Russ Dombeck's orchids were running out of time. With only a few days left before the end of their blooming season, there was still no sign of a hawk moth coming to their rescue. Once again, the rare flowers were going to wilt without a visit from their sole pollinator. No fertilization would occur and no seeds would form. With a prairie sun hot on his back and a persistent mosquito at his neck, Russ readied his toothpick and moved in. If the hawk moths couldn't do this job, then he would have to do it for them.

Russ' prairie white-fringed orchids actually grow in a Lake County Forest Preserve. It's just that after 20 years of watching over this patch of rare plants, this volunteer plant monitor has understandably become somewhat attached. He's not alone. Volunteers and staff from a number of national, state and local agencies stepped up their efforts last year to join together and save this orchid from the human actions that brought it to such dire straits.

Threatened on a national level and endangered in Illinois, the prairie white-fringed orchid is sliding toward extinction at a steady pace. Once plentiful over the prairies of northeastern North America, the orchid took its biggest hit when farm plows tore up most of its habitat. Urban development, wetland drainage and the loss of wildfires socked it again.

The species' last stronghold is Lake County,which supports eight of the world's 55 remaining populations. In the Forest Preserves, they are getting a boost from our land managers, who are clearing non-native plants that threaten to overtake them and who are safely returning the natural benefits of fire to the land. A recent $3,500 grant from the Illinois Department of Conservation has boosted their efforts.

But the plants still have their challenges, including people who feel it is their right to steal orchids for backyard gardens. These felony transplants almost always fail. You see, the white-fringed orchid is a delicate plant with very exacting needs. Even research botanists have a hard time growing them out of the wild. Not only do sunlight and moisture need to be just right, a certain soil fungus must be present or the roots falter.

As if that's not bad enough, there's the hawk moth problem. Out of all the bugs and birds and bats and other pollinators out there, this orchid has evolved to rely on just that one species for seed production. It's the only critter out there with a tongue long enough to do the job.

No one really knows much about the hawk moth or its numbers. June Keibler, national Project Coordinator for the orchid's recovery, hopes for more research on the insect soon. Meanwhile, with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and direction from a National Recovery Plan, she started working with The Nature Conservancy to coordinate some surrogates.

Last year, 25 volunteers spread across the Chicago area for the 1 1/2 weeks that the orchid blooms. Eight headed for the Lake County Forest

18 * Illinois Parks & Recreation * May/June 1994

Preserves. Russ Dombeck was one of them.

Russ worked steadily in the summer heat, his toothpick serving as a hawk moth tongue. A Libertyville chemist, he enjoyed the solitude of this prairie he'd been volunteering at for years. Since he'd tagged all of the plants and mapped the eight-acre site to an inch-scale, he knew exactly where each of his charges were. Within three hours, he completed his job, fertilizing the six to 25 blossoms on each of two dozen plants.

In the coming weeks, he and his colleagues were thrilled to see the results. Seeds no larger than a grain of sand matured and dispersed. Some were gathered and taken to other sites, offering a genetic shot in the arm to small populations. All sowed hopes for a new generation and a future recovery of this very special plant.

Sarah Surroz is the Public Information Coordinator for the Lake County Forest Preserves. This article originally appeared in the Summer 1994 issue of Horizons, the quarterly newsletter of the Lake County Forest Preserves. *

Photo courtesy of June Keibler.

Lake County Forest Preserve volunteer Russ Dombeck uses a toothpick to fertilize the rarewhite-fringed orchid. Within three hours, Russ fertilized the six to 25 blossoms on each of two dozen plants on an eight-acre site. The orchids have evolved to rely on the hawk moth as its sole pollinator.

Illinois Parks & Recreation * May/June 1994 * 19