Rewilding the Former Elliot Golf Course

Prairie Restoration

The previous state of the golf course was a turfgrass monoculture, requiring expensive and timely maintenance for little biological payout. To prepare the land, Severson Dells partnered with a local farmer to use commercial agricultural techniques to ‘reset’ the landscape. Planting corn flushes undesirable non-native plants, and primes the soil for its transition to prairie. 

Prairie habitat has faced steady declines in Illinois, so we aim to increase this available habitat to wildlife. Seeding native grasses and wildflowers will benefit animals like mice, voles, songbirds, and pollinators by providing food resources and protective shelter, and in turn, feed animals like raptors, foxes, and snakes!

Wetland Restoration

To control flooding, humans often channel and culvert water in urban areas, as was the fate of Manning Creek. Unfortunately, this reduces the benefits of the creek as habitat and a natural filter. To reverse the disruption of this system, we are daylighting, or unburying the creek. We will encourage meandering, or the S-shaped curves that follow a stream channel, to increase the amount of bank available for plant growth. The vegetation will stabilize bank soil and provide shelter and clean water for waterbirds, fish, amphibians, and other animals at Elliot - not to mention the entire Kishwaukee Watershed!

Celebrity sighting? A beaver has been documented in Manning Creek! This is exciting because beavers have important roles as ecosystem engineers and keystone species. Beavers are called ‘ecosystem engineers’ because of their instincts to control flowing water and create wetlands, and ‘keystone’ is a designation given to species that disproportionately impact their environment by creating habitat for other animals, like the wetland-loving Wilson’s Snipe! 

Savanna Restoration

Similar to prairie, a savanna is a grassland with scattered hardwood (deciduous) trees. Initial restoration actions included the removal of non-native tree species, with plans to plant native oak and hickory. These masting trees will support the diets of squirrels, deer, songbirds, and turkey, among others. Over time, holes in these trees will make homes for cavity-dwelling owls, bats, wood ducks, and lots of other birds and mammals!

The Big Picture: Addressing concern, Coming together, and Sharing the Land

It may be scary to think about sharing your neighborhood with predators like coyotes, snakes, and owls; However, these are important players in a healthy ecosystem. Animals search elsewhere when their resource needs aren't met, so by providing high-quality habitat, we are effectively containing animals to an area. Animals should not be dependent on human resources and should fear people, so please refrain from feeding wildlife for both human and animal safety and well-being. Biodiversity in your neighborhood is a trophy - not something to fear.

Parting thoughts

This project is intended to benefit wildlife, waterways, and humans. Severson Dells’ goal is to provide habitat for wildlife already living here, and to draw in new species in, because everything benefits from biodiversity and green spaces. Increasing available habitat (particularly in urban areas) combats habitat fragmentation, a looming threat to many wildlife species. 

At our inaugural Fore the Prairie event in January, attendees awed at a juvenile bald eagle soaring over the launching of prairie seed golf balls, its presence symbolizing what's to come in rewilding the site.

Sources

Why Conventional Agriculture at Elliot Golf Course? 

Tallgrass Prairie - Illinois National History Survey

Daylighting Streams: Breathing Life into Urban Streams and Communities - American Rivers

Beavers: Nature’s Wetland Ecosystem Engineers - National Resources Defense Council

Keystone species: Ecological architects of biodiversity and stability: Review - International Journal of Science and Research Archive

Organisms as Ecosystem Engineers - Oikos