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Summer
2000
Classic
Prairie Restorations
by
Ray Wiggers. ------> To
Introduction
Gensburg-Markham Prairie | Fermilab
Prairie | North Branch Prairies
Lisle,
Illinois
 hen
first-time visitors explore the august, wooded terrain of
The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, they may not realize that
one of its most popular and intriguing aspects is a largely
treeless expanse on the southwestern corner of the grounds.
This section, Schulenberg Prairie, has been the region’s
archetypal proving ground for the kind of restoration that
starts with nothing but the soil. The Schulenberg Prairie
has demonstrated that land devoted to farming for 100 years
can be successfully transformed into a model of healthy
grassland.
Knowing
no other way to succeed, Schulenberg's staff planted thousands
of plants by hand. Photo by Ray Schulenberg.
While
almost everyone who walks or works on this rolling stretch
of waving grasses and wildflowers regards it as a prairie
in its own right, the reconstruction’s founder and
namesake, retired Arboretum curator Ray Schulenberg, often
avoids the term. He prefers to call it, simply enough, a
planting of prairie species. At first glance, this may seem
a definition driven merely by modesty, but Schulenberg here
also reveals a hard-earned lesson — that the re-creation
of an absolutely authentic prairie ecosystem, with all its
soil, plants, animals, and microorganisms, is an enterprise
that requires more than a few decades to complete.
The
Morton Arboretum has had a powerful influence on this region.
It has worked to build a conservation ethic, sometimes with
too little fanfare, ever since its founding almost 80 years
ago. And there is ample proof of that commitment. In 1921,
for example, one early staff member, Henry Teuscher, carefully
listed existing native species in his index of Morton plantings
— a good indicator that the Arboretum’s interest
in Chicagoland’s native ecological communities coexisted
with its horticultural mandate even then.
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Ray
Schulenberg in the greenhouse. Photo
by Clarence Godshalk.
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In
1961, Arboretum director Clarence Godshalk considered what
should be done with a newly acquired 55-acre parcel of land.
Very much aware of Schulenberg’s interest in the native
grasslands of the Midwest, he suggested that the latter
take charge of a prairie planting there.
At
the time, most people thought that weeds would overwhelm
the prairie species, unless the latter were given a great
deal of help. Originally, the most prized sections of the
prairie were done one planting at a time (consisting of
two or three seedlings grown together in small greenhouse
container). Then, throughout the growing season, Schulenberg
painstakingly removed dozens of weed species from the scores
of prairie species, which meant that he and his Arboretum
crew had to learn to distinguish all the young native flowers
and grasses from the unwanted invaders.
And
so it began. Schulenberg, by that time a friend of prairie
conservation pioneer Dr. Robert Betz, tried a number of
planting techniques, from laying sod taken from an old "remnant
meadow" elsewhere on the Arboretum grounds, to introducing
greenhouse-raised seedlings, to spreading seed gathered
from Gensburg-Markham.
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After
four decades of restoration, Schulenberg Prairie
draws visitors from around the world. Photo
by Jim Nachel.
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Over
the years, Schulenberg and his Arboretum crew further established
their reputation for meticulous attention to detail, but
as in all early efforts of this kind, they learned by trial
and effort. There were no guidebooks, no seminars, no established
procedures for seed collection or prescribed burns. One
learned in part by fruitful and carefully documented failure.
The
result to date‚ whether one calls it a planting of
prairie species, or the prairie itself‚ is an overt
educational success. Having grown to more than 100 acres,
the Schulenberg Prairie now incorporates oak-savanna communities
as well. Each year, thousands of students and visitors gain
insight into the region’s past, and perhaps into its
future, by first-hand contact with this most beautiful of
planned landscapes.
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2008 Chicago Wilderness Magazine, Inc.
Revised.
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