Spring 2003

Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners:
Digging their Fox River Peninsula

Batavia was once home to a half-dozen windmill factories and is now renowned for the nuclear research facility Fermilab. Yet the city generates another kind of energy — that of volunteers, powerful enough to reclaim a 12-acre peninsula in the Fox River.

The peninsula was actually an island before the city bridged the gap to the mainland to develop the downtown area. Much of this landfill languished for years as a rock pile, a dumping ground, and a buckthorn thicket until the Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners took on the project of landscaping in the fall of 1991. But after a decade of work, their community of 36 volunteer gardeners has transformed the Batavia Riverwalk into a wildflower sanctuary for native Kane County plants, an educational showcase, and a magical place to pause.

The Batavia Riverwalk began as a downtown revitalization project. Another group, Friends of the Riverwalk, laid a brick walk around the perimeter of the peninsula. History buffs restored nine original Batavia windmills.

"The Riverwalk volunteers discovered some native plants growing here," remembers Jim Eby, Batavia Park District director of planning and development, "and they became interested in bringing back some of the flavor of what might have been growing on this island." These volunteers, led by Peg Bond, Ruth Johnsen, and others, formed the Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners and divided a .75-acre wooded area into small plots to tend. They had one rule — only native species could be planted in the new wildflower sanctuary.

"While we didn't intend to make this a totally natural area," explains Nancy Weiss, the group's native plants projects coordinator, "we hope the native gardens can educate and maybe inspire visitors to plant natives in their own gardens."

Riverain Point Apartments, a retirement housing development, sits right in the middle of the peninsula. "The residents are our pep squad," Weiss declares. "They tell us how beautiful the sanctuary is and how much they love it." In the spring, a rich display of native forbs greets visitors, including trillium, toothwort, false rue anemone, Virginia bluebells, twinleaf, and hepatica.

During the growing season, the organization hosts workdays several times a month. "A local restaurant donates refreshments or lunch and, besides the regular volunteers, scout groups and other community groups regularly participate," Weiss says. "It's such a beautiful experience: the water rushing by, and the great blue heron, our mascot, always shows up at the dam."

Many local naturalists, including Dick Young, Drew Ullberg, Danielle Ebersole, and Bob Lootens, have volunteered their time and talents to the effort. With their help, the project has expanded to include a mesic prairie garden along the river and a floodplain garden, still in progress. In just over ten years, the gardeners have cleared dense buckthorn stands to make way for more than 200 species of native plants.

Attracted by the plants, mink, box turtles, northern water snakes, horned grebe, black-crowned night-herons, ruddy and wood ducks, and eastern phoebes have visited the peninsula. About four years ago a rare scissor-tailed flycatcher was sighted. "Birders came from all over," Weiss remembers. "Dick Young, author of Kane County Wild Plants & Natural Areas, brought his grandson to observe and add to his life list."

The organization's annual plant sale and semi-annual garden walk have helped raise funds to add an expanding variety of native trees. "There are 600-1000 people lined up for our plant sale," says Ron Gilkerson, a retired psychology instructor. "Four to six thousand plants sell out in a little more than an hour."

The Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners brought home the gold at the 2002 Chicago Flower and Garden Show with their "Little House in the Big Woods" native plant display. The display was sponsored by Pizzo and Associates and The Care of Trees (CW, Summer 2002).

Also in 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Chicago Wilderness coalition honored the Batavia Park District with their Conservation and Native Landscaping Award, in recognition of the Riverwalk project. "The EPA award went to the park district as an agency," comments Jim Eby, "but we received the award because of the Plain Dirt Gardeners."

A bronze plaque engraved with the words of Dick Young greets visitors to the wildflower sanctuary: "Tread softly here, and you will meld into the ageless unfolding natural drama and find a measure of wisdom and contentment that transcends our feverish accomplishments." These are the intangible rewards the Batavia Plain Dirt Gardeners reap with every ounce of energy they sow.

— Alison Carney Brown