It’s so wasteful.
The chaos emanating from Washington D.C. splattered Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, the Chicago area’s biggest wild space, in the last two weeks.
On Feb. 11, Openlands and partner The Wetlands Initiative found out from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation that their $1.5 million America the Beautiful Challenge grant for a project to restore and expand 1,321 acres of grassland at Midewin was frozen.
“When you are awarded a grant, that is a contract; it is not a gift, it is a contract,” said Paul Botts, president and executive director of TWI.
The NFWF describes ATBC grants as “support projects that conserve, restore and connect habitats for wildlife while improving community resilience and access to nature.”
What’s going on now is some form of breach of contract.
“At The Wetlands Initiative, we are out $60,000,” Botts said. “Apparently, we are not going to get paid, so we have to stop.”
Openlands calculates that there is about $475,000 in invoices that are not being reimbursed with the freeze. About 20 people were working on the project. Most were with Homer Tree Service working tree removal. TWI had a three-person crew focused on removing shrubby growth.
“This has implications to real people,” said Emily Reusswig, vice-president of conservation and policy at Openlands. “We’re trying to figure out how to support them. We’re also trying to figure out how we get paid. . . . Those are not just transactional relationships, they are real people that we have worked with a long time and care about.”
Because of Homer’s big machinery — Timberpro hot saw tree felling machine, Tigercat tree skidder, Morbark whole tree chipper, two Tigercat forestry mulchers, CMI stump grinder — Openlands calculates it will cost about $15,000 to restart work after being paused.
Calls and emails to NFWF asking for clarification drew no response. NFWF is a private/public 501c(3) nonprofit established by Congress in 1984 in the middle of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
Openlands staff emailed, “The consequences of inaction are significant: if we cannot continue managing invasive species, the progress we’ve made will be lost, and the ecosystem will suffer setbacks.’’
“The growing season is when you see the first results of your work coming to life, but here, because the government reneged, it is now the opposite where the growing season is actually a threat to restore these growing landscapes,” Botts said. “There are seeds to spread and fires to do to get the natives to bounce back. And all these stumps are out there.”
An aerial view of the work area in the restoration of 1,321 acres at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, which was made possible by a $1.5 million America the Beautiful Challenge grant through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation until those funds were frozen last week by President Trump.
Michelle Cordrey
If the work done already is not followed through on, it will be like throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars out the window. The window for winter sowing and prescribed burns before the spurt of spring growth is short.
“That really, truly is Banana Republic stuff,” Botts said. “Nobody can actually trust our government’s word on stuff. Never imagined that before.”
Openlands has reached out to the NFWF, local officials, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the attorney general.
“I think nature is a very purple issue,” Reusswig said. “That was shown with the referendums passed this fall. What I always say is the forest preserves in our region are examples of good government and voters respond to that.”
Multiple referendums supporting local forest preserves and conservation districts were passed in the fall around the Chicago area, red and blue counties alike.
“It is a difficult time,” Reusswig said. “There is a lot of confusion and fear. I am worried for our partners. It is hard to know where to turn for answers.”
Midewin, near Wilmington, was established in 1996 from the old Joliet Arsenal. Out of rusting munitions factories and abandoned ammunition bunkers has grown 20,283 acres evolving into a tallgrass prairie, with multiple uses. I hike, watch birds, check prairie flowers and grasses (especially in late summer) and do family outings to see the bison regularly there. I’ve toured leftover bunkers and drawn permits to hunt wild turkey and deer. Others regularly bike or ride horseback.
Mostly, I allow the vastness of the prairie to overwhelm me.
I need that. We all need that.