Learn-and-Lead Groups Forming

A Will To Help the Planet

 

Not just in the rain forest, here in Illinois we are losing rare species – even from thought-to-be-safe nature preserves. The problem? Lack of educated stewards to care for them. Inspiring examples of stewardship have shown that local volunteers can learn fast and save the day (and the ecosystem).

 

Steward Seminar Groups or “Lead and Learn” groups are forming at many preserves – and are needed at hundreds. With help from Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, these initiatives are saving primeval biodiversity by creating something new. Might you like to take part? Or even help design the program? If so, read on.

 

With common sense, a little observation, and expert guidance, 

most people can quickly learn what it takes.

 

Much of what nature needs is easy to learn by any person with the will to do so. For some preserves that have long been hemorrhaging quality and species, the simple action of cutting the smothering buckthorn would make a night-and-day difference. How much do stewards need to learn to recognize this invasive tree? About ten minutes for most people to be good at it. They also need to learn how to cut that tree down safely … about ten minutes more … if you don’t already know. And you’ve made a start.

 

There’s so much more to it, of course, in time, to be a full-fledged steward. See Endnote 1. But getting started doesn’t take much. And then we educate each other, as more and more people start to learn and take initiative.

 

A good example is Short Pioneer Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve in Grundy County. An article in the December 2009 journal of the Illinois Native Plant Society revealed that this rare dry-mesic sand prairie was suffering from “a dramatic decrease” in quality – with fifteen plant species having been lost since 1977. For ten years following that article, no one took much notice.

But early in 2020, a report appeared on the Friends website. It warned that the preserve “… appears not to have been burned recently. Also needs cutting to remove shade …”

Somehow Mike Campbell saw that brief call for help. Prospective volunteer Mike didn’t know much about sand prairies, but he’d taken eco-initiative by installing osprey nesting platforms. He worked nearby and offered to help. Soon a dozen volunteers responded to outreach from Mike and Matt Evans from the Friends. Along with Nature Preserves staffer Kim Roman (like Mike and Matt, another get-things-done person), the new group burned the site, managed to cut more than half the brush, and gathered seed to restore the shaded-out, bare-ground areas – all the while maintaining safe Covid-19 protocols. Two owners of neighboring land have offered help, thanks to good outreach by Mike. People care. We just need to know where, when, and how.

Some wonderful people just come and work hard.

Others like to study and learn to lead as well. 

Interesting work on Langham Island - like this "rolling bonfire" - resulted from staff and volunteers puzzling out challenges together. 

These groups are forming in Kankakee, Grundy, and Cook at Langham Island, Short Pioneer Cemetery Prairie, and Somme Prairie. The best way to learn to start one is to join one. As Eriko Kojima puts it, the “special sauce” that makes these groups work is the way these people are learning to relate to each other – the “work and learn” approach – the quick empowerment of people who are ready to contribute. Check in on one of these groups for a while, and perhaps you’ll want to stay, or perhaps you’ll want to start a new group at one of the many preserves that need them. Experienced and apprentice leaders take time for small group seminars to study, discuss, and plan during “workdays.” Or we meet separately for longer and more detailed field seminars when we can.

 Illinois has 596 nature preserves and land and water reserves, with new sites getting legal protection all the time. But legal protection is just a start. Each of Illinois’ nine Nature Preserve field reps has an average of 66 preserves to watch over. Twelve DNR District Heritage Biologists also have responsibilities for these sites. Each of them has an average of 50 preserves to pay attention to. They need help at most preserves and have minimal time to spread around educating and authorizing volunteers, which is one mission that the Friends try to support. See Endnote 2. 

 

Every site is different. Some needed parts of the work are more technically demanding than others. Fine, see Endnote 3. But people are available to help solve all problems. What’s needed for most sites is a person or two with strong will and intention to do right by nature. Might you be such a person?

 

The “Learn and Lead” seminar process is under way at Langham Island and Somme Prairie. If you live nearby and would like to become a part of one of these groups, send us a note telling us a bit about yourself. If you would like to help organize a group at some other preserve, send us that note, and we'll try suggest options that might fit you. Many of us are doing our best, in all kinds of ways, to expand the pool of people who are trained and authorized to save the ecosystem at Illinois Nature Preserves.

 

Endnotes

 

Endnote 1

Initially, any new steward needs help. The stumps will just re-sprout without stump-killer. Many staff and volunteers have passed the test and are authorized to apply safe herbicides. These people are spread thin, so it’s best for local people to get authorized as soon as they can, which is not hard. But there are “spread-thin” people who may be willing to help a new group get started at a worthy site.

As participants in this “field seminar” at Somme Prairie, five potential new leaders studied ecosystem conditions, harvested seed, and broadcast that seed (above) in areas they had marked with red (mesic) and blue (wet-mesic) flags. Learning and doing. 

 

Endnote 2

The Illinois Nature Preserves System has many parts. It was designed with urgency and awareness that the threats and stresses are so great that nature needs all the help it can get. Many agencies own nature preserves, and some of them have biodiversity management staff. In addition to the nine Nature Preserve staffers, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has fourteen regions, each with a Heritage Biologist who has primary responsibility for nature preserves owned by the state and can sometimes help with others. 

 

These people are all over-busy and only have time for actions and people who will contribute more than what they cost (in resources or time). Yes, of course, our system needs more staff and resources of many kinds. We get them in part from informed and active constituency, who are voters and advocates. Everyone who helps deserves appreciation. 

 

Endnote 3

Conservation education takes many forms. If you commit yourself to the pleasures and challenges of biodiversity stewardship, you can take courses or learn as you work. Whether you pursue this mission as a (lifelong?) volunteer or become a professional, many unschooled volunteers over time develop high-level expertise. See other blog posts in Strategies for Stewards for many examples and reports.

 

This post was written by Eriko Kojima, Emma Leavens, and Stephen Packard