Pratt's Wayne Woods Saved From Road—Fermilab Still Threatened
On May 21, DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom announced that a planned feasibility study to build a road through the 3,400-acre Pratt's Wayne Woods had been called off. "An expensive study to possibly build a new road through Pratt's Wayne Woods Forest Preserve does not make sense and would be a poor use of taxpayers' money," Schillerstrom said. Conservationists celebrated.

Two groups of conservation-minded citizens — SOLID (Save Open Lands In DuPage) and POP (Protect Our Preserves) — were instrumental in challenging plans for the proposed road. Speaking for POP, Dr. Doug Mains emphasized that a road through the preserve would set a dangerous precedent. Development interests had lobbied hard for the project. Earlier this spring, when the road appeared to be "a done deal," Forest Preserve District President "Dewey" Pierotti courageously promised to veto any proposal passing the road through the forest preserve.

For Marge Marola, a Warrenville resident, the expressway proposal has been a recurring nightmare. Marola circulated petitions a year ago in opposition to the DuPage County Board proposal for extension of Eola Road into Fermilab. She collected 20 pages of signatures. But the county board approved an $850,000 environmental impact study for the Fermilab section of the project late last year. A broad spectrum of DuPage citizens, ranging from bicycle enthusiasts to dog walkers, have joined SOLID seeking to stop the Fermilab portion of the road because of concerns about traffic safety, loss of open lands, and declining property values. The group now has its own Web site and joined forces with POP to oppose the Pratt's Wayne road feasibility study.

Alan Gard of SOLID notes that this road would follow the eastern route for the proposed (and highly unpopular) Fox Valley Expressway that bogged down in controversy in the early '90s. Gard asserts that studies of routes through preserved open land have been wasting taxpayer money since the first study of roads through Pratt's Wayne Woods in 1997.

Although Schillerstrom's decision to call off the Pratt's Wayne study has cheered many DuPage residents, the fate of the road through Fermilab is still up in the air. That feasibility study is underway. The members of SOLID have pledged to find alternative solutions to the purported need for more roads in this part of DuPage County. For more information and how to get involved, visit the SOLID Web site, or call Marge Marola at (630) 393-3301. — Jim Kostohrys and Rickie White

Referendum Landslides
On April 13, voters in Kane, Lake, and Will Counties passed Forest Preserve District bond referenda to acquire conservation lands by significant margins. "Getting such support by the voters of Will County (57 percent voted in favor) indicates that citizens are aware of the need to protect natural areas in response to the enormous growth in population expected in the next 20 years," said Mike Pasteris, director of the Forest Preserve District of Will County. "The District intends to buy up to 6,500 acres of land, much of which lies along crucial waterways and next to preserves we already own." In Lake County, where 66 percent voted in favor of a $55 million general obligation bond, Forest Preserve District President Carol Calabresa sees open space as integral to quality of life. "Lake County has 21,000 acres of preserved land and our goal is 26,000 acres," she said.

"We'd like 40 acres for every 1,000 people." Jon Duerr, director of field services for the Forest Preserve District of Kane County (where an identical 66 percent of voters approved a $70 million referendum) said, "Having this money allows all three counties (and DuPage County whose $70 million referendum passed last year) to get matching state and federal grants and expands the use of that money." — Alison Carney Brown

Piping Plovers Invited
Once common at all Great Lakes beaches, the federally endangered piping plover is now extremely rare, with only 12 known breeding pairs in this region. Ken Brock, author of Birds of Indiana Dunes, says, "The problem is gulls and people; people trample nest sites and the ever-increasing colony of ring-billed gulls prey upon them." But people are also the key to a brighter future for these little sand-colored shorebirds, whose numbers doubled in the past few years. With technical assistance from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is establishing three nesting sites with hopes of attracting piping plovers to their historic nesting areas on Lake Michigan beaches. The sites are fenced exclosures, 80 yards by 350 yards, on several beaches.

"If grasses and other plant life are allowed to grow, piping plovers might find the protection they need to nest," says Brock. "If we provide it, they'll come." These nesting sites may also benefit common terns, which are seen regularly on the Indiana beaches but haven't nested there in this century. — Michael Graff

First Success, Then Shock Treatment
The Army Corps of Engineers is riding to the rescue of native fish in the entire Mississippi River drainage basin (and possibly the five Great Lakes) by installing an electrical gantlet in the Sanitary and Ship Canal north of Joliet. The threat? The round goby: a 3-to-6 inch, bottom-dwelling, Eurasian fugitive fish which made its great escape sometime in 1990 from the ballast of ships sailing from the Black and Caspian Seas. Recently gobies have been spotted swimming in the Sag Canal as far south as Blue Island, raising fears that they might use the man-made canal as a conduit to invade the Mississippi River system. Although gobies go for the taste of zebra mussels (another exotic invasive species that has overrun Lake Michigan), they also dine on eggs and young of native fish, including darters, logperch, and trout.

The gantlet, a series of electrically charged railroad rails, will be placed along the sides and bottom of a 165-foot-wide, 25-foot-deep section of the canal between Lemont and Romeoville. This will deliver a 70-volt jolt to the fish and force them to reverse their southerly direction. Any masochistic fish that still wish to run the length of this electrical gantlet would then encounter a progressively stronger electrical current, one that would eventually result in their death, preventing them from entering and endangering the Mississippi River ecosystem. (According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the electrical field will not be strong enough to harm pets, livestock, or people. Anyone accidentally coming in contact with the gantlet would merely experience the tingle of needles and pins, similar to a foot falling asleep.)

The gantlet is a demonstration project testing the effectiveness of an electrical field as a deterrent. Says project manager Dave Handwerk, "We want to see how well electrical fields reduce, slow down, or stop fish migration in both directions. For decades, the channel was too polluted for fish to live there. But with recent successful efforts to clean up our waterways and control discharge, the water quality of the canal has improved, allowing fish to travel through the canal. The goby is our test species, but we also want to see if we can prevent fish from the Mississippi that are not native to the Great Lakes from migrating northward." The first phase of the project is scheduled for testing by the year 2000. — Eugene Bender

New Members
On March 17, Chicago Wilderness welcomed 12 new members. The Calumet Environmental Resource Center of Chicago State University is an "information clearing house" of environmental and economic development resources (such as aerial photos, reports, and maps) for the Calumet region of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana. The College of DuPage manages 40.5 acres of nature preserves and offers restoration tours, facilities for ecological conferences, and more than 100 classes about ecology and nature, including the region's only regularly offered class on prairie ecology. Through real estate transactions, demonstration projects, and education and community-based activities, The Conservation Fund designs creative conservation measures for land and water resources. In addition to providing year-round recreation programs, facilities, and parks for district residents, Downers Grove Park District actively manages 160 acres of natural land, seeking to protect and restore their vigor and diversity. The Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest works through legal and policy advocacy to shape transportation and energy policies that prevent sprawl, protect air and water quality, and conserve our natural areas. Education and community programs offered through the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance promote an awareness of the variety and interdependence of living organisms, and encourage participation in biodiversity protection. The Geneva Park District offers adult, youth, and family classes and programs at Peck Farm Park, a nature interpretive site also intended to increase diversity of plants and animals through prairie restoration, streambank stabilization, and butterfly gardens. The Glenview Prairie Preservation Project seeks to preserve and protect the prairie remnant at the former Glenview Naval Air Station through public education and programs. The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program at Purdue University seeks to foster the creation and stewardship of an enhanced and sustainable environment and economy along southern Lake Michigan and in the Great Lakes region through research, education, and outreach. The Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center seeks to provide educational and inspirational experiences at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to foster understanding of and appreciation for the natural environment. Lake Forest Open Lands Association is dedicated to the conservation and restoration of open space within Lake Forest and the surrounding area through land acquisition, habitat restoration, public education, and advocacy. The Trust for Public Land seeks to acquire land on behalf of the general public for the preservation of native plants and animals in their biotic communities. Information about Chicago Wilderness organizations is available from the Chicagoland Environmental Network at (708) 485-0263 x369.

Bird Stats
Four hundred twenty birds have been documented in Illinois, most of them in the Chicago Wilderness region. You'll find these birds listed in taxonomic order in the new Illinois State Checklist. Published by the Illinois Ornithological Society, this 20-page booklet provides a complete listing of the state's avifauna, including threatened, endangered, migratory, and breeding status. Getting a new species added to the state list requires documentation and a unanimous vote by the Illinois Ornithological Records Committee. One of the more recent Chicago Wilderness additions was a gull-billed tern discovered and photographed by Eric Walters at Waukegan's Municipal Beach on May 31, 1997. As of 1998, Tom Pucelik held the record for the highest number of birds seen in Illinois — 386. Kevin Richmond was in second place (383), barely beating out Richard Biss (382). To obtain the new state checklist, send your name, address, and $3 to the Illinois Ornithological Society, State Checklist, PO Box 931, Lake Forest, IL 60045. — Sheryl De Vore

Living Color — Really
On April 26, a black, orange, and bluish spicebush swallowtail was the first butterfly to flitter into the brand-new, yet-to-be-unfurled indoor "Butterfly Haven" at the Chicago Academy of Sciences. The 2,700 square foot glass enclosure will soon be home to 25 different native butterfly species, including giant swallowtails, tiger swallowtails, painted ladies, and monarchs. Enrollment plans call for 800 butterflies and 1,000 plants and trees in the new Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum located in Chicago's Lincoln Park, scheduled to open in late October. More butterflies were introduced on May 21st, when elementary school students from Glenview's Westbrook School and Glengrove School released 100-200 butterflies they had bred into the Haven.

As one of 25 year-round exhibits of living butterflies in the country, the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven is the only one dedicated to native species. Founded in 1857, the Chicago Academy of Sciences was the first museum in Chicago and is today the only museum to specialize in the ecology and natural history of the Midwest. — Nicole Kamins

Rabb Honored
In April, Dr. George Rabb, director of the Brookfield Zoo and former chairman of the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Species Survival Commission, received the Conservation Medal from the Zoological Society of San Diego, its highest honor. The award recognizes Dr. Rabb's continuing leadership, vision, and service to conservation worldwide. He joins a prestigious list of former Medal recipients including Dr. Jane Goodall, Prince Philip of Britain, and Sir David Attenborough. Dr. Rabb also serves as co-vice-chair of the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council, the governing body of Chicago Wilderness. He is vice-chair of communications for the World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission and has been a conservation advisor to a variety of organizations including the World Bank, the US Marine Mammal Commission, and the US National Research Council. (Plus, he loves frogs.)

Glenview Prairie — More to Love
Fortunately for 150 native plant species — and for us and other critters too — members of the Glenview Prairie Preservation Project (GPPP) have been working hard to achieve their goal of protecting more land at the now-decommissioned Glenview Naval Air Station. In 1998, the Village of Glenview agreed to protect 14 acres of the prairie — habitat for rare species such as the upland sandpiper, Craw's sedge, golden sedge, and mountain blue-eyed grass — on the 1,120 acre site of the former Naval Air Station. In mid-March of this year, following concerted lobbying by the GPPP and a second round of public hearings, the Glenview Village Board unexpectedly voted to preserve an additional nine acres of buffer space surrounding the prairie. The site will be part of an approximately 1,000 acre multi-use complex that includes commercial and residential uses, a 140-acre park with a 40-acre lake, and an Audubon-certified championship golf course. GPPP president Sandy Hauseman says the group will continue its efforts to protect more of the prairie. "We are optimistic, especially since this spring Glenview citizens elected three new village trustees who appear supportive of preserving open space and limiting high density development," Hauseman said. "I think we Glenview residents have learned a very important lesson in democracy — that when you get involved you really can make a difference." — Gerald D. Tang

One Creation
On Sunday, April 25, members of the Evanston Sustainability Circle met at Wayside Prairie and Harms Woods for a lesson in stewardship. Steve Perkins, project director for the Interreligious Sustainability Project, said the physical experience of cutting brush and pulling weeds is an effort to "find God with our hands, feet, and eyes." Most of the 55 attendees had never participated in earth-healing activities, but as lay members of various Evanston congregations they are coming together to "address the current crisis of our relationship with the earth." Their statement of purpose says, "Reorienting our social and economic priorities from the short term to a concern for our grandchildren and their grandchildren requires religious imagination and commitment." After the day's work, the group met for song, prayer, and shared reflections. Sustainability Circles — independent grassroots interfaith groups — are also developing in Hyde Park, Oak Park, and west suburban Cook County. The Hyde Park Circle sponsored a beach clean-up and a puppet parade with huge puppets made from recycled materials representing the cityscape, forest, hand of God, and Hyde Park parakeet, among others. The Interreligious Sustainability Project, founded in 1997, seeks to inspire Chicago-area residents to restore the richness of creation while meeting basic human needs sustainably. For more information, call Steve Perkins (773) 278-4800 x155 or visit the Project's Web site.

Wet and Wild Book
Most people dismiss the plants growing in lakes and ponds as weeds. But Lake Villa botanist Linda Curtis is working to help land managers recognize the native and non-native aquatic plant species of the region. Curtis published Aquatic Plants of Northeastern Illinois (1998) and helped lead the Illinois Lakes Management Association workshop in Lake Villa last August. Curtis is pleased to report that a native weevil has taken a liking to Eurasian milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) and is devouring this pesky non-native — which is threatening to choke native aquatic plants in northern Illinois lakes. "I wrote this book because I couldn't find any information on these unique plants of northeastern Illinois," said Curtis. "Now people can more easily identify what plants are living in their lakes." That knowledge, she hopes, will help people understand how to manage their lakes better. To obtain a copy of Curtis's book, send $15 to Curtis at Third Productions, PO Box 731, Lake Villa, IL 60046. — Sheryl De Vore

Wet Work For The Nippersink
From 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on July 17, the McHenry County Conservation District is hosting their biggest work party ever, and you're invited! The District has been working to restore a rich wetland community and natural lazy meanders to Nippersink Creek, one of the highest, quality streams in the region. Also participating are the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. And now they need volunteer help — to plant wetland and wet prairie plants in the reconstructed river channel. After the good hard work of planting cord grass, marsh blazing star, and river bulrush, volunteers are invited to relax and enjoy refreshments and meet restoration site stewards from throughout McHenry County. "We expect around 200 people to take this opportunity to help the Nippersink and learn about other ways to have fun and help nature in McHenry County," said volunteer coordinator Sue Jacobic. For more information and to register, contact Jacobic at (815) 678-4431.