An Urgent Lesson in Patience — The Fight to Save Bell Bowl Prairie

“Our native prairie is so highly valued because it is vanishingly rare. A high quality, old-growth prairie is the Midwest equivalent of a cathedral redwood grove — only far, far rarer,” ecologist John White wrote in an appeal to the Greater Rockford Airport Authority in September 2021, as part of the campaign to Save Bell Bowl Prairie. Arguably the most biodiverse five acres in Illinois, Bell Bowl Prairie will be decimated if a proposed expansion at the Chicago Rockford International Airport is completed.

Bell Bowl Prairie is located about an hour and half west of Chicago. While on the property of the Chicago Rockford International Airport, the remnant prairie has been stewarded by Rockford conversation group, the Natural Land Institute, for more than forty years. “They know how to take care of it better than we do,” then-airport manager, William Grady, told the Rockford Register Star after establishing the partnership.

Today, that partnership is under threat. In 2018, the Chicago Rockford International Airport and Federal Aviation Administration began exploring plans for the “Midfield Air Cargo Development” area. Worse still, the environmental assessment returned a “Finding of No Significant Impact,” despite Bell Bowl Prairie’s protected status on the state level.

Measuring only five acres, what Bell Bowl Prairie lacks in stature it more than makes up for in biodiversity. Home to endangered species like the rusty-patched bumblebee and the black-billed cuckoo, as well as endangered prairie plants like the prairie dandelion and the large-flowered beard tongue, Bell Bowl Prairie is considered a Category 1 Natural Areas Site by the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory for its unique ecological value. But what does this valuation mean if it is only to be discarded in the face of economic might? Do more planes carrying more same-day-deliveries really trump the hundreds, if not thousands, of years of humble work? Simply put, if the current efforts to expand the airport’s cargo capacity succeed, Bell Bowl Prairie will be extinguished.

Fortunately, folks like John White, along with locals and scientists alike are standing up to make sure our generation doesn’t lose sight of the rich, ecological value of the rather small but centuries-old Bell Bowl Prairie.

The former director or the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory and former Chief Ecologist of The Nature Conservancy, White lives in Urbana and has been studying prairies for 56 years. Since 2017, by his own “back-of-the-napkin” math, he devotes roughly eight to fifteen hours a day, often 7 days a week, to studying prairie the ecosystem.

“With my first step onto Bell Bowl Prairie, I spotted New Jersey Tea, a prairie plant that I have never, ever seen growing naturally, except on land that has never been plowed…Such extraordinarily high species diversity is a hallmark of truly high quality, primeval prairie, a community that developed over a very long time without disruption.”

In Miracle Under the Oaks, author and journalist, Steven K. Williams, chronicled the rise of the modern restoration movement. Retracing the work of a ragtag group of volunteers and scientists that began in the seventies, Stevens details a decades-long investment to revive an ecosystem that had been lost to history along the north branch of the Chicago River. As Stevens put it, “putting nature back together is a daunting and humbling business.”

Like White, Williams also likened the efforts of restorationists “…to the building of cathedrals: It takes decades, even centuries, and several generations must participate.” It takes time for relationships to form, niches to be explored, and redundancies established.

Generations are responsible for shaping ecosystems such as Bell Bowl Prairie, but it only takes one generation to undo centuries of patience. Like sunshine is to Florida and peaches to Georgia, Illinois is supposed to be the Prairie State. But, according to the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory, only about one-hundredth of one percent of Illinois prairie remain in good condition. So, it seems like a fair question to ask, will the Prairie State fight for its namesake? Or should we just go by Cargo Land, USA?

I highly encourage folks to engage with the campaign to Save Bell Bowl Prairie directly. Their website has tons of great resources, as well as step-by-step guide for contacting state and federal representatives. Please help make support for Bell Bowl Prairie known.