-priority sites and positive trends from which to build. It pointed out several areas that are already in the process of being restored, including parts of the Spring Valley Nature Center, the Municipal Center Grounds, Oak Hollow Natural Area (the highest quality remnant oak savanna in Schaumburg), and the Motorola corporate campus.

At the Motorola corporate campus, for instance, the company has revegetated a half-mile-long wet area with native plants, is converting approximately five acres of turf grass to a re-created prairie, and has plans to naturalize a 300-foot-long stream bank. The company has also been using the Gallerucella beetles to attack stands of invasive purple loosestrife.

The Schaumburg plan also includes a set of principles, both cultural and ecological, to guide future residential and commercial development and redevelopment. "We're saying, 'Here's what we should think about in any development plan,'" said Mark O'Leary of Applied Ecological Services. "'How does this development plan protect and enhance the environment, nurture a healthy lifestyle, create a sense of place and of community, foster economic and cultural diversity, construct a convenient and efficient intermodal transportation system, encourage energy and resource conservation, promote lifelong learning and education, and foster economic viability?'"

Planners want to link Schaumburg's high-priority natural lands by restoring "greenways" between them — increasing ecological health and beauty even amid urban sprawl.

Recognizing that the preservation of natural open space enhances quality of life by making communities more enjoyable places to live, work, and play, the plan recommends specific ecological principles that should be incorporated into the design of any conservation development. These include encouraging the use of native landscaping, integrating natural resources with development, preserving the integrity and sustainability of ecosystems, restoring habitat and connecting natural communities, and enhancing ecological education.

With respect to stormwater runoff, for instance, the plan recommends that impervious surfaces be minimized to allow for expanded open spaces and preserved or restored ecological systems that provide natural stormwater management functions. Traditional storm sewer systems, including curb and gutter and deep detention basins, are to be avoided where possible. "I'd like to see more swales handling stormwater runoff rather than pipes," says Larson.

Schaumburg's Biodiversity Recovery Plan recommends the use of native landscaping in both residential and commercial sites, and suggests a number of greenway linkages that could be restored. The village has roughly five areas with large parcels of connected open space that could be considered greenways. They are the West Branch Salt Creek riparian corridor, the Motorola corporate campus, the Woodfield Business Center wetland complex, the West Branch of the DuPage River, and the Lancer Creek corridor.

Blue herons can be as much a part of the Schaumburg landscape as the malls.

Finally, Schaumburg revised a number of its ordinances in order to promote and sustain biodiversity. The village amended its ordinance covering storm sewer and drainage systems, for example, to permit the use of deep-rooted native landscaping for stabilization, which will also mitigate sedimentation and pollution, instead of the prior requirement that all retention ponds utilize sod or riprap to stabilize pond banks. It revised the tree preservation ordinance to allow selective woody brush removal as part of ecological restoration efforts. And it revised the landscaping and screening ordinance to encourage landscape designs that promote sustainability, reduce irrigation requirements, and utilize effective on-site stormwater management techniques.

Carol Hall, who serves on the village's zoning board and was instrumental in the adoption of the plan, recalled some concern about the recommendations to promote native landscaping in backyards. "People wanted to know, 'Would it look like a bunch of weeds with grasses and plants 12 to 14 inches high?'" she said. "It's a new idea and most people are used to a traditional landscape. But we knew the planning department wouldn't bring us something that wasn't good for the village." Hall is an enthusiastic supporter.

Nature still exists in unexpected pockets of Schaumburg. The village seeks to conserve habitat for humans — and egrets.

Having adopted the plan and revisions to village ordinances in late April, the challenge now, as for all of Chicago Wilderness, is to make changes happen on the ground and in the culture. But the plan is a first step, and Schaumburg now has a blueprint for change.

"You know, I was struck by something I heard from the mayor of Charleston, South Carolina," President Larson mused. "He said, 'Don't be afraid to bring beauty into the public realm.'" Let's hear it, then, for the greening of Sarah's Grove.

Schaumburg's Biodiversity Recovery Plan is available on the Village's Web site.