[BCNnet] Spring Creek fact sheet

[bobolnk at ix.netcom.com]

Today's article in the Sun-Times about the Spring Creek Forest Preserve Project  offers us an opportunity to educate our communities.  The partners see this project as an ambitious model of good habitat management. This may be a particularly good time to get the conservation message out to the public.

The Spring Creek project has a lot of strengths:

- strong and clear scientific underpinnings

- enthusiastic support from many neighbors and local partner organizations

- a Forest Preserve District General Superintendent who is willing to stand
up and support the good work of his staff, volunteers, and partner
organizations.

If you're interested responding to the Sun-Times article by sending a letter to the editor, or if you're just interested in what we're doing,  there's a summary of the project below.  Friendly and positive letters help.

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Goals:  
.       To restore healthy natural habitat to appropriate parts of the
Spring Creek Valley preserves to ensure the conservation of wetland,
prairie, and woodland plants and animals.
.       To contribute to the Chicago Wilderness goal of establishing five
large "grassland reserves" in the region and the national goal of creating
Bird Conservation Areas where rare grassland bird species can thrive.
.       To reduce fragmentation of grasslands and woodlands

Process:
.       Utilize existing expertise and best practices to design and
implement the restoration.
.       Engage the local citizenry, including neighbors and other preserve
users, to foster a sustainable, long-term commitment to the success of the
restoration efforts by the people who are most invested in the land.
.       Seek partnerships and funding to address priority work

Project site:
.       3,910 acres of wild land owned by the Forest Preserve District of
Cook County (FPD), mostly in the village of Barrington Hills.
.       Neighbors recall a time when the preserves supported rich woodlands
with lush spring flora and grasslands with thriving populations of
bobolinks, Henslow's sparrows, and other grassland birds.  Now these lands
have been increasingly converted to brush. 
.       Preserves include grasslands and large natural wetlands, oak
woodlands, and savannas

Scientific Basis:
.       A group of the region's best conservation and restoration experts
toured the preserves' grasslands, woodlands and wetlands and recommended
priority work in 2004.
.       Chicago Wilderness has identified birds of mesic and wet grasslands
as one of its highest priorities for regional conservation. Grassland birds
require large acreages of unbroken habitat, with minimums of 50 to 250 acres
depending on the species.
.       Local studies have found the health of unmanaged woodlands to be
declining.  Removing invasive trees and plants has been shown to benefit
birds and plants.
.       The Forest Preserve District developed a conceptual plan through two
maps "Spring Creek Current Conditions" and the "Spring Creek Natural
Community Goal" based on soils, current conditions, conservation priorities
and restoration potential. (2004). (See restoration projects/Spring Creek at
www. habitatproject.org)

Partners:
.       Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Audubon-Chicago Region,
Citizens for Conservation, Bird Conservation Network, the Spring Creek
Volunteers and the neighbors and users of the Spring Creek Valley preserves.
.       Additional cooperating partners include the Bird Conservation
Network, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Village of Barrington Hills,
Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Riding Club, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Illinois Nature
Preserves Commission and others.
.       Audubon organized a series of classes to train potential volunteer
leaders in ecological restoration in fall 2005. The volunteers subsequently
launched a series of weekly restoration volunteer work events at 10 sites
chosen for their importance and restorability.
.       Funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Fish and
Wildlife Foundation, the Bobolink Foundation, Grand Victoria Foundation and
Exelon Corporation. (2003 - 2005).

Restoration work accomplished:
.       Forest Preserve District staff, interns, contractors and volunteers
have made a good start in the control of brush and unassociated woody
growth. Areas treated include Spring Lake Nature Preserve (about 50 acres),
Spring Creek Valley (about 80 acres), Penny Road north (about 30 acres), and
Headwaters (about 20 acres).
.       Citizens for Conservation provided the principal leadership for seed
collecting and contributed large amounts of local prairie and woodland seed
from its own preserves.

Outreach conducted:
.       The FPD, Audubon and Citizens for Conservation hosted meetings and
tours with neighbors and user groups to get input. The preserves' ecological
problems are well understood by many neighbors. Participants were strongly
supportive of the effort. (2003 and 2004)
.       Audubon, Citizens for Conservation and the Forest Preserve District
hosted a "project kick-off" and a series of public tours to introduce the
project to preserve users and the general public in September 2004.
.       For three years volunteers have published a newsletter for the
project describing plans and progress.

Results to date
.       Sandhill Cranes, Bobolinks, Sedge Wrens, Meadowlarks, Henslow's
Sparrows and other grassland birds have returned to nest in the restored 80
acre grassland north of Dundee Road. 
.       20 Grasshopper Sparrows returned to breed in the grassland north of
Penny Road and more species are expected this year after the winter's work
to reduce fragmentation there.
.       Work on oak woodlands and savannas is underway and is expected to
show comparable good results soon.

Restoration work planned for Spring and Summer 2006:
.       Control resprouts in areas where woody vegetation has been cut.
.       Volunteer workdays continue to cut invasive brush and trees, pull
weeds, and gather and broadcast seeds to restore woodland, shrubland,
savannas and prairies.
.       Clear invasive brush from degraded wetland and wet prairie to
restore waterfowl nesting habitat

For more information contact Audubon Chicago Region at 847 965-1150;
Forest Preserve District of Cook County at 708 771-1180; Citizens for
Conservation at 847 382-7283 or Spring Creek Volunteers at 847 352-4085.


Specifically about this winter's contract work...

So far grants have funded the removal of trees and brush in two areas. Grants pay for contactors to accomplish important goals in the plan that require equipment or capabilities outside the scope of forest preserve staff and volunteers.  

 In the project that was just completed north of Penny Road, contractors removed 13 acres of invasive trees and tree plantations to turn three underproductive fragments into a 110-acre grassland large enough for declining grassland birds. 

 North of Dundee Road contractors removed 18 acres of invasive trees and tree plantation to allow full sun to reach a rare original prairie (the best in the Spring Creek preserves, one of the best in Illinois – a  part of the 1/100th of 1% of original prairie that is left in The Prairie State). This work de-fragmented this prairie by joining it once again with the lowland prairie to the west. It also rescued two fragments of bur oak savanna.  

 The Penny Road project received funding from a very competitive grant which supports the restoration of migratory bird habitat on the basis of needs and priorities that have wide, deep, comprehensive support in the scientific community, both locally and nationally. Research about the benefits of reducing fragmentation also guided this part of the project.  

The tree plantings that were removed were not woodlands.  Woodlands have specific tree, shrub and flower species, and associated insects, birds, mammals and frogs, many of which depend on each other in complex ways.  The removed tree plantations were random collections of trees that do not provide a sustainable habitat for any but the most common species. 

 

Judy Pollock
Audubon Chicago Region
jpollock at audubon.org