Secret Prairie, Famous People, and Magic – March 7, 2020

 “Kick-off” details on Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves first public event!
Save the date. 

Maybe you can come?

Help us to plan for tools etc.? For RSVP and info: Click here.

WE NOW HEREBY ANNOUNCE a brush bash, sponsored by the Friends, at Goose Lake Prairie, Illinois' biggest prairie Nature Preserve. 

It won't look like this on March 7. But now is the best time for this kind of work. 

Endangered orchids and Blanding’s turtles and Franklin’s ground squirrels and grassland birds and a great deal more desperately, urgently need some ambitious stewards. And even if you’re not highly available for the long term, it would be great if you could come and help give this kick-off some momentum. Also – invite people! (Especially if they live in the area, like Morris or Braidwood or Joliet!)

The highest quality areas of Goose Lake Prairie have suffered. Well, it’s all suffered. This treasure needs volunteer support – and constituency – and media – and the funding that then comes. 

Many of its endangered species are protected by the prairie's size.
In its thousands of acres, most people can't find them.
(See Endnote 1 for more on rarity.)

We’ll work in one of the highest quality areas, to relieve some of the most pathetic and desperate suffering. Good-bye brush – the very brush that kills grassland orchids, turtles, squirrels, and birds. 

We kick off this work on March 7 at three times, for your convenience. Early birds will start the brush-burning bonfires and will need cut brush to feed them at 9:00 AM. The regular start and kick-off orientation will start at 10:00 AM, and then some of us will have lunch on site and greet the afternoon crew, who will launch a second kick-off at 1:00 PM. You could help us plan for tools etc. To RSVP:  Click here. (If you have special skills or equipment you might contribute – see Endnote 2 – and please let us know.)

We'll meet at the Picnic Grove Parking Area on Jugtown Road, north of Pine Bluff/Lorenzo Road. If you come on I 55, take the Lorenzo Road exit west. 

Goose Lake's prairies are mixed with ponds. Endangered moorhens (above) and bitterns use both. 

In sandy upland, you might run into this rare character. 

Our long-term goal is a community of stewards who might want to work strategically at Goose Lake (and the little secret prairie) and other nearby treasures. 

Acknowledgements

The great photos in this post are by Dan Kirk.

Credit for the biodiversity preserved there go to so many. Dr. Robert Betz explored and advocated. Openlands helped arrange the purchase. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources bought and manages the land under the leadership of Natural Heritage Biologist Dan Kirk and Nature Preserves field rep Kim Roman. 

Endnotes

Endnote 1

As a restoration volunteer you'll learn a variety of "secrets" that should not be publicized, especially the locations of species of rare and Endangered plants and animals. 

Goose Lake Prairie has a variety of soils including some sand areas.
This endangered, carnivorous sundew grows in wet sand at Goose Lake.
Don't point it out to goofy people who might want to dig it up.

Endnote 2
We want to make this event pleasant and educational for new people - and also do powerful and efficient work. We may divide up between a mechanized area and a nature-sounds area.

Probably our biggest unmet need is for herbiciders. If you are Illinois-authorized and can help, please tell us in the RSVP: Click here. If you have and can run a mechanized brush-cutter, let us know that too. We may also need an additional chain saw or two.

Check out our website at Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.
If you haven't already, you might want to read about the Birth of the Friends.