• 60 Acres Bigger
• Urban Oasis
• Whimsical Whimbrel
• Camp Good Fellow
• Stiffer Poaching Penalties
• Vagrant Visitor
• Oh Deer
• Thank God
• Voting For Land

Urban Oasis
On July 20, 200 people celebrated the grand re-opening of North Park Village Nature Center, a 50-acre nature preserve at 5801 N. Pulaski Road, in the middle of Chicago's north side. The city's Department of Environment rehabilitated this site (once a tuberculosis sanitarium) to be an oasis of Chicago Wilderness. Visitors are greeted by two acres of native flora in an entrance garden filled with more than 7,000 plants representing the four major ecosystems here: prairie, wetland, oak savanna and woodland.

Restored wetlands provide habitat for heron, kingfishers, red winged blackbirds, and turtles, among others. "We removed all the existing vegetation on an eight acre site," explains restoration ecologist Bob Porter, "and left bare soil — a blank slate — which we then re-seeded with native forbs and grasses. It was interesting to watch how the native flora returned gradually year by year as predicted by the experts. In the first year came the big blue stem and Indian grasses; a greater variety of plants appeared during the second year, including gray-headed cone flowers, blue lobelia and swamp milkweed." For more information, call (312) 744-5472. — Eugene Bender

Whimsical Whimbrel
"I've never heard or seen of such a thing in my life!" said Illinois Ornithological Society's Eric Walters, who wondered if he was observing a Far Side cartoon come to life. Driving by Triangle Park on Chicago's north side (literally a triangle, squeezed between a cemetery, apartment buildings, and CTA train tracks) one night, Walters saw — and almost hit — probably the most prized annually-occurring shorebird in Illinois. A whimbrel strutted out from between two beat-up old cars, jumped up on the curb, and walked along the sidewalk as if nothing was happening. Since that night on September 8, dozens of other eager birders have seen this long-billed creature, which seemed uncharacteristically fond of junk food. "After much study, scientific evaluation and fieldwork," Walters noted, "I've discovered the daily diet of this whimbrel (urban subspecies): 1) Cheetos, 2) leftover Labor Day corn chips, 3) dirty street water, 4) dried bread chunks. These birds are normally quite wary of people," Walters added. "To get this close to one is a real treat."

Camp Good Fellow
Beginning in October 1998, students throughout the region will come to Camp Good Fellow in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, not only for outdoor fun, but to benefit from what Lee Botts, president of the new Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center, calls "a 15,000 acre classroom without walls." All activities, including fine arts, language arts, exploration and hands-on discovery, are geared toward knowledge and appreciation of science with an emphasis on "learning by doing."

This fall, many 4th - 6th graders will spend three days and two nights at Camp Good Fellow, sharing the dunes with coyotes, deer, beavers, turtles, lizards, salamanders, more than 300 bird species, and the widest diversity of plant species in the Great Lakes region. Botts hopes to spread the word about the facility within a 90-mile radius. The center, operated by the Learning Center and the National Park Service, is also open on weekends for private groups, and program plans are underway for other grade levels, adults, families, and teachers to experience this "living laboratory" in the dunes. For reservations and information, contact Lee Botts or Matthew Miller at (219) 938-8221. — Becky Polivka

Stiffer Poaching Penalties
"After habitat destruction," says herpetologist Tom Anton, "poaching is the greatest threat to endangered reptile and amphibian populations in northeastern Illinois, and poachers have gotten much more sophisticated." But enforcers are getting more sophisticated, too. On August 18, Illinois enacted stiffer penalties for poaching. According to John Allen, public affairs officer at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, "Under the old law, poachers would go out and grab a little bit every day. If they got caught, it would only be a misdemeanor.

Under the new law, offenses occurring over the course of 90 days will be considered cumulatively, so the penalties for individual poachers will be much heavier." Anton says poachers have posed as graduate students. They also surf the net and attend academic conferences to glean information about local populations of rare animals valuable on the exotic pet market. "My own maps have been used to find and poach Massassauga rattlesnakes," he said. "A lot of researchers are really circumspect about what they publish now. I hope the new law has an impact." — Mark Sheehy

Vagrant Visitor
One of this continent's most striking birds, a scissor-tailed flycatcher, spent more than two weeks this summer in DuPage County, catching meals along the Fox River. Salmon-colored wing linings accentuate the bird's pale pearly gray body, which is doubled in length by its scissor-like tail. This species breeds as close as north-central Missouri, and could be expanding its breeding range into Illinois, where nearly 50 sightings have been recorded. In late summer, some bird species engage in post-breeding dispersal and occasionally fly out of their range. Lucky birders first spotted the DuPage County scissor-tail on August 3, and dozens of people came to see the bird, which remained until at least August 19. — Sheryl De Vore

Oh Deer
In his studies of deer overpopulation in Indiana's State Parks, Purdue University's Dr. George Parker has shown that the diversity and abundance of plant and animal species are being harmed by deer predation in Indiana Dunes State Park. In particular, populations of insects and birds, especially neotropical migratory species, are declining due to habitat destruction from the deer. On August 26, the Save the Dunes Council voted unanimously to support a reduction of the deer herd at Indiana Dunes State Park.

Thank God
Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Baha'i, and Buddhist leaders have been working together to craft a vision for a sustainable Chicago region. Called the Interreligious Sustainability Project of Metropolitan Chicago, this group has published "One Creation One People One Place," a report on the state of the ecology, economy, and community of northeastern Illinois. "We believe that the religious community has a special responsibility — and deep spiritual resources — to address the current crisis of our relationship with the Earth," states the report.

The project is reaching out to religious congregations to encourage prayer, study, and action to heal our common home. The group kicked off a series of fall programs with an interfaith seed-gathering weekend October 3-4. A day-long workshop — Religion and Sustainable Development: A Participatory Dialogue — followed on October 17. To obtain a copy of the report or find out about upcoming events, call (773) 278-4800 x 255.

Voting for Land
Several county bond referenda continue to produce funds for conservation land acquisition in the region. Before the end of the year, DuPage County expects to close on the purchase of approximately 200 acres — the first parcels to be acquired with funding from last year's $75 million bond referendum (see Winter '98, p. 28). Last June, the McHenry County Conservation District offered $20 million worth of bonds for sale, most of which will be devoted to the purchase of 2,700 acres. Next April, Will County hopes voters will approve a $70 million bond issue, most of which will be used to purchase 6,500 acres, while Lake County looks toward a $55 million bond referendum, more than half of which will be devoted to land acquisition. Conservationists in Cook and Kane Counties are currently seeking to have bond issues for land acquisition placed on their ballots in the near future.

We Like Mike
After his debut in Elgin on the Fourth of July, Mike the Monarch has been spreading his wings — and a message about our natural areas — throughout northeastern Illinois. "Like many environmental campaigns, the effort to preserve and restore our native woodlands, prairies, and wetlands needed a friendly, happy, charismatic mascot," said creator David Lloyd. "Mike — in the flesh and in cartoon form — raises awareness about how native species like him rely on people, especially volunteers, to care for our natural areas." Keep your eyes peeled — Mike may be coming to your neighborhood next!

Wet Work
"It was a unique experience to restore the river bank, and perhaps save many fish and aquatic animals," said 6th-grader Sarah Sippel. "It was a good way to take what we learned in science outside." With hundreds of other 6th graders from 10 schools, Sippel worked to help stabilize degraded portions of the Kline Creek streambank in DuPage County. She also helped to release 1,500 smallmouth bass raised in classroom aquariums. Last year the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, kicked off the remarkable program to restore plant diversity and prevent soil erosion with a grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and support from local businesses. — Gerald D. Tang

Losing Ground
On August 27, Openlands Project released a state-of-the-art regional map illustrating how land use patterns since 1900 have altered the landscape in a 13-county area from Kenosha, WI to Lapone, IN. Losing Ground: Land Consumption in the Chicago Region, 1900-1998, the first of two reports for the SOLAR (Strategic Open Lands at Risk) Project, graphically shows the accelerated urban sprawl of the last 50 years — when the region's population grew by 48 percent while land coverage increased by 165 percent. The second report, due to be released at the end of November, will map and assess land at risk of development during the next 30 years.

Eight New Members
On August 5, 1998, Chicago Wilderness added eight new members. DuPage Audubon Society helps maintain St. Stephen's Cemetery Prairie and West Chicago Prairie; they also provide bluebird houses and monitor bluebird trails at McKee Marsh, Morton Arboretum, and Oak Meadows and Maple Meadows Golf Clubs. Save the Dunes Conservation Fund works in sustainable economic planning, land acquisition, restoration, and enforcement of laws and regulations principally in northwest Indiana. The Center for Neighborhood Technology seeks to promote ecological, economic, and community development through public policy, market development, and community planning activities.

The Jurica Nature Museum at Benedictine University focuses mainly on collection, conservation, and education with an emphasis on biodiversity. Crystal Lake Park District and Lake View Nature Center both manage natural areas and educate the public about Illinois habitats and biodiversity. Liberty Prairie Conservancy protects and restores the 2,500-acre Liberty Prairie Reserve and fosters environmental ethics in Lake County. Friends of Ryerson Woods seeks to empower and educate individuals and organizations to preserve, restore, and protect native plants and animal communities of the Des Plaines River Valley. Information about all Chicago Wilderness organizations is available from the Chicagoland Environmental Network (708) 485-0263 x 369.

Creative Cleanup
In the 1970s, US Steel (a USX Company) had a reputation as one of the most ardent opponents of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. Recently, however, the company reached a surprising — and innovative decision.

The background of the suit was the literal death of a five-mile stretch of the Grand Calumet River near US Steel's 90-year old plant in Gary, IN. But the settlement went far beyond clean-up. USX will spend funds on new, cleaner technology that will make the company more competitive while going far beyond compliance with environmental laws. The $30 million settlement includes $22 million for future pollution abatement at the plant and a $2.9 million civil penalty. USX will also donate five parcels of land totaling 246 acres to the National Park Service and the state of Indiana.

"We expect to see a significant improvement in the river within the next five years," said Tom Anderson of Save the Dunes Council. "One of the parcels of land contains 32 acres of globally rare dune and swale habitat that is home to the endangered Karner blue butterfly." Another of the parcels includes 76 acres along the Salt Creek, a tributary to the Little Calumet River that is home to trout and lake salmon.

US Steel president Paul J. Wilhelm termed the plan "a creative commitment to cost-effective environmental solutions on the Grand Calumet. US Steel is gratified that a remediation plan was developed through cooperative negotiation, rather than drawn-out litigation." Wilhelm added that the plan "goes well beyond what is required of the company under terms of an earlier (1990) consent agreement with the EPA — evidence of US Steel's commitment to continuous environmental improvement as well as competitive excellence."

The future? Lee Botts, longtime activist and President of the new Indiana Dunes Environmental Learning Center, points out that USX is part of the Grand Calumet Visioning — a project "that includes community folk, enviros, and other industries, to plan for what ought to happen along the river in the future when the multiple clean-up efforts now underway create undreamed-of possibilities. This for a river for which 90 percent of the flow is industrial effluent, but which now again has beaver on its banks and conceivably will have fish safe to eat in my lifetime." — Mark Sheehy

Feds Give Fire Thumbs Up
In 1995, the US Departments of Agriculture and the Interior jointly released The Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy and Program Review, which formally recognized the critical role fire plays in the maintenance of healthy wildland ecosystems. The new policy endorsed a significant increase in the use of "prescribed" fire as a normal land management tool. The review recommended allowing fire to play its natural role in "an ongoing and systematic manner, consistent with public health and environmental quality considerations."

The goals of this change in land management policy are to reduce unnatural fuel densities that contribute to increasing unplanned fire hazards, and to restore wildland ecosystems to their healthy natural state. Five federal agencies — the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs — began increasing the use of fire in the types of wildlands that most needed it in 1997. Annual treatment targets for all federal land management agencies will be increased to more than 5 million acres per year by 2005 — up from an historic estimate of 662,000 acres from 1984 to 1994.

On April 23, 1998, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a related national policy that addresses how best to achieve national clean air goals (including EPA's national air quality standards for particulate matter), while continuing to use fire to improve the quality of wildland ecosystems (including forests and grasslands). EPA expressed confidence that the amount of prescribed burning, conducted under sound smoke management programs, can be increased substantially without causing violations of the air quality standards. Managing smoke can mean scheduling burning during favorable weather conditions, for instance.

The EPA pointed out that the damaging effects of excluding fire "mounted gradually and inconspicuously over decades. Fire exclusion practices have resulted in forests, shrub lands, and grasslands plagued with a variety of problems, including overcrowding, resulting from the encroachment of species normally suppressed by fire; vulnerability of trees to insects and disease; and inadequate reproduction of certain species. In addition, heavy accumulation of fuels (such as dead vegetation on forests floors) can cause fires to be catastrophic, which threaten firefighter and public safety, impair forest and ecosystem health, and degrade air quality." — Elizabeth Sanders

Betz Bronzed
On August 15 the US Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory dedicated its oldest prairie to the man who started it all: biologist Robert F. Betz. Dr. Betz, an emeritus professor at Northeastern Illinois University and an expert in prairie ecology, is widely recognized as a driving force behind prairie restoration efforts, not only at Fermilab but throughout northern Illinois. In 1974, Betz convinced Fermilab's founding director, Robert Wilson, to support the prairie reconstruction project. Betz formed the Fermilab Prairie Committee in 1975 to help rebuild the original grassland ecosystem. Hundreds of volunteers have harvested seeds, and Fermilab maintenance staff have become experts in burning the area to combat weeds and keep woody plants in check. As a result, Fermilab now claims over 1,100 acres of restored tallgrass prairie. A brass plaque honoring the venerable Dr. Betz now stands on the spot where he planted the first prairie grasses. — Eugene Bender

Wet Neighbors
Although Chicago was built atop drained wetlands, many of today's new homes are built beside wetlands. Thus, throughout the region, people and wetlands increasingly are becoming neighbors. In order to help people understand, enjoy, and become good stewards of these soggy but precious resources, The Wetlands Initiative has just published Living with Wetlands: A Handbook for Homeowners in Northeastern Illinois. Chicago Wilderness and the Grand Victoria Foundation funded the free 24-page full-color book describing water conditions, plant life, soil, wildlife, and legal regulations unique to these ecosystems.

Two agencies that protect and restore wetlands — US Fish & Wildlife Service, Chicago Field Office, and US Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District — were also partners in the project. The book offers practical information about management of invasive plant species and how to cope with nuisance animals such as mosquitoes and geese. To request a free copy, write to The Wetlands Initiative, 53 West Jackson Boulevard., Suite 1015, Chicago, IL 60604; send email to twi@wetlands-initiative.org.

Citizen Success in Bartlett
In the Spring 1998 issue of Chicago WILDERNESS reported on the struggle to save the Windt farm property in the village of Bartlett from development. The campaign to save the natural area, including 36 acres of important wetland habitat, seemed to hit an impasse last July when the village filed to condemn parts of the property for streets and sewers, a hasty 30 minutes before the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County filed to condemn the land for conservation.

On September 8, however, the Bartlett Village Board voted unanimously to dismiss its condemnation lawsuit saying they had looked at all the facts and decided it was best to support the Forest Preserve's plans for the property.

At press time, the Forest Preserve was in the process of acquiring the property, and campaign co-leader Mary Ellen Knuth was celebratory. She praised the citizen's group that so much impressed the Village Board: "We did something as a community, and none of us knew each other before. It shows you can make change. You've got to believe in it, and we did." — Alison Carney Brown