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Huge Machines to Mow Down Damaging Brush at Nature Preserve

Rare habitat types at Nachusa Grasslands Will Be Cleared of Invasive Vegetation

OGLE COUNTY—January 6, 2006—Contractors will use heavy-duty equipment this week to open up overgrown areas of The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands preserve located near Franklin Grove in North-central Illinois.

The mechanical brush-clearing work is funded by the U.S. Forest Service as part of a larger effort to prevent catastrophic fire in the state. The work, which will also help return sites to a more natural condition, is being administered by The Nature Conservancy in Illinois.

Large mowers powered by 225-horsepower diesel engines will shred extensive thickets of brush that have proliferated at Nachusa Grasslands and in other natural areas in Illinois due to decades of fire suppression. Much of the overgrowth is comprised of invasive species. Excessive brush is not only a fire hazard but it also keeps sunlight from reaching other plants that provide excellent habitat for native birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects and mammals.

“These machines can do as much work in five minutes as a small crew with chainsaws could do in several days,” said Bill Kleiman, the Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands project director. “Prairies, savannas and wetlands need our help or they will be overrun by brush.

“This work will help us save many of our best remaining natural areas. Once brush has been cleared, prescribed burns will be used to maintain these lands in a way that prevents dangerous fuel loads from building up and benefits native plants and animals.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific.