A field on the Northern Illinois University campus could soon be transformed into prairie. NIU met with neighbors recently to outline their multi-year plan to complete this project.
Prairies improve air and water quality, prevent flooding, and store carbon.
But more than 99.9% of prairies in Illinois are gone. In their place are the vast farmlands that spread across the landscape like the prairie used to. Now, in a few places, like at NIU, people are trying to restore patches of what was lost.
The school had proposed turning much of what’s called The North 40 — now mainly grass turf — into a restored prairie.
At the meeting, the university told neighbors they plan to create buffer zones between private property and the 45 acres of prairie habitat.
Part of the field — about 7 acres — will still be open space, used as a practice field for NIU’s marching band and other recreation.
NIU says parts of the prairie will be open to the public. They’re also planning outdoor educational opportunities.
There's a little section they’ve already seeded prairie into. It’s full of plants like black-eyed Susans.
The rest of the field will be prepared in the coming months for a prairie planting.
