Grigsby Prairie restoration work wins award

Citizens for Conservation has received a Conservation and Native Landscaping Award for its restoration of Grigsby Prairie in Barrington Hills. The award was presented by the U S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness at a ceremony at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The organizations sponsor awards to recognize exemplary sites featuring native landscaping, restored ecosystems, or best practices of conservation-style development.

Grigsby Prairie was recognized for the work which transformed it from a fallow field into a thriving ecosystem. Grigsby represents a number of land donations to CFC from Peggy Grigsby Richards and now totals 42.4 acres. These former farm fields were being invaded by box elder, buckthorn, black locust, and other alien species.

CFC's management activities, supervised by Tom Vanderpoel and implemented by devoted volunteers, include clearing brush, planting plugs and seeds as well as conducting controlled burns. Grigsby is now a source of seed for other restorations thanks to the 1,000 volunteer hours devoted to it annually.

Grigsby's biodiversity is thriving. 175 species of native plants inhabit its wet, mesic, and dry prairie, savanna, and wetland habitats. Grasses include prairie dropseed, big bluestem, and little bluestem. Forbs consist of species such as wild white indigo, rattlesnake master, Indian paintbrush, and four gentian species.

Rare birds have returned to this open prairie with several declining grassland species nesting at Grigsby: Eastern meadowlarks, bobolinks, dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows, sedge wrens, king birds, savanna sparrows, and bluebirds.

Seed of the very rare, almost extirpated, eastern prairie fringed orchid has been sown, and CFC hopes the plant will appear in the next year or two.

CFC thanks all who have made gorgeous Grigsby a reality.

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