What type of prairie is in illinois

Illinois lies within an area called the " prairie peninsula ," an eastward extension of prairies that borders deciduous forests to the north, east, and south. This is part of the tallgrass prairie region, sometimes called the true prairie, with the landscape dominated by grasses such as big bluestem and Indian grass as well as a large number of other species of grasses and wildflowers, the latter called forbs.

The vegetation sometimes reaches a height of 10 feet or more. The first European settlers moving westward from the forests of the eastern United States encountered the prairies, which seemed like a vast ocean of grass. The wind caused waves on the surface of the shimmering grasses.

One type of wagon used by the pioneers was the "prairie schooner," a reference to a sailing vessel, further adding to the analogy of the prairie being a large inland sea of grasses. There are high-quality remnants, the rarest of the rare, which are as intact as a landscape can be considering centuries of proximity to agricultural or urban development.

Still with care and management they can be brought back from the brink. What all remnants have in common, regardless of quality, is that the key elements of original prairie, an ecological memory, are still present: seeds, roots and soil that have evolved together over thousands of years.

How is it possible, people might wonder, to know whether a remnant has never been plowed, grazed or otherwise tampered with?

Land use records only go back centuries, not millennia. In some cases, paleoecological studies have been conducted, Barak said, showing evidence of prairie plants dating back 10, years.

A far more analog method is the hands-on evaluation of a site. Scientists look for certain markers, Barak said, such as the really deep plant roots characteristic of a remnant. Remnants will contain hundreds of different species in even a small section versus mere dozens in areas that have been altered.

Those are the species most at risk of going extinct if remnants are lost, and often the most difficult to successfully establish in a prairie restoration project.

Restoration work can involve reintroducing native species to a landscape being reclaimed from agricultural, industrial, residential or commercial use. Courtesy of U. In some cases, restoration refers to rehabilitating a remnant, one that may have become overgrown with invasive species, for example. More typical are situations where agricultural, industrial, residential or commercial acreage is reclaimed as a natural area, such as a farmer donating or selling their property to a land trust.

Another example could be the demolition of a factory, where the site is topped off with soil and prepped for native plants, slated to become a preserve. In these scenarios, prairie restoration is akin to historical recreation — the equivalent of presenting a reasonable facsimile of the cabin Abe Lincoln grew up in because the original no longer exists. Early restoration projects would typically include big bluestem — the granddaddy of prairie grasses — in their planting schemes.

Today, big bluestem is planted sparingly, if at all, she said. Perhaps one of the biggest constraints facing restoration ecologists, Barak said, is the availability of seeds for prairie plants not cultivars or even nativars. Seeds of spring blooming species are also harder to collect, Barak said, and cost is another factor. As scrappy as prairie plants are, they can also be finicky. Some have proven downright obstinate, refusing to germinate in greenhouses or at restoration sites.

In some cases, hemiparasites can help keep dominant plants under control, Barak said. That and any other benefits they provide — benefits scientists, perhaps, have yet to uncover — are among the missing puzzle pieces in any restoration. Think of the relationship between milkweed and the monarch butterfly — without the former, the latter disappears. Milkweed seed scattering at a Chicago Park District natural area. Prairie remnants and restoration projects go hand in hand in preserving biodiversity.

Progress is measured not in years but over the course of multiple generations of human lifespans. For permissions information, contact the Illinois Natural History Survey. Terms of use. Email the Web Administrator with questions or comments. Staff Intranet Login.