A Rockford golf course will be turned into a prairie soon. It's a multiyear project, but one organization just awarded Severson Dells Nature Center $25,000 to accelerate the process.
America in Bloom's mission is to improve the quality of life in communities through flowers, plants and environmental efforts. It awarded the highly selective grant earlier this month.
Executive Director Laura Kunkle said Severson Dells was one of only six applicants who received the award.
"By turning this golf course — which was an important community asset, no doubt — and rewilding it, and because it was such a project focused on sustainability and environment, it made so much sense for what American in Bloom is about," she said.
Kunkle said the project stood out on a national level. She said that it's an example of innovative, community-driven environmental stewardship.
"By reimagining this land through restoration, they're going to return it to dynamic, self-sustaining ecosystem that supports biodiversity, improves water quality and strengthens climate resilience," she said.
The 170-acre Eliot Golf Course on the city's east side was dominated by turfgrass and nonnative plants. But the center is transforming it into prairie and oak savanna ecosystems with wildflowers and other native plants.
With the addition of the new location, the organization is renaming itself the Wild Roots Nature Center.
The property is not yet open to the public.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
