A Six-minute Talk (on conservation success)

Summarizing a presentation to Citizens for Conservation annual meeting.

March 8, 2018 

Let me share some experiences that make me happy:
... coming upon a thousand formerly rare gentians in bloom in a prairie
where they wouldn’t have been without our help
... or a hundred formerly rare sedge meadow butterflies slurping nectar, thanks to stewards.
I could go on.

But let me tell you some pleasures I don't have ... that I'm jealous of:
There are people who can check out a savanna and identify rare bees.
There are people who can seine a stream and – first of all – recognize whether quality fish flourish there – and second, who have it in them to inspire a pack of middle-schoolers or high-schoolers to do it too ... and catch the spark.
Thus, many of us learn our parts ... and help each other out ... so that together we add up to good stewardship of a complex ecosystem. 

Because of people like you and me, there are today more than 300,000 acres of conservation land in this region.

I was originally inspired by very high quality prairies like the one in the slide above. There are only a few acres left of this, anywhere.

Over time, we learned that most conservation land looked miserably unhappy. The old oak above is being replaced by buckthorn. It had started life in a vibrant ecosystem. We conservationists thought we were letting nature take its course, but biodiversity had mostly died here.

Now that same woods  – at Somme – after many years of stewardship: We cut brush and planted seed. Up in the trees, scarlet tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and yellow-throated vireos returned on their own, to sing and raise their young.

Down in the herb layer, the flowers there today returned only because stewardship volunteers gathered and broadcast their seeds. The wild geraniums and golden Alexanders came from close by. The pale blue spikes, wild hyacinths, came in part through a trade. Somme contributed cream false indigo, wood betony and mullein foxglove to Citizens for Conservation. CFC contributed violet bush clover and wild hyacinth (collected from Cook County's Deer Grove and Baker's Lake) to Somme. We had tossed those seeds to the wind, years before this photo. Since then the hyacinths and hundreds of other rare species annually increase and thrill us, from April through November.

By August, the spring and early summer floras are overtopped by Joe-Pye-weeds and woodland sunflowers. Formerly rare birds are fattening on the caterpillars of formerly rare butterflies. Thanks to "many hand making light work", our restoration seed barrels are filling up.

In a complex mosaic, our woods were mixed with wetlands and prairies. This dismal view is solid buckthorn that replaced a prairie in a forest preserve.

Here's that same area, after thirty years of restoration. Does thirty years seem too long to wait? Actually, we're getting both better and quicker at this. Every spring and summer over thousands of acres around the region, diversity continues to rise. With care for these sites - and for the planet - the fullness of nature is immortal.

In 2003, Citizens for Conservation, Audubon, the Cook County Forest Preserves, and others teamed up to launch a new outpost in the 4,000 acres of the Spring Creek Preserves. We shared seeds, but more importantly, we shared ideas, and vision, and spirit.

We have our local nature to take care of, and future generations to think about, and a planet at risk.

We enjoy our work ... and relax afterward. We share the news and have noticed that some of what we do spreads around the planet: South Africa, Poland, China, India, we conservationists all inspire each other.

Another sibling initiative - the Orland Grassland in south Cook County: It reminds us that for nature to be nature, it has to be big enough for animals; it has to be big enough for people. For recovery, the Earth needs enough of our kind of folks that we develop a planetary ethic. We who care about the restoration of nature today have the privilege and the responsibility of being among the first. Every person on the planet deserves a satisfying life in a sustainable community.

Remember that restored prairie photo? Here it is again - on the cover of a $40M/year plan passed by the Cook County Forest Preserve board. It was approved as a vision. That means without funding, despite that visionary mention of the $40M. But it was a step. As Thoreau said, if we build castles in the air, that's where they should be. Now, put the foundations under them.

We the people are getting better at partnering. Citizens for Conservation, the Cook and Lake County Forest Preserves, and many allies set fine examples. Our mission and its importance grow. Congratulations to all involved.

Photo Credits
Two photos of Spring Creek kids with seed buckets by Jim Root
Orland Photo of coyotes and deer by Jeanne Muellner