By John Schwegman
Natural Areas Biologist, Department of Conservation

No, he didn't lose his contact lens! Really throwing himself into his job. Natural Areas Inventory investigator burrows into thatch of prairie vegetation to photograph a plant 'find.' (Photo by Judith Joy.)

Who was that stranger out there poking around in the old hill prairie, railroad right-of-way or forgotten cemetery?

Well, it might have been the Lone Ranger, an oil prospector, a condominium developer, someone who dropped his contact lens or, for that matter, a Martian advanceman hunting for a landsite.

But, during the past two years, chances are about 50-50 it was one of the energetic, fast-traveling souls associated with the Illinois Department of Conservation "Natural Areas Inventory," a unique comprehensive statewide treasure hunt aimed at finding, describing and evaluating Illinois' comparatively few remaining natural lands.

So far, the inventory's agents have fanned out over almost all of the state's 102 counties, scoured 3,923 cemeteries, flown over 7,000 of Illinois' 12,000 miles of railroad right-of-way, examined countless acres of open field, wetland or areas of potential geological importance, and studied innumerable plants.

To date, the effort has been highly successful. Some 900 areas have been recognized as important and have been catalogued. Scientists and conservationists in Illinois were not even aware that many of these sites existed. Five species of plants not previously known to exist in Illinois have been found.

Preservation of little swatches of the state's natural fabric-such as the quiet, isolated ravine above-is the goal of a comprehensive treasure hunt being conducted throughout Illinois by a band of dedicated environmental prospectors.

Why all the effort and haste to pinpoint a few prairie remnants, obscure plants or rock outcroppings?

It is the belief of the Department of Conservation that unspoiled natural areas and the flora and fauna they support are remnants of the heritage of all Illinois citizens and, as such, they should be preserved and protected.

But such natural areas in Illinois are disappearing at an alarming rate. In some parts of the state, they are being wiped out at a 15 percent clip annually.

Reasons for the loss of natural areas are many. They include timber cutting, industrial growth, highway expansion, agricultural development, housing subdividing, and wetland drainage in the name of flood control, mosquito abatement or land development.

Regardless of the reason for their loss, the destruction of these primitive parcels carries a double price tag for Illinoisans and, perhaps, for mankind in general. For, as the natural areas go, so also do many species of animals, birds, amphibians and plants that depend upon these ecological niches for their existence.

Ever-lengthening lists of endangered and threatened plant and animal species attest to the success with which man continues to "tame" the land-and destroy his heritage-in his quest

Illinois Parks and Recreation 6 November/December. 1977

Sloughs, so often the target of drainage-minded developers and agriculture interests, can be a veritable gold mine of significant plant, animal, aquatic and geologic discoveries.

for progress or because or greed.

Efforts to save natural lands in Illinois are not new. The Nature Conservancy, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Conservation Department, and many other public or private agencies have been doing it for years.

But in many cases these efforts have not been coordinated, prioritized, or a part of a comprehensive program. Often they have been undertaken in a crisis atmosphere.

And the work of preserving natural areas has been difficult on another count. Since no comprehensive inventory of Illinois' natural places has been compiled heretofore, the existence, legal status, location, quality and preservable values of many sites simply has not been known. Preservationists have had to react to individual sites as they were brought, randomly, to their attention, instead of taking action on the basis of a long-range plan and an over-view of what actually is available in the state.

The inventory is the first of its magnitude in the nation. All counties will be surveyed individually by March, 1978. Aerial surveys and aerial photos are being used, along with intensive ground searches. Afterward, all information will be fed into a computer for storage, analyzing and later retrieval.

The general inventory in progress now is only part of the project. More specific subsidiary surveys—part of the overall three-year inventory, but zeroed-in on narrower segments of the natural area resource—are under way or about to begin. Among these are work on rare and endangered species habitat, aquatic areas, geologic areas, and natural areas owned and operated by schools as outdoor education centers.

Illinois Natural Areas Inventory is being carried out for the Conservation Department by the University of Illinois Department of Landscape Architecture at Champaign-Urbana in conjunction with the Natural Land Institute of Rockford under a $654,000 contract awarded in 1975 on the basis of competitive bids. However, the Federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation has approved the project for cost sharing and will reimburse the state to the tune of $305,000.

The inventory will allow the Conservation Department and Illinois Nature Preserves Commission to develop plans and a coordinated program for natural areas conservation. It also will help the Department more efficiently and advantageously distribute state and federal land acquisition funds. In addition, inventory information can be used in the environmental impact analysis of proposed development projects.

This frequently is the alternative to systematic, formal preservation of natural areas which arc being destroyed at the rate of 15 percent annually in some parts of the state.

Targets of the inventory are:

— Areas of land or water exhibiting flora and fauna as near as possible to conditions at the time of Illinois' settlement.

- Natural habitats with rare or endangered species.

- Areas with plants or animals which are relics of past migrations or climatic conditions.

- Natural geologic features of notable scientific or educational value.

- Natural areas currently used for teaching and research. Six field representatives are conducting the systematic county-by-county search, but this small corps has been augmented on occasion by volunteers and/or graduate student assistants.

A six-step procedure is followed in the survey. First, all available information on known natural areas in the county is compiled, along with the location of possibly valuable sites called to the staff's attention by interested citizens. Next, local citizens, officials and agencies are contacted by the field reps for additional details on known sites, or tipoffs on sites which might not be known to the staff.

The maps and aerial photos are examined for further clues about the whereabouts of natural areas. This is followed by aerial surveys, an initial ground survey to winnow out the significant from the insignificant sites, and a final in-depth field survey to describe and evaluate the select natural areas in detail.

By the time the inventory is completed, next March, it is estimated that no less than 1,000

Illinois Parks and Recreation 7 November/December. 1977

TREASURE HUNT . . .
Continued from Page 7

important natural areas will have been logged.

Emphasis on surveying cemeteries and railroad rights-of-way is traced to the fact that these kinds of areas by their nature are relatively undisturbed, and because many of them are platted on the early Illinois prairie before the original sod was broken.

Illinois Natural History Survey and State Geological Survey are advising the inventory team on aquatic natural areas and notable geologic sites, respectively, while specialists in many fields are contributing to the compilation of data on rare and endangered species.

Involvement of all these high-powered professionals, however, does not mean the average layman does not have a role to play in this effort, project participants and DOC spokesmen emphasized.

On the contrary to be a success, the project needs active participation by the general public, Survey Director John White declared. "Some natural areas will be located and recognized only if someone tells us about them," he said. Also, information on an area's history is very important in evaluating a site, and this is the kind of information only local sources can provide, he said.

Individuals or groups with information on natural areas or a desire to participate in the project are urged to contact John White at 217/333-2200.

What kind of areas are being sought? Researchers want to identify not only areas with unique features, such as rare plants, but also representative examples of all remaining natural communities in Illinois—ideally, virgin ungrazed woodlands, and prairies not yet plowed or overgrazed. Since such areas admittedly are rare in Illinois, the NAI is accepting the least disturbed remnants of these ecological communities. Criteria for swamps, marshes and forest include a 20-acre- minimum size. But, again, smaller sites will be recognized if they are the best remaining examples of a particular kind of natural area. Prairies should be a quarter-acre or larger.

The cooperation of all land holding agencies such as park districts, forest preserve districts, and conservation districts will be needed to make optimum use of the survey's data.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 19 November/December, 1977