Although Illinois is called “The Prairie State”, we usually don’t see too much prairie around us. This is because the vast majority of the prairie biome in Illinois has been destroyed (Ellis). We had actually just been talking about this destruction in my ecology class when my Environmental Writing professor, Rob Kanter, announced that we would be visiting a 2.7 acre restored prairie right on campus. Biking over to the corner of Florida and Orchard on that 90 degree morning, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Still, I was surprised when I reached the prairie. Although my classmates and I had read a booklet called “Understanding Prairie in the Prairie State”, written by our guide for the morning, James Ellis, the prairie looked much different from how I had pictured it. For one thing, it was much more colorful than I expected, with smatterings on yellow, purple, and green easily visible. On the tour, we walked through a path within the prairie. It was good the path was there, because the plants were close to 10 feet tall and so thick that there would have been no other way through them. Even though Illinois contains tallgrass prairie, Ellis said it was unusual for these types of plants to grow this tall, but attributed their growth in this case because of unusually fertile soil and the abundant rain this summer. Botanist Rick Larimore explained that “it’s fairly obvious that the lack of competition can increase the height and biomass of any individual plant or species,”referring to the fact that, according to him, there are only 10-15 documented plant species in the Florida and Orchard prairie, which is much lower than other prairies. Additionally, Dr. Kanter explained that the area used to be a lawn, and so there may be left over fertilizer from that.

If you come to visit campus, I would suggest checking the place out. In some ways, walking through it is like traveling back in time because you can’t see the streets around you. Some plants you can expect to see are goldenrods, purple aster flowers or other species in the vast aster family, black-eyed susans, coneflowers, and prairie dropseed, which might not be pretty to look at, but certainly has an interesting smell when you grind it between your fingers, kind of like licorice. In terms of animals, I only saw insects, which included bumblebees, dragonflies, a caterpillar, and a rather large black and yellow garden spider. My professor also states that he saw a red tailed hawk. However, you may have more luck finding birds and small prairie mammals that are mentioned in Ellis’s guide such as the eastern cottontail rabbit, mice, voles, and shrews, which we may have scared away due to our large group size.

This prairie is not the only example of the university’s care for prairies. The Illinois Natural History Survey provides a guide for people wishing to use prairie species in their gardens. This is called natural landscaping, and its advantages include less maintenance (watering, mowing, etc.) and less pollution through fertilizer. Perhaps after visiting this prairie, you will feel inspired to use prairie species in landscaping your own home. Additionally, the U of I arboretum has ponds near which invasive plants have been removed and replaced with 26,000 native prairie and submergent plant species.  This use of native plants and the encouragement of others to do the same shows the university’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Although I enjoyed our visit to the prairie, there are some things I would have liked to be different. Although the tall plants block out the sight of the streets, they don’t block out the sound, and the frequent noise from garbage trucks did not enhance the natural experience. Additionally, a mini-prairie such as this one is not the place to see larger prairie animals such as bison, elk, and wolves. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, other prairies contain far more species biodiversity than this one. However, there are other prairies in Illinois which provide an enhanced prairie experience. One of these is Nachusa Grasslands, the largest restored prairie in Illinois, where, according to Chicago Tribune article “After a Century, Bison Return to Illinois” (Gregory), you may actually be able to see wild bison, which had previously been erased from Illinois. There is also the Loda Cemetery Prairie only 30 miles from Champaign (Kanter), which Larimore describes as “an intact remnant of the real prairie” that once existed, and which he states contains over 100 plant species. These are only a few of the numerous restored prairie sites in the state.

Even though the Florida and Orchard prairie is not the most impressive prairie around, it is still a valuable asset to the university. It shows that the university understands what everyone should – that prairies are worth saving.