Exploring Nature in Illinois: A Field Guide to the Prairie State
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Exploring Nature in Illinois: A Field Guide to the Prairie State
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Overview
From the colorful variety of birds at War Bluff Valley Audubon Sanctuary to the exposed bedrock and cliff faces of Apple River Canyon, Exploring Nature in Illinois will inspire readers to explore wonders hidden from urban sprawl and cultivated farmland. Maps and descriptions help travelers access even hard-to-find sites while a wealth of detail and photography offers nature-lovers insights into the flora, fauna, and other aspects of vibrant settings and ecosystems. The authors also include diary entries describing their own impressions of and engagement with the sites.
A unique and much-needed reference, Exploring Nature in Illinois will entertain and enlighten hikers, cyclers, students and scouts, morning walkers, weekend drivers, and anyone else seeking to get back to nature in the Prairie State.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780252079900 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Illinois Press |
| Publication date: | 03/27/2014 |
| Edition description: | 1st Edition |
| Pages: | 280 |
| Sales rank: | 523,621 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
EXPLORING NATURE IN ILLINOIS
A FIELD GUIDE TO THE PRAIRIE STATE
By MICHAEL JEFFORDS, SUSAN POST
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
Copyright © 2014 Board of Trustees of the University of IllinoisAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-252-07990-0
CHAPTER 1
Apple River Canyon State Park
Perched precariously on a ledge, I am up close and personal with the primrose. I see ribbons of them, yet I wonder, will they eventually wink out, victims of global warming?
—Susan Post, April 2001
IF THE PHRASE "rotting dolomite of the Galena Group formation along the fast-flowing Apple River" excites your psyche, then Apple River Canyon State Park is your cup of tea. For a typical topography-starved Illinoisan, the prospect of exposed bedrock, sheer cliff faces, and a clear, gravel-bottomed stream in a remote location is nearly irresistible. Indeed, most visitors to the park in rural Jo Daviess County either enjoy a picnic in the shaded canyon carved by the river, try their hand at fly fishing, or indulge in a quiet wade in the cool water on a hot summer day.
Apple River Canyon is found in the Driftless Natural Division of Illinois, an area of the upper Midwest that escaped the great, continental glaciers of the Pleistocene epoch. During the latter part of this time, vast fingers of ice advanced and retreated but never actually covered the area. The Driftless region (drift [also till] refers to materials deposited by glaciers—sand, rock, gravel) was never a true island in a sea of ice; therefore, migration corridors for both plants and animals remained open. The flora of Apple River Canyon reflects this glacial heritage. The area is a unique mix of both northern and southern species. A University of Illinois graduate, Dr. Herman Silas Pepoon (class of 1881) was trained as a medical doctor, but he preferred to teach high school biology and spent much of his life in the Apple River Canyon area exploring its crevices, canyons, and forests. His explorations of the region led to this statement in the 1917 Transactions of the Illinois Academy of Sciences: "The 9th day of April 1905 the writer was tramping down the narrow, cliff-confined valley of the west branch of Apple River, spying out the bird life of this sheltered locality, and more than incidentally, keeping both eyes open for the early blossoms of Hepatica, Dicentra, Claytonia, Sanguinaria [hepatica, squirrel corn and Dutchman's breeches, spring beauty, and bloodroot, respectively], and other bluff and valley species of plants. His attention was attracted to the peculiar coloration of a high vertical cliff of limestone across and rising directly out of the river. ... The whole face of the rock for perhaps twenty feet vertically and extending fifty or sixty feet horizontally was a solid hue of pale lavender purple." Pepoon had discovered a relict species, surviving in this sheltered location since the Pleistocene, the bird's-eye primrose.
The bird's-eye primrose is a northern wildflower that grows on the tundra of Alaska, in the chilly regions of Canada, around the cold Great Lakes, and on the dolomite cliffs above the Apple River. When Dr. Pepoon first found this plant more than one hundred years ago, he excitedly reported the plants "tinting the bare rock a lavender purple with ... multitudes of blossoms," at a gathering of his peers. He was met with much skepticism and disbelief; after all, this was a plant of the boreal regions. Illinois was too far south for it to grow. He countered the criticism with an invitation for all to come with him the following April on a primrose walk to prove his statement true. His peers came. They drove as far as possible into the canyons and then walked the rest of the way to where the cliffs rose above the river. There, for all to see with their telescopes and binoculars, was the bird's-eye or Canadian primrose. It indeed grew in Illinois!
Bird's-eye primrose is a diminutive plant. Instead of growing upward toward the sun, it shoots out from the cliff at right angles. By the end of April the primrose is in full bloom, and by the beginning of summer the seeds are ripe. Most of its light seeds fall from the cliff and land in the Apple River, but a few are deposited near the parent plant. Bird's-eye primroses are able to survive in less than a teaspoon of soil in the cranny of a rock, exposed to winds, sun, cold, and storms.
Botanists speculate these northern denizens were carried south with the advance of the glacial ice sheets out of Canada. Plants that perished beneath the weight and scouring power of the glacier might survive if their seeds were transported southward on wind or ice and deposited in a similar haunt. As the glaciers missed the Apple River Canyon area, it was here that the tiny seeds of the primrose lodged into the crannies of the dolomite Apple river Canyon from Primrose trail cliffs. These cliffs, constantly moist, are massive, thick-bedded, and towering. The dripping water, which travels along horizontal layers of impervious chert within the bedrock, is cool, clear, saturated with lime, and keeps the roots constantly cool in the summer. In the winter, it keeps the immediate surface rock layers above freezing, soon forming ice cascades that cover the cliff face and protect the root and crown buried beneath.
The varied terrain and precipitous cliffs here contain much more that just the primroses. Apple River Canyon State Park's namesake, the canyon, is a water-formed gorge cut into the dolomite, with the rocks often forming cliffs 50 to 150 feet high. These vertical surfaces are cloaked with lichens, liverworts, and mosses; cliff swallows find them perfect for nesting. Trails within the park reveal a diverse flora—twinleaf, Canada violet, native white pine, and, growing atop the famous primrose cliffs, expanses of prairie shooting star.
The park's preservation is in part due to Dr. Pepoon's efforts. He began lobbying for the land to be preserved in 1918. During a meeting of the Illinois Academy of Science he spoke about the park and urged its protection. "Springs, seepage areas, and side ravines and miniature canyons are everywhere, and all abounding in a rich and diversified flora. Some sixty species of forest trees and 400 species of smaller plants, many exceedingly rare, add charm to the region and make it a veritable Botanist's paradise." His professional papers and observations leave a wonderful record of the conditions of the area during the early part of the twentieth century.
Visitors who wish to recreate Pepoon's early botanical pilgrimage may do so each spring. Follow the Primrose Trail at Apple River Canyon State Park and wend your way through the woods, past the shooting stars, down into the valley, and across the narrow creek to the base of the limestone bluff. Note the coolness, the vegetation cloaking the moist limestone, and experience a close-up view of bird's-eye primrose, a glacial relict and a piece of Illinois's botanical history.
CHAPTER 2Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve
Finally!!! An Olympia marble butterfly on sand cress, hanging on as the cress waves back and forth in the cool, spring winds. I can even see the pink overwash on its wings. This is the way to see a life-list butterfly—up close and not moving, and on its host plant!
—Susan Post, May 2007
SAND DEPOSITS in the Illinois landscape are most familiar as the sand and gravel quarries, the geological gift of Illinois's glacial past. Mention sand prairie, though, and most people will think of the relatively large areas of Mason and Iroquois Counties in Illinois that contain these unique, extremely dry habitats. They are the equivalent of the desert landscapes of the southwest, even though we get much more rain here. The porous sand does not hold water, so the landscape is extremely dry. They even have cactus, to solidify their desert-like characteristics.
Ayers Sand Prairie, just south of Savanna in Carroll County, is part of another sand deposit complex along the upper Mississippi River. This area also owes its sandy soils to glaciers. Here, sand lies on top of a terrace, with a random arrangement of small mounds, long ridges, and circular depressions. Wind piles up sand into dunes wherever open sand is available, and though partially vegetated, the dunes remain active.
The sand prairies of this region occupy an expanse between the bluffs on the east and the Mississippi River on the west. This area was once the western edge of the Wisconsin Glacier, where sand was deposited by its meltwaters. As water was shed from the glacier's edge, copious streams and long flows of glacial outwash (water saturated with sand and gravel) poured down the channel ways. Today, all that remains of the glaciers is the sand.
All who visit Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve, and there are relatively few, notice that it is an oasis, situated between fields of corn and potatoes and a regional airport. A short walk into the interior of this preserve of more than a hundred acres provides an easy solitude, as the rolling topography blocks the surrounding development, and the ever-present winds rustling the dry grasses mask most twenty-first century sound. In fact, without the sign and small parking area, most would pass it by, perhaps thinking of it as wasteland or fallow agricultural fields. The area, though, is special, with its rolling topography of small dunes and blowouts (areas of open sand caused by wind erosion) and a small grove (called a copse) of oaks near its center. During May the edges of the dunes are rimmed with bird's-foot violet—exhibiting all shades of purple—from almost white to a deep violet. Although there are no trails, one can meander about through the short vegetation. But to make sense of this prairie requires some knowledge of various aspects of the landscape, in addition to its geology. Due to the extremely xeric (dry) growing conditions here, both the plant and animal communities are home to species unfamiliar to most Illinois citizens—the Olympia marble butterfly, several unusual reptiles, the striking violet-red wine cup or poppy mallow, and a variety of grasshoppers and tiger beetles. The latter are always a step ahead of your footsteps. Take special note of the tiger beetles, for though small, they have a fierce visage and are formidable predators to all things small that live in this desert environment. Even during cool, blustery September evenings, a visit to the lee side of the copse dominated by black oak may yield a gathering of monarchs, massing for their long trip south. A few dozen, a few hundred, or even several thousand may reward your persistence.
Ayers Sand Prairie is the state's fiftieth nature preserve, dedicated in 1974. The preserve has thirty-nine species of grasses and sedges, sixteen species of woody plants, and nearly one hundred species of wildflowers. All these help stabilize the dunes and blowouts. Beach heather, with its yellow flowers, is the same plant found on the dunes of Cape Cod, with Ayers about as far west as this plant occurs. Three species of blazing star follow one another in quick succession from summer into fall, with rough blazing star blooming last. A visit to Ayers requires nothing more than a curious mind, but a camera, a notebook, and binoculars will allow you to document the unusual things you will see and experience and will allow a portion of this unusual landscape to accompany you on your journey home.
CHAPTER 3Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve
Winding your way down the kame brings you to the marl flat. Here the vegetation appears similar to the runoff channels at Yellowstone's geyser basins. And like Yellowstone, fringed gentians are the dominant fall bloomer.
—Susan Post, September 2007
JUST SOUTHEAST OF ELGIN, embedded in the urban/suburban landscape, exists a topographically varied, lush, isolated valley of greens, browns, blues, and gold. The preserve's ninety-five diverse acres, bordered by two large mining operations, contain a tremendous variety of plants and animals. The topography is courtesy of the relatively recent glaciers that covered this corner of northeastern Illinois. The various hills that dot the preserve are "glacial kames" that formed at the bottom of glacial waterfalls. Here gravel and sand piled up into neat, conical hills, like salt pouring from its distinctive round container onto a flat surface. Over time, many habitats, including a dry, gravel prairie on the kames, interspersed with blacksoil prairie, and marsh in the lowlands, have developed. It's not often that one finds skunk cabbage, marsh marigold, prairie shooting star, and bird's-foot violet all sharing the same preserve and occurring within just a few steps of each other. Uncommon plants like prairie smoke, fringed puccoon, wooly milkweed, and side-oats grama grass grow on the dry, alkaline, gravel soils. Localized butterflies, such as Baltimore checkerspots and meadow fritillaries, ply the airways in the moist regions between the kames, sharing the space with white lady's-slipper orchids and fringed gentians in the fall. The uncommon Baltimore is a wetland butterfly that feeds on turtlehead.
Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve is adjacent to the large Bluff City Cemetery and was once slated for gravel mining and other incompatible uses before its preservation. On the west side of the preserve, streams bordered with rare Hill's oaks and giant bur oaks meander through a park-like savanna. The eastern half is perhaps most interesting and Baltimore checkerspot on fleabane consists of a complex landscape of prairie and wetlands. Possibly the finest fen in Illinois occurs here. Fens have been described as "one of the rarest wetland community types in the entire continental United States." This unusual habitat occurs where cold, highly alkaline groundwater emerges (in nearly thirty spots in Bluff Spring) and maintains odd soil conditions that are not conducive to most plant growth. Even given these potential hostile conditions, much of the plant diversity found here occurs in this unusual habitat. Six species of orchids grow in the fen, including the aforementioned white lady's-slipper, grass pink, ladies' tresses, and snake-mouth orchids.
Evaporation of standing water allows minerals to concentrate in the soil, creating another rare habitat, called marl flat. Plants that can tolerate these conditions—grass of Parnassus, slender bog arrow grass, Kalm's lobelia, beaked spike rush, Ohio goldenrod, and shrubby cinquefoil—thrive here. For its size, the diversity of the fen is staggering, as it supports more than 450 plant species, with thirteen threatened or endangered ones. More than fifty species of butterflies and skippers occur here from mid-June through July. At least thirty bird species nest here, including red-headed woodpeckers and yellow-breasted chats, while many more pass through. Add the numerous bird species and uncommon invertebrates to the wealth of plant life, and you have a biological adventure that is unparalleled for any similarly sized location in Illinois.
CHAPTER 4Gensburg–Markham Prairie Nature Preserve
Dense blazing stars—rivers of pink create colored fingers through the green prairie herbage.
—susan Post, August 2004
GIVEN THE ONCE-WIDESPREAD distribution of prairies in central and northern Illinois, and the subsequent agricultural and urban development that has replaced them over the past two hundred years, it is inevitable, yet fortunate, that prairie remnants occur in some very unlikely places. What is truly remarkable is that prairies of the quality of Gensburg-Markham still exist. Located in a triangle formed by interstate highways 57, 80, and 294 in southern Cook County, and owned by The Nature Conservancy of Illinois, this improbable prairie remnant, growing on damp, sandy soil, owes it survival to soils that resisted both farming and suburban development. An old beach ridge that was formed by an ancient glacial lake (Lake Chicago, the precursor to Lake Michigan) runs southeast to northwest through the preserve and is responsible for the difference in relief (however minor) over the preserve. This slight change in elevation allows diverse habitats—wet-to-moist prairie, dry-to-moist sand prairie, and sedge meadow—to occur in the two-hundred-acre National Natural Landmark. Even though the din of I-294 is relatively relentless, a walk through this landscape during any season will transport you back to Illinois's relatively recent past. When the Gensburg family donated the parcel to the Nature Conservancy in 1971, the land was degraded by exotic, invasive plants. Over the decades extensive restoration work, spearheaded by the late Dr. Robert Betz of Northeastern Illinois University (and a host of others), means the original tallgrass prairie flora is once more flourishing.
A narrow footpath leads north into the preserve through clumps of shooting star in the spring and nodding wild onion and purple prairie clover in early summer; the display of blazing star in late summer is not to be matched anywhere in Illinois. A look at the extensive plant list (about 250 species) should tell any visitor that a single visit cannot satisfy the need to see this prairie in all its glory. The "classic" prairie succession is abundantly visible here with numerous, low-growing spring forbs (prairie phlox, hoary puccoon, yellow-eyed grass), followed in succession by coreopsis, prairie clovers, leadplant, and Michigan and wood lilies in early summer. Later in the summer season, as heat and humidity build, the blazing stars appear en masse, along with various goldenrods and expanses of flowering spurge. Fall is gentian time, with closed, fringed, and prairie gentians all providing glints of blue mingled among the golden-hued grasses. While such botanical wonder is notable, Gensburg–Markham, much like other significant prairie patches in Illinois, is particularly special for the simple reason that it is extremely diverse. None of the three growing seasons is without its striking plant displays.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from EXPLORING NATURE IN ILLINOIS by MICHAEL JEFFORDS, SUSAN POST. Copyright © 2014 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
FOREWORD by Tom Clay, xi,PREFACE, xiii,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, xv,
INTRODUCTION: A Brief Natural History of Illinois, 1,
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK, 9,
NORTH,
1. Apple River Canyon State Park, 13,
2. Ayers Sand Prairie Nature Preserve, 17,
3. Bluff Spring Fen Nature Preserve, 21,
4. Gensburg–Markham Prairie Nature Preserve, 24,
5. Glacial Park Conservation Area, 27,
6. Goose Lake Prairie State Park, 31,
7. Green River State Wildlife Area, 35,
8. Harlem Hills Nature Preserve, 38,
9. Illinois Beach State Park, 41,
10. Matthiessen State Park, 46,
11. Mississippi Palisades State Park, 49,
12. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, 53,
13. Moraine Hills State Park, 56,
14. Nachusa Grasslands, 59,
15. Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve, 63,
16. Spring Lake Wildlife Conservation Area, 67,
17. Starved Rock State Park, 71,
18. Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, 75,
19. Volo Bog State Natural Area, 80,
CENTRAL,
20. Emiquon Preserve, 87,
21. Forest Park Nature Preserve, 92,
22. Funks Grove, 95,
23. Kankakee Sands: Pembroke Savanna Nature Preserve & Iroquois County Conservation Area, 98,
24. Ballard Nature Center, 104,
25. Along the Vermilion and Wabash Rivers, 108,
26. Lodge County Park, 122,
27. Pere Marquette State Park and the Lower Illinois River Valley, 126,
28. Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve, 131,
29. Revis Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, 135,
30. Prairie Ridge State Natural Area and Illinois Audubon Sanctuaries, 138,
31. Robert Allerton Park, 142,
32. Mason County sand Areas, 146,
SOUTH,
33. Bell Smith Springs Recreational Area, 155,
34. Cache River Ecosystem, 161,
35. Cedar Lake, 181,
36. Devil's Kitchen Lake–Rocky Bluff Trail, 185,
37. Ferne Clyffe State Park, 189,
38. Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, 193,
39. Garden of the Gods Recreation Area, 196,
40. Giant City State Park–Trillium Trail, 199,
41. Horseshoe Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, 203,
42. Larue–Pine Hills Research Natural Area, 206,
43. Little Grand Canyon, 210,
44. Mermet Lake Conservation Area, 213,
45. Piney Creek Ravine Nature Preserve, 217,
46. Rim Rock/Pounds Hollow, 220,
47. Simpson Township Barrens Natural Area, 224,
48. Trail of Tears State Forest, 228,
49. War Bluff Valley Sanctuary, 232,
EPILOGUE: Your Own Backyard, 235,
APPENDIX A: Directions to Sites, 239,
APPENDIX B: Natural Divisions of Illinois, 247,
INDEX, 255,
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