How did volunteers restore prairie habitat along the North Branch of the Chicago River?

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wetland restoration — ecological restoration Wetland restoration along the Târnava Mică (Tîrnava Mică) River in Romania. A former gravel mine (left) was transformed into a functional wetland (right).

Volunteers began restoring the prairie habitat along the North Branch of the Chicago River in the 1970s by clearing invasive European buckthorn and removing debris like abandoned cars. They gathered seeds from surviving prairie remnants found in cemeteries and along railways to replant the area.1

When initial planting efforts failed due to animals consuming the seedlings, the volunteers implemented a natural fire regime through controlled burns, which allowed native plants to flourish. To restore specific "barrens" habitats, the group utilized an 1846 list of plants published by a local doctor to identify the correct species mix, as they deemed existing remnant sites too degraded to serve as accurate models.1

This project highlights two fundamental principles of ecological restoration: the necessity of preserving all component species of the original community and the importance of accurately identifying which species belong in the ecosystem to avoid constant weeding and reseeding.1