News

Healy Prairie Gives Back

It’s been 18 years since volunteers peeled Healy Road Prairie from its ancient gravel hilltop in Elgin and lugged it six miles away to a new home at Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve. Soils, plants, insects, and other small animals were carried off to a barren manmade hill in a brave effort to save the tiny prairie from the fate of gravel mining.

This past autumn, the prairie was finally healthy enough to pay it forward. In October, volunteers met at the relocated prairie to collect seed from its valuable genetic lineages. It was an historic moment, the culmination of years of loving care.

Initially, the prairie’s survival was tenuous. During the first summer, the City of Elgin built an irrigation system to water the frail transplants. But as plants recovered, stewards and volunteers burned the prairie and it gradually blossomed with good health. All plant species survived the move, and the hill now blends seamlessly with the surrounding terrain. This fall, the prairie produced sufficient seed for volunteers to gather some for use at a nearby restoration site in need of ancient native stock.

The weather was raw, but spirits were bright. Volunteers from several nearby sites joined together: Bluff Spring Fen, Spring Creek Forest Preserve, Poplar Creek Prairie, Somme Prairie Grove, and the Citizens for Conservation sites. They gathered little bluestem, lead plant, coreopsis, rough blazing star, prairie cinquefoil, sky blue aster, and purple prairie clover. Though not especially rare species, the genes of all are irreplaceable. These species have grown for thousands of years in this locale, products of the microclimate and soils. At press time, other volunteers were preparing the seeds for sowing at Spring Creek Forest Preserve near Barrington Hills.

Everyone understood the significance of this event. Jim Voris, steward for Spring Creek Forest Preserve, summed it up best when he said, “their progeny will ripple down through history.”

— Meredith Tucker