| Grassland
Restoration Will Benefit Ground-Nesting Birds
Drive
past Bartel Grassland Forest Preserve at Vollmer and Central
Roads in southern Cook County and you’ll now see an
almost mile-wide expanse of grassland. An ecological restoration
firm has removed nine miles of fencerow trees that once
dissected the grassland into nine pieces. Not only does
this expansive view please humans, it also attracts grassland
creatures such as the endangered Henslow’s sparrow
and the bobolink. In this unfragmented space, it is harder
for predators to find the nests and young of these ground-nesting
species.
Plans
are underway this spring to restore the original hydrology
by disabling drain tiles, and to begin to restore native
prairie plants. A newly-formed stewardship group is busy
gathering seed, planning work days and monitoring wildlife.
This project, and a similar project being planned at nearby
Orland Grassland, is funded by CorLands and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers through a settlement with Material Services
Corporation for destruction of a local wetland.
Large
projects such as these represent a new generation of prairie
restoration: sites large enough for wildlife. To become
involved with either project, call Audubon–Chicago
Region at (847) 965-1150.
—
Judy Pollock
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