Fall 2000

One of the few remaining dry gravel hill prairies in northern Illinois

McHenry County, Illinois

In 1986, Claire Marie and Carl Sands donated their 80-acre farm to the Cary Park District in an effort to preserve something special–one of the few remaining dry gravel hill prairies in northern Illinois. Of the 16 acres originally dedicated as a state nature preserve (later expanded to 75), only eight are considered virgin prairie. However spirited volunteers and park district staff are working together to meet the ecological challenge of restoring this site with a full complement of native plants.

Visitors to Cary Sands Main Street Prairie are greeted by a sea of tall, sweeping grasses. Small children will be the first to notice the chunky gravel and rocks on the trails. Some are remnants of the glaciers that formed this gently undulating morainal landscape. One trail loop, approximately .2 mile, circles the original Main Street Prairie. A northeast loop rambles about .6 mile.

Big snags (dead trees) along the way create a great place for birds to rest during their fall migration and "there has been a real success story in the return of the bluebird," noted former prairie steward Lynda Wallis. "The savannah sparrow has come back, the Henslow’s sparrow [and] a number of birds that need large open grasslands have returned."

"During October, we would really like to do large-scale seed collecting and seeding into the prairie itself," says Dave Raica, director of Parks and Planning for the Cary Park District. "We have re-

created 60 acres and will be collecting seed on-site that we hope to disperse to other areas." To help this process, steward Jim Alwill has developed seed collection boxes that allow volunteers to "comb the seed off" at a rate of 5 pounds. in 20 minutes.

High school students, scouts, and church youth groups work with Alwill to collect seeds, plant plugs, clear encroaching non-natives, and occasionally rescue plants. "We have large tracts of Indian grass, big bluestem, and switch grass, and we have put in prairie forbs like compass plant, prairie dock, rosinweed, [and] blazing star. They seem to compete with the existing prairie turf," said Alwill.

Visitors in spring and summer will see shooting stars (the plant), leadplant, hoary puccoon, prairie smoke, violet wood sorrel, birdsfoot and prairie violets, prairie dropseed, little bluestem, rough blazing star, and sky blue aster.

Altogether Cary has five such high quality sites situated within minutes of each other, providing visitors and residents alike with a glimpse of how life once was and providing priceless habitat for native plants and animals. Self-guided trail maps should be available at the trailhead on the south side of the barn, but may also be obtained by visiting the park district’s administrative office.

Prairiefest 2000, hosted by Cary Grove Historical Society and Cary Park District, will take place on-site, Sunday, Sept. 24 from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. Guided nature hikes, hayrides, music, craft demonstrations, old fashioned children’s games, a pie-eating contest and auction are among the highlights of the day. For more information about this event, please call (847) 639-6100.

Workday Schedule: Sat., Oct. 21, 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Bring a sack lunch and dress appropriately (long pants, long sleeves, comfortable boots and a pair of work gloves). — April Anderson

What is Chicago Wilderness? | Store | Donations | Contact Us | Home

Copyright 2008 Chicago Wilderness Magazine, Inc.
Revised.