Openlands Lakeshore Preserve - Restoring a Rare Ravine
“Ravines tell many stories, and these ravines tell particularly good ones," explains Mike Chrzastowski, senior coastal geologist for the Illinois State Geological Survey. Because they're situated on former military property, where access was restricted, the preserve’s ravines experienced limited human impact and are exceptional examples of V-shaped incision into the glacial moraine. “They portray a cross-section of a topography that’s uncommon in the Chicago area, helping to inform our overall geological impression of this region," he says.
Cool, moist, and shady, Lake Michigan ravines are different from any other ecosystem in the region. What’s more, the ravines at the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve are unique to the world, according to botanist Gerould Wilhelm. “Bartlett Ravine contains a very rare amalgamation of plant life…it’s completely unlike any other timber tract on the planet, and it sustains a tremendous amount of biodiversity.” More than 150 native plants can be found in Bartlett Ravine alone, and the three ravines combined provide a migratory stopover for tens of thousands of birds every year.
But modern life began to take its toll on the ravines. Concentrated stormwaters sliced into vegetated slopes that were once more stable. Invasive species found their niches too.
“We could see that we were losing something special here,” says Openlands Land Preservation Director Robert Megquier of Bartlett Ravine, the largest at the preserve. Openlands has protected and restored many woods, prairies, wetlands, and other natural areas, but a ravine system, with its steep slopes and reduced exposure to sunlight, presented different challenges altogether. “Restoring a ravine to good health is a fairly new proposition. We couldn’t borrow techniques used elsewhere, because they don’t really exist. Mostly, we had to adapt and improvise.”
That improvisation included a regimen of controlled burns, a common practice for eliminating invasive species on prairies and oak savannahs, but a more complex endeavor given the ravine’s erratic updrafts, grades approaching 45-degree angles, and the long history of fire suppression in the area. Another innovation was the application of a special hydro-mulch that clung to steep inclines and didn’t end up at the bottom of the ravine when it rained.
Today, Bartlett Ravine is rebounding as a high-quality, sustainable ecosystem, a development that excites Wilhelm, who shares, “It’s home to the round-leafed dogwood (Cornus rugosa), a rare plant that grows only near the lake and is helping to reshape our understanding of the species.”
Later this fall, University of Chicago ecology and evolution professor Justin Borevitz will install a remote-sensing camera and weather station, recording information such as rainfall, humidity, and temperature, at the bottom of Bartlett Ravine. “Plant biology is the foundation of our green planet…witnessing what happens to species in these unique environments is the key to the future,” says Borevitz. Combined with data retrieved from a network of other stations positioned around the lake’s southern shore, these records will help to paint a broad picture of region’s overall environmental health. “We like to get in as early as possible and watch nature come back.”
Visitors to the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve can watch nature come back, too, in Bartlett Ravine and on a mile of Lake Michigan shoreline now open to the public.
Openlands 25 E. Washington St., Suite 1650, Chicago, IL 60602
312-863-6250 | 312-863-6251 (FAX)
info@openlands.org
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