Romeoville Prairie Nature Preserve

The sedge meadows at the north section of Romeoville Prairie were once spectacular, but serious incursions of dense stands of cattails have diminished populations of conservative wetland plants. This has not been a case of natural succession by any means; the problem is that extensive loads of silt are dumped into the prairie and wetlands from two seventy-two-inch culverts.

The culverts bring over fifty percent of all the runoff stormwater from the town of Romeoville directly into the natural area. The south portion of Romeoville Prairie is covered with fill. This was already known, but what wasn't clear was how deep the fill was, or how intimidating of a project it might be to remove the material and attempt restoration. Using money from the Openlands Land Preservation Wetland Preservation and Enhancement Account, the Forest Preserve District of Will County initiated a project to evaluate the fill and determine if removal might be feasible. It was hoped that a program of restoration toward native vegetation might be possible, but another prime goal was to increase the amount of habitat available to two rare turtle species found on the northern portion of the preserve, the Blanding's turtle and spotted turtle.  (Download full project description here:  Wetlands Restoration: Romeoville Prairie Nature Preserve (29.11 kB).)

Location: 135th St., about 0.5 mile east of Rte. 53, Romeoville, IL

Funding source: Material Service Corporation Settlement Fund (MSCSF)

Owner & land manager: Forest Preserve District of Will County (FPDWC)

Size of project site: 333 acres (North Section)

Project date: 2000

Partners: Commonwealth Edison, Forest Preserve District of Will County (FPDWC), Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Openlands (formerly CorLands), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Action: Hydrologic study and analysis, modifications to existing stormwater control structures, cutting and removal of shrubs and trees, control of invasive herbaceous species.