I was back in the burbs of Chicago this weekend, taking a driving tour of the enormous houses, farms, and prairie preserves that I grew up around. As a kid, it's a bit of challenge to be real interested in your natural surroundings when all you have is flat land and tall grasses, but seeing bits and pieces of the prairie again for the first time in five years sure made me regret not spending more time getting burrs stuck in my sweatpants. The fact that there are still places in Barrington like the Flint Creek Savanna or Bigsby Prairie is largely because of theCitizens For Conservation:
Since about 1987, Citizens for Conservation volunteers have worked with developers and others to locate sites where impending construction activity will bring about the destruction of native, spring woodland wildflowers. Once located, CFC seeks the owner's permission to rescue the plants. If permission is received, volunteers carefully dig out and move these previous, evermore scarce spring gems to the protected sanctuary of preserves such as Grigsby Prairie or Flint Creek Savanna.Today, thousands of spring widlflowers thrive as a result of the efforts of CFC volunteers. Not only do these wildflowers brighten the spring woods, their seed is then available for still other restorations.
The photos of the CFC are from Barrington Area Library's Flickr Page. Many more after the jump..
