Now in Nature, Being Distant, and Doing Good

A nearby Nature Preserve needs you. Preserves are among the easiest places to be “socially distant.” They typically have few amenities and few people. That’s on purpose. They’re for nature, rather than for you and me. We can enjoy learning their ecology and secrets all our lives – and yet they’re still beyond our control and comprehension. That’s why we love and need them, and, of course central to the Nature Preserves vision, in the modern world: They Need Us!

Revis Hill Prairie Nature Preserve 

The center of the prairie is pristine! But around the edges, more than half of it 

has been lost to shade of invasive trees and shrubs.
For the next generation, it needs help.

Photo by Susan Hargrove

These "virus-impacted" days are made for some special people:

Ethical photographers to help the wider public see and care about the preserves (“taking only photos” and leaving behind as little damage as possible).

Preserve monitors to visit the preserves and send your reports on conditions to the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission and the Friends. 

Volunteer stewards, as owner agencies permit, solve those problems that monitors record, if staff and contract funding can’t – which is the case for many needs in most preserves - and why reports and stewards are needed. 

Do you know how to monitor nature preserves? If so, please do, and send in your reports. They can be simple or detailed. Check out some examples here.   

 

Misumenoides formosipes (white-banded crab spider)
on pale purple coneflower at Revis, the featured preserve of this post.
In the last 100 years, this precious prairie has lost 60% of its acreage to invasives.
As acreage decreases, animal and plant populations lose sustainability. For species that haven’t yet been lost entirely, restoring quality acreage increases sustainability.
This prairie needs more help.
Photo by Angella Moorehouse. 

Reporting on preserve status is something you can do now (see below). If you would like to sharpen your ability to evaluate needs, we’re planning “field seminars” (for later, when groups can go out to learn together).

For the immediate now, check out guides to invasives here or here. In most parts of Illinois, there are mentors who can coach and advise.  

Frankly, some problems are easy to understand and report on: garbage dumping, vehicle trespass, and other human abuse (in some cases by well-meaning people who just need better signage). 

Many important problems are tougher. Do you know how to identify your region’s most dangerous invasive plants? Can you recognize when the ecosystem is suffering from lack of fire? Do you know how to make useful sketch maps, or electronic GPS maps?

A serious threat to many preserves is common buckthorn. It's easy to identify at any season by twigs alone (see photo). Most small branches end in a fork, and in the center of that fork is a little thorn. No other tree has that feature.

Dear experienced stewards, please let us know if you could help train people (in the field?) (via email or Skype initially?) in key questions of preserve needs in your region.

Dear everyone else, please let us know if you'd like to be trained to work on this.

See Endnote on Reports for more details.

As the Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves initiative moves forward, we’d like to:

• celebrate and learn from the many preserves that already have volunteer stewards. 
• identify individuals who’d like to begin stewardship for orphan preserves. 
• build larger “stewards communities” as demonstration projects at key preserves. 

We may be distant, but why not "Do what we can, where we are, with what we have!"

Zed and Angella Moorehouse at Revis Hill Prairie.

Angella is Illinois Nature Preserves Commission staff for Region 4. But Revis in in region 5, where she's a volunteer, just like you and I could be. Volunteer stewards, public support, and funding are needed. It's fun and rewarding to help these dedicated people. Otherwise, what will be left for Zed's generation and beyond. Let's do it!

Photo by Dan Moorehouse. 

The 596 Illinois Nature Preserves are the responsibility of nine regional staff. That averages 62 preserves each, to seek adequate care for. Existing resources are not remotely sufficient to provide what's needed in most cases. Some preserves also have landowner agency staff (see Endnote), typically also spread very thin. Agency staff and Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves would try to find time and resources to work with you, if you'd like to contribute as a volunteer, advocate, or by helping to find funding. On the other hand, they are spread so thin ... and thus have little time to invest in potentials. The Friends will work to publish more details about more specific volunteer opportunities soon.

We hope to see you out there some day. Thanks for your interest. 

To find preserves near you, go to maps and descriptions at the Illinois Nature Preserves Directory.

Endnote on Landowning Agencies

If this is new to you, sorry to add one more wrinkle. All Illinois Nature Preserves are owned by some organization or agency (or even a family) other than the supervising Illinois Nature Preserves Commission. This visionary approach brought a lot more potential resources to bear, and that approach has worked well at permanently protecting those 596 prairies, woods, and wetlands from development.  

Check the Illinois Nature Preserve Directory for owners and other details. 

Preserves owned by Forest Preserve Districts and conservation organizations seem mostly to be open to socially distant visitation, in part because people's minds and spirits benefit, especially at a time like this. As of April 23, preserves managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are still closed, although Governor Pritzker suggested that state parks may re-open soon. All preserves continue to be open to wildlife. 

Endnote on Reports

The reports, made by people like you and submitted to the Friends, have multiple purposes. In some cases, reporters have found problems that had been unknown. In most cases, Nature Preserve staff are aware of the major problems, but with 62 preserves each, they have limited time to do the needed work (or facilitate others in doing it). Reports raise the visibility of the needs. With more visibility, more people understand and care, and more resources often emerge. Some people who have first made reports have later become stewards; and, indeed, one purpose of asking for reports is to fish for potential stewards. In other cases, people reading the reports have volunteered to help (as stewards - and even to help find grants to hire eco-stewardship professionals). The more people know and care, the more opportunities for help emerge. Credit goes to all staff, volunteers, and those who help spread the word! 

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Angella Moorehouse for many helpful contributions to this post.

No blame should accrue to her for any weaknesses.

Thanks for photos to Susan Hargrove and Angella and Dan Moorehouse.