Into the Wild

Air Station Prairie

Cook County, IL

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by Stephanie Folk

Air Station Prairie is a green oasis tucked away among shopping centers, office parks and subdivisions in the northern suburb of Glenview. The 32-acre prairie is also home to the Evelyn Pease Tyner Interpretive Center, an educational facility that has received the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating, certifying that it meets the highest standards for environmentally sustainable buildings. These resources make the site an ideal place to learn about the great prairies that once covered vast stretches of Illinois, and about the cutting-edge technologies that could help us live more harmoniously with nature in the years to come.

When you first arrive at Air Station Prairie, you’ll immediately notice the sloped roof of the interpretive center. One third of the roof is covered in solar panels and rest is a green roof covered in a layer of soil and hardy drought-resistant plants. The green roof absorbs storm water and insulates the building, while the solar panels generate electricity to help power the building’s efficient geothermal heating and cooling system. The center is currently open on weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., but even when it is closed, visitors will find informative displays around the outside of the structure. The signs and exhibits describe the building and the ecology of the surrounding prairie.

Explore the exhibits and you’ll learn that the site was once part of the Glenview Naval Airstation, which operated from 1937 to 1995.

The Navy used the area as a security zone for an adjacent air strip, and mowed regularly to keep the site clear. This kept the land free of invasive brush and maintained some of the native prairie habitat.

The natural area is now managed by the Glenview Park District. Volunteers from the North Branch Restoration Project work with the park district to manage the plant communities and restore natural habitat at the site. Since restoration efforts began, heavy infill has been removed to expose the original prairie soil. The park district and volunteer stewards have also concentrated on removing invasive species such as purple loosestrife and restoring a diverse community of native plants.

“The goal is to increase the ecological quality of the ‘old field’ portions and protect the existing high quality areas,” says Kent Fuller, who serves as a volunteer site steward along with his wife Jerry.

Venture down the path from the interpretive center, and you’ll quickly see that their restoration efforts are paying off. More than 160 species of native plants now thrive in the site’s varied habitats, which include and wet and dry prairies as well as sections of wetland. You’ll find grasses such as big bluestem, porcupine grass and side-oats gramma, and wildflowers such as blue vervain, common mountain mint, and prairie smoke.

Redwing blackbirds call from their perches atop the taller prairie plants, while a red-tailed hawk or American kestrel might be spotted soaring overhead. Near the wetland, you may find birds such as killdeer and mallard ducks or discover shells from one of the five species of crayfish found at the site. Chorus frogs call in the late spring, and snapping turtles and garter snakes bask in the sun on warm days. The prairie’s mammals are shy and harder to spot, but an observant visitor might find signs left behind by muskrats, shrews, or even the occasional coyote.

While you can still see the buildings and hear the roads that surround this remnant prairie, it is easy to get caught up in the area’s natural beauty and to imagine the vast prairies that once covered the region.

“The Air Station Prairie is a wonderful natural area to visit, and it just feels extraordinarily peaceful,” says Judy Ksiazek, an education supervisor with the Glenview Park District. “It is a great place to go and get away from the frantic pace of life and just take a breath and enjoy the beauty of nature,” she says.

The natural beauty and excellent interpretive center make Air Station Prairie a great place to learn about both the natural history of the region and how we can live more lightly on the land in the future.