Groups Unite to Save Chicago Wilderness

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

4/22/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

The "Chicago Region Biodiversity Council" has launched the

"largest wilderness preservation effort ever launched in an urban

region." The group wants to save what they call "Chicago

Wilderness," a large number of scattered remnant prairie and oak

savannah. "Together, the 200,000 acres of metropolitan-area

wildlands make up one of the best large-scale remnants of the

original, pre-settlement wilderness in the Midwest." Increasingly

the task of forest conservation will involve not only preservation

of remaining intact vegetational communities, but their expansion

and improvement through better linkage and individual remnant

size. This item provides me with satisfaction in that it comes

out of my own bioregion. I would expect to see more of this type

of restoration and landscape ecology effort. Viva la Quercas!

g.b.

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Groups unite to save Chicago wilderness

4/10/96

CHICAGO, April 10 (UPI) -- Thirty-four environmentally concerned

groups joined forces Wednesday to preserve thousands of acres of

vanishing prairies and forest land in the Chicago area.

Supporters say the campaign was two years in the making and is the

largest wilderness preservation effort ever launched in an urban

region.

Calling themselves the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council, the

groups hope to save what they termed "Chicago Wilderness," a

surprisingly large number of scattered pristine prairie and

grasslands that survived 200 years of European civilization

virtually intact. Less than one-hundreth of one percent of

Illinois' original tallgrass prairies remain.

The Chicago area also boasts some of the last remaining stands of

oak savannah that characterized the central Midwest thousands of

years ago. Together, the 200,000 acres of metropolitan-area

wildlands make up one of the best large-scale remnants of the

original, pre-settlement wilderness in the Midwest.

The council says "Chicago Wilderness" has plants and animals so

rare that it should be treated as a "world class" natural resource

on a par with the tropical rain forests.

Its uniquely close proximity to urban pressures makes a

coordinated effort to preserve it that much more urgent, according

to the biodiversity council. "Chicago Wilderness is an example of

the strength and impact public and private institutions have when

they join forces and work side-by-side for the benefit of our

environment," said Benjamin Tuggle, council chairman. "Through

this united effort, we have the power to be more effective and

reach a broader audience."

The area encompasses stretches from southwest of Joliet, Ill., to

north of the Wisconsin border along Lake Michigan, and southeast

along the shore to the Indiana Dunes. The region includes some of

the best surviving examples of tallgrass prairie and open oak

woodlands as well as many important wetlands, glacial lakes and

streams.

The project will be vitally important to the quality of life in

the Chicago area, said Cook County Board President John Stroger.

"It is a project that will let us enhance our open lands," Stroger

said. "We can pool our resources to sustain our glorious diversity

of nature that exists in harmony with the hustle and bustle of one

of the largest metropolitan areas of the world."

The project will be funded by its members, and during a press

conference at the Field Museum of Natural History officials of the

U.S. Department of Agriculture presented the council with a

$700,000 check for seed money.

Members range from government bodies like the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, to non-profit groups such as the Lake Michigan

Federation and such private institutions as the John G. Shedd

Aquarium. Acting together, the organizations hope to accomplish a

number of goals:

--document the region's varied natural lands, and the plants and

animals that live in them;

--prevent the ongoing loss of critical habitat and promote

carefully planned development;

--and help restore natural ecosystems on public and private lands.

Some of the first projects to get scientific and financial

attention from Chicago Wilderness include:

--a mapping of the natural area remnants throughout the Lake

Calumet area;

--producing an illustrated atlas on Chicago's biodiversity for

general readership;

--a biodiversity inventory of the Fox River Watershed in Cook,

McHenry, Lake, Kane, DuPage and Kendall counties in Illinois and

Walworth and Kenosha counties in Wisconsin;

--developing a plan to create wetlands and restore floodplain

forest vegetation along the eastern border of the Des Plaines

River corridor.

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