Twenty years ago, the expansion of O’Hare Airport destroyed 280 acres of wetlands. I’ll be honest, I have no memory of this raising an uproar. But it must have, right? At any rate, the city of Chicago committed to “replace” those lost wetlands by restoring 280 acres elsewhere, and it assigned the task to Openlands.

Well here we are, two decades later, and Openlands has just officially closed its fiscal books on the O’Hare Modernization Wetlands Mitigation Project, which totaled $26 million. The organization has been taking a much-deserved victory lap, highlighting the five sites — spread across Cook and Will counties — where it restored not 280 but actually 530 acres of wetlands.

Deer Grove, after years of extensive restoration. (Claudia Latapi / Openlands)

This week, officials from Openlands, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and Stantec shone a spotlight on what the mitigation project has meant at Deer Grove preserve in Palatine. Invasive species like buckthorn were knocked back, thousands of feet of agricultural drain tiles were removed to restore hydrology, and thousands of pounds of native seeds were sown on site.

Today, the wetlands at Deer Grove hold 20 million more gallons of stormwater than before, and the overall habitat, which includes prairie and oak ecosystems, is among the highest quality in the region.

“These achievements show what’s possible when significant investment is paired with long-term stewardship, creating gold-standard landscapes,” Openlands President and CEO Michael Davidson said at a news conference. 

Ah, there’s the rub. Significant investment and long-term stewardship are like the white whales of the conservation movement.

What will we have to destroy to get another $25 million, 20-year commitment?

ICYMI

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Who Knew? 

Prairie plant roots run really deep. (Tallgrass Prairie Center) 

There’s a Big Pots facility at the University of Northern Iowa, where the Tallgrass Prairie Center grows specimens of really looooooong prairie roots. Ten-foot pots are placed in the ground vertically and planted with combinations of a wildflower and a grass — like butterfly weed and little bluestem. After two or three growing seasons, the pots are pulled out with a backhoe and the roots are set free from their containers and preserved. The whole point of this exercise is to demonstrate native plants’ deep and massive underground root systems, which get talked about a lot, but are rarely seen. Nine specimens were released from their pots last week, and the results were wild. 

Clippings: News & Notes 

• An amendment to the Chicago Municipal Code that would remove at least one barrier people face when it comes to composting passed a City Council vote yesterday. HOAs and landlords can no longer adopt or enforce rules that effectively ban someone from collecting organic waste for drop-off or contracting with a third party to collect and process their food waste.

• Lincoln Park Zoo is expecting a new addition next spring. Kapuki, an eastern black rhinoceros, is pregnant, the zoo announced this week. This will be Kapuki’s third calf at the zoo. Eastern black rhinos are critically endangered in the wild. 

• Not to be outdone, Brookfield Zoo is making headlines for Dr. Lily Parkinson’s groundbreaking efforts to establish the world’s first blood bank for zoo and aquarium animals.  

• Lurie Garden is in the process of refreshing an area known as the Landing Strip, with a new design from Piet Oudolf, the renowned Dutch landscape designer who collaborated on Lurie’s original layout. The section was completely stripped, and 1,200 new perennials and grasses were planted this past week. The garden has been documenting the process on Instagram and honestly, I’m most jealous of the beautiful color-coded design plan.

• Dolomite prairie habitats are globally rare, and we have some here in northeast Illinois. The Will County Forest Preserve District has received a grant to fund restoration work at the Romeoville Prairie Nature Preserve, including invasive species control and native plant seeding. The high-quality habitat found in the preserve supports endangered and threatened species such as Blanding’s turtle and Hine’s emerald dragonfly.

• Fat Bear Week, the annual contest that puts the joy back in the internet, is underway! Join the fun and vote for your favorite fat bear, aka, the bear that’s done the best job of packing on the pounds ahead of winter. The winner will be decided on Tuesday.

Creature Feature: Milkweed Bugs 

Milkweed bugs gather on a milkweed pod. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Chicagoans definitely got the memo to save the monarch butterfly by growing milkweed. You know what I hardly ever see on milkweed? Monarch eggs or caterpillars. You know what I do see on the plants all the time? Milkweed bugs. Like, whole colonies of the distinctive red-and-black bugs. And that’s OK, according to the University of Illinois Extension. These insects are native, and they evolved with the monarch. “They depend on milkweed just as much as monarchs do,” Ken Johnson, an Extension horticulture educator, shared on the Extension’s “Good Growing” blog. “Be happy that you have provided an environment that is suitable for these insects to thrive.”

Nature Calls: This Week's Outdoorsy Events and Activities

Mississippi Palisades State Park is notable for its rock formations. (Illinois Department of Natural Resources) 

• They grow up so fast. West Ridge Nature Park, at 5801 N. Western Ave., is turning 10. Join the three-day celebration, Friday through Sunday. The schedule includes live music, guided walks, forest bathing, and bat and moth monitoring.

• In case you hadn’t heard, Saturday is National Public Lands Day. Forgot to make plans? The Forest Preserve District of Cook County has you covered with a slew of options.

• The ninth annual Birds, Bikes and Beats fest at Big Marsh Park is happening, Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. There will be skateboarding and pumptracks challenges, hip-hop and house music sets, food and fun for the whole family.

• Mississippi Palisades State Park has been getting the star treatment all week from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources via social media. Wowza, this place looks stunning. If you’ve never been, put it on your bucket list. 

• Here’s an intriguing workshop: Learn how to use (highly invasive) buckthorn berries as a natural dye. That’s really making lemonade out of lemons. The event is Saturday, 2-4 p.m., at River Park’s RiverLab building, 3000 W. Argyle St. Registration required, cost is $10.