Volunteers seed native grasses in West Chicago Prairie

As part of the preparation process for removing invasive brush from the West Chicago Prairie near West Chicago, DuPage County Forest Preserve District volunteers seeded part of the area Saturday.

A future controlled burn by forest preserve staff members will help get rid of the nonnative brush mixed in with the native plant species sown by the volunteers.

"We want this seed in the ground to compete with the brush and also to be fuel for the fire," said Steve Sentoff, who was working on the project to maintain the savanna with volunteers Scott Hensey and Rob Kaiser. Sentoff is a volunteer coordinator who has been seeding in the area since 1983.

As one volunteer raked a six-inch-wide swatch to expose topsoil, the other volunteers tossed down native bottlebrush seeds, which were then covered with leaves and ground cover.

Weather conditions weren't the best Saturday for volunteers, but they were very good for the seeds and their germination process.

"We are here by choice. No one could force you to be here - not in weather like this," joked Hensey, who has volunteered since the 1990s. "We are part of The Conservation Foundation in Naperville, which is the parent organization of an independent group of volunteers that works closely with the forest preserve district."