Orland Tract to be Largest Grassland Restoration in Cook County

Volunteers filled 20 industrial-sized garbage bags with cut teasel seedheads this summer at the Orland Tract in southern Cook County, clearing the way for an "Autumn on the Prairie" celebration. The 960-acre forest preserve is the focus of a restoration initiative that brings together the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, CorLands, Audubon, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A major goal is to restore sustainable habitat for grassland birds and other prairie species.

"At Orland this summer, I saw a dickcissel and Henslow's sparrow for the first time in my life," volunteer Suzanne Koglin reported exuberantly. "The Henslow's came within ten feet of me, and I thought 'this is an endangered bird and I'm having a personal conversation with it!'"

Last spring, Koglin came with other neighbors and nature lovers to an open house at Orland Park's Village Hall and signed on to help restore wildlife habitat there. "Bobolinks used to cover the hills of Orland Park when I was a child. Then there were none," Koglin recalls. "At the preserve, there are still some bobolinks, and that's what we're trying to attract by planting selected prairie species and taking out the invasives."

When the project is completed, about 700 acres will be quality grassland, making this the largest grassland restoration in Cook County. A little more than 250 acres, mostly around the periphery of the site, will be oak woodland. Some of these areas will be maintained as shrubland and open woodland to provide habitat for birds such as the rare yellow-breasted chat, orchard oriole, and black- and yellow-billed cuckoos already at home there. The central grassland will support the prairie birds, possibly including such larger species as the short-eared owl and king rail. Restoration plans include connecting grassland patches that had been fragmented by 30 acres of invasive trees and brush. Many grassland birds require a large contiguous area of grassland for nesting success.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has pointed out that drain tiles underlie the grassland, reminders of a time when the Orland Tract was all farmland. Sometime next year, the drain tiles will be blocked to improve wetland quality. Retaining rainfall on the site will reduce flooding and siltation downstream, one of the reasons that the Corps helped find $800,000 for this ambitious project. To volunteer at Orland Grassland, contact Judy Pollock at (847) 965-1150 or jpollock@audubon.org.

— Alison Carney Brown