Grasslands – The Secret to the Rescue
On any given day, you will find numerous souls walking, running or biking the Rollins Savana trials in Grayslake, Illinois which also connects to the Millennium Trail to the North and South, enjoying the peaceful beauty of what a grassland habitat provides.
The space is the most important ingredient in building a grassland bird habitat. A minimum of 150 acres is needed, undivided by roads, in order for many species to breed successfully.
The land used in this grassland restoration project passed through a number of hands before becoming a preserve in the late 1980’s. Rollins Savanna in is now one of Lake County’s largest forest preserves with over 1,200 uninterrupted acres.
Plants are a supporting structure within a habitat. Their root systems hold the soil together and prevent erosion. With a natural water flow, ecologists restore the mix of plants that protect and enrich the soil. Plants feed the animals, provide materials and places for nests, and break the cold winter winds. The right mix of plants supports the animals that northern barriers feed – ground squirrels, voles and mice.
The Black Hills, in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, consists of 1.2 million acres of forested hills and mountains, approximately 110 miles long and 70 miles wide, a hikers and naturalist paradise.
