The Natural Land Institute closed on 149 acres of land this month surrounding its 4-acre Beach Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve in Davis Junction, IL.
According to a news release, NLI says Beach Cemetery Prairie contains some of the finest remnant prairie remaining in Illinois, as well as providing a postage stamp of habitat for endangered plant species.
Less than one-tenth of one percent of Illinois’ former 22 million acres of prairie remain.
The release says the site also protects the historic settler cemetery with the graves of the Beach family buried in the 1850s.
NLI was able to purchase the Ogle County land with funds received from the sale of 80 acres of prime farmland that was donated to NLI in 2025. The landowners stipulated that the land could be sold with the proceeds from the sale going to protect land that NLI otherwise wouldn’t be able to protect.
Donor gifts were used to fill the gap needed to make the Ogle County purchase.
Restoration of the remnant non-tilled areas will begin immediately with a priority on the remnant prairie. NLI is developing plans for most of the farmland to remain working lands with regenerative agricultural practices. Fields may eventually be converted to native prairie plant seed production or grazing lands to provide habitat for grassland birds.
The property is otherwise closed to the public until a further date.