Benedictine professor plants new prairie to help students understand Illinois' past

Two hundred years ago, before European settlers plowed vast acres for agriculture and cleared thousands of trees to make way for crops, Illinois sat on the eastern edge of a tallgrass prairie that stretched across much of middle America.

Today, very little natural prairie remains. However, restoration efforts have been successful in reestablishing botanical diversity on formerly agricultural or degraded land.
Lawrence Kamin, Ph.D., biology professor at Benedictine University, has undertaken a prairie restoration project near Lake St. Benedict on the southern edge of campus.

Kamin hopes the prairie will help Benedictine University students understand and appreciate the high biological diversity that once existed in Illinois.

"We wanted to establish a natural area on campus to show what Illinois may have looked like early in its history," Kamin said.

Funds for the project were donated by alumni, faculty, students and staff. The planting consists of 20 percent grasses and 80 percent forbs. Forbs are broad-leafed herbs with large, colorful and showy flowers. Kamin and his volunteer planters are using mature plants rather than seeds to avoid invasion by weeds.

"Mature plants will look good the first year," Kamin said. "The area will also require very little maintenance after the first year because of the plants we have chosen."

The prairie will be burned every other year to prevent the encroachment of woody plants that can eliminate many prairie species. When completed, the prairie will feature more than 100 different species.

mail Benedictine University 5700 College Road Lisle, IL 60532 key contacts Jean-Marie Kauth e-mail jkauth@ben.edu phone (630) 829-6272