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Nachusa Grasslands Preserve expands to 2,500 Acres

One of the most significant and dynamic prairies in Illinois — The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands Preserve — is growing from 1,500 acres to more than 2,500 acres. The expansion secures vital habitat for rare and declining plants and animals, including Blanding turtle, Henslow sparrow, bobolink, Franklin ground squirrel, fame flower and kittentail flowers, while protecting critical open space in the quickly-expanding northeastern Illinois growth corridor.

The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation made this expansion possible through a generous $2.5 million grant to the Conservancy. The Foundation will be honored June 15 with a dedication ceremony that celebrates Nachusa Grasslands, located about 100 miles west of Chicago near Dixon, Illinois.

"More than 6,500 acres of forests, waterways, blufflands and grasslands are protected in communities across Illinois because of grants from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation," said James Mann, the Foundation’s executive director.

The Foundation has supported the Conservancy’s work in key areas in the state, including Kankakee Sands, just south of Chicago; the southern Illinois Ozarks and at Nachusa, which received one of the Foundation’s largest-ever grants. The Nachusa grant also helped the Conservancy secure a $2.3 million anonymous gift, given in the memory of Dewitt Holland, which was critical to this expansion.

Prairies once covered great swaths of Illinois. Over the years, agriculture and industry transformed this rich natural landscape. The fertile soils were plowed for farmland, as the Midwest became the heart of this country’s agricultural might. Because of these changes, a mere one-tenth of 1 percent of Illinois’ prairies remains.

"Nachusa Grasslands is one of those rare places where we can glimpse how this land appeared to those who first saw it, Native Americans and early settlers," Mann said.

Nachusa is a bold attempt to create a landscape-scale preserve, which research tells us is needed for the long-term health of these species. The addition of 1,000 acres adjacent to Nachusa helps realize this goal by increasing the preserve’s size and connecting existing protected areas.

"Nachusa is an example of how private sector action can advance conservation of critical landscapes for us and for future generations," said Bruce Boyd, executive director of the Conservancy in Illinois. "It also touches the future of conservation across the plains and serves as a living model for a variety of land management techniques, including controlled burns and natural areas restoration. As the Conservancy expands its efforts to preserve and restore imperiled grasslands around the world, lessons learned here will guide future conservation."

The Conservancy continues its work at Nachusa to restore and preserve one of the largest and most biologically rich prairie sites in the Midwes. It provides safe haven for 11 different natural communities, and numerous plants and animals that are rare in Illinois and the United States.

"The Conservancy is breaking new ground with many of the methods used to restore Nachusa Grasslands," said Bill Kleiman, who manages the project. "For example, we are creating large prairies with a high number of plant species. This diversity will support many rare species, such as the regal fritillary butterfly that depends on violets to thrive, or the gorgone checkerspot butterfly that feeds on prairie coreopsis flowers. We are trying to demonstrate that habitat can be restored at a large scale."

Nachusa also is a testament to the difference volunteers can make. Volunteers annually donate about 8,000 hours of labor to the restoration and management of this marvelous example of prairie grassland. Specially-trained volunteers help the Conservancy conduct controlled burns, monitor wildlife; stop the spread of harmful, non-native species; and harvest thousands of pounds of seed every year.

For More Information about the Nachusa Grasslands Preserve:

• Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy in Illinois
  Working with partners and local communities, The Nature Conservancy has protected more than 76,000 acres of critical natural area in Illinois.
• Places We Protect: Nachusa Grasslands Preserve
  One of Illinois' largest and last surviving prairie landscapes, the Nachusa Grasslands Preserve is one of The Nature Conservancy’s greatest on-going success stories.
• How We Work: Prairie Smoke, the annual stewardship report from Nachusa Grasslands
  (PDF, 880 KB, new window)
• Our Partner: Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation
  The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation invests in clean energy development and land preservation efforts, working with communities and citizens to improve environmental quality in Illinois.
• Archive of our Saves of the Week and Success Stories
  Read more about The Nature Conservancy's work to save the last great places on Earth.