The National Forest Foundation, which funded $5 million in prairie habitat restoration at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, north of Wilmington, in 2010, was back at the former Joliet arsenal property a week ago to announce another major funding initiative.
"Our mission is to engage Americans in stewardship and in visiting our National Forest sites," said Mary Mitsos, executive vice president of the foundation, which launched a $100 million, nationwide "Treasured Landscapes, Unforgettable Experiences" program in 2010.
Midewin is among the 14 sites selected "because it is one of the unique sites the Forest Service manages and the tallgrass prairie is vanishing — less than one-tenth of 1 percent is left," she said. "It is a habitat more at risk than the Amazon rainforest because there is less of it left."
The 2010 commitment was $5 million, used over the years to restore 2,000 acres of tallgrass prairie in the South Prairie Creek Outwash Plain, with the help of Openlands, the Midewin Heritage Association, The Wetlands Initiative, The Nature Conservancy, Chicago Botanical Garden and others.
The reintroduction of bison last October and attendance increase in visitors to Midewin has helped the foundation secure two $1 million challenge grants — one each from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and the Grand Victoria Foundation. Now, the foundation must raise $2 million in the next five years to match those grants and the Forest Service has committed an additional $2.7 million for a total budget of $6.7 million to recreate another 1,800 acres of tallgrass prairie.
Connected to previous restorations, the result will be about 4,000 contiguous acres — 6.25 square miles, and the largest tallgrass prairie east of the Mississippi River.
Midewin covers 19,000 acres — about half of what was the Joliet Army Ammunitions Plant, built to produce explosives and ammunition for World War II and once the largest producer of TNT in the world. It employed 10,000 during WWII.
The peaceful restoration to presettlement prairie will remove more of the 266 WWII munitions bunkers that remain at Midewin. While most of the 266 remaining bunkers at Midewin will be destroyed, some will remain for interpretive programs and for the sake of history, said Wade Spang, Midewin prairie supervisor.
Invasive plant species — weeds and grasses brought by European settlers — will be battled and scrub brush will be removed. Old farm drainage tile systems will be destroyed to allow natural wetland areas to return.
Controlled burning will help control invasives and allow native prairie grasses and forb (leafy, flowering plants) to thrive, Spang said.
"We have dolomite prairie here, the rarest of the rare and very diverse," he said. Cactus grows there.
Located on the western edge of Midewin, with thin soils over dolomite bedrock, "only certain plants can grow there," said Bill Glass, Midewin's prairie ecologist. "Deep-rooted plants can't survive there. You can see cactus growing in water, but there is so little soil, it can't hold water long. It will evaporate and that's why cactus grow there. It's kind of like a desert. In good years, flowers, annuals, bloom all over the place, and some years they don't."
Paul Botts, executive director of The Wetlands Initiative, said there might be no more than 1,000 acres of healthy dolomite prairie in the world.
"The Forest Service is proud of the incredible tallgrass prairie restoration we've accomplished so far, and we are looking forward to using these grants to build on our success in continued partnership with the National Forest Foundation," said Eastern Regional Forester Kathleen Atkinson.
"The importance of Midewin cannot be overstated," said David Farren, executive director of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. "There is so little prairie left in Illinois, and what remains is mostly in small, isolated fragments. The NFF, working alongside the U.S. Forest Service and many other partner groups, is well-positioned to bring back the tallgrass prairie on the grand scale it deserves, to give people a real experience of our namesake natural heritage, to provide refuge for rare and endangered grassland birds, as well as our recently-designated national mammal, the American bison."
"This is a moment to ride the Midewin momentum," said Nancy Fishman, of the Grand Victoria Foundation. "Just as restoration will fully connect this glorious landscape, we hope that this challenge grant helps NFF and the Forest Service connect with new supporters and enthusiasts who will ensure that Midewin adds a new phase of its fascinating history."
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