About the Prairie
The Prairie Today
The prairie is currently co-managed by Northeastern Illinois University and The Nature Conservancy. NEIU has a naturalist on the faculty who, in conjunction with the Gensburg-Markham Prairie Engagement Committee, created and implements a management plan and oversees the work of interns. Significant management of the prairie has also fallen into the capable and eager hands of a group of volunteers known as the Gensburg-Markham Prairie Stewards, who host weekly workdays and have regular meetings to preserve the beauty and integrity of the prairie.
The prairie is classified as a combination dry-mesic sand prairie, mesic sand prairie, wet-mesic sand prairie, and sedge meadow. Because it is one of the few remnant prairies in Illinois, there have been attempts at reintroducing species that rely on the prairie. For instance, in the 1980s, Franklin’s ground squirrel was introduced to the prairie and successful breeding populations were established then. In the 1990’s, the Eryingium stem borer was introduced.
Today’s efforts are less focused on reintroductions and more on maintaining and improving the current conditions. The prairie struggles with invasive species, especially common buckthorn, common reed grass, reed canary grass, and narrow leaf cattail. The site is sometimes also unfortunately abused by vehicles and other unauthorized users who dump waste or otherwise disrupt the vegetation. That’s why understanding the importance and rarity of such a beautiful ecosystem is so important!
The prairie is open to the public and is an excellent site for walking, bird watching, insect watching, or just enjoying nature. There is a mown trail that circles the site, and a small parking area off Whipple Avenue.
History of the Prairie
Illinois’s official nickname is “The Prairie State” but today, less than 0.01% of the original prairie is left. Prairies are a type of grassland characterized by hot summers and cold winters, with additional classification types based on the dominant vegetation and the amount of rainfall. Tallgrass prairies used to dominate the northern two-thirds of the state, making up about 21 million acres. One of the few remaining tallgrass prairies is the nearly 200-acre Gensburg-Markham Prairie Nature Preserve.
Gensburg-Markham Prairie is a piece of land that has beat all odds. It should have been used for grazing land, it should have been thoroughly plowed, it should have had houses and shopping malls and parking lots built on it. Yet somehow, it avoided nearly all of these processes by sheer luck and by the timeliness of the Great Depression. It was platted for development in the late 1920’s but when the economy collapsed, construction didn’t begin as planned.
It was by mere chance that in 1965, Dr. Robert Betz, a biologist at Northeastern Illinois University, was on a walk while visiting family in Markham when he came upon the prairie. He immediately recognized the rarity of the land. He worked with excited locals to make a plan to protect the prairie. The first step was determining who owned the land, which was easier said than done. The plats had been sold to many people whose descendants were located all over the country. Almost half of the land was owned by the Gensburg brothers, who generously agreed to donate their holdings. The federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and The Nature Conservancy worked together to track down the remaining plat owners and purchase the rest of the 95 acres of land. It was then passed into the hands of Northeastern Illinois University, under the care of Dr. Betz. He began with controlled burns in 1972, a necessary process to cut back the woody encroachment at the edges of the prairie. The land was then designated as a nature preserve, and Karl Bartel became the first site manager of the prairie. When he retired, Ron Panzer took over until his retirement. Martha Lopez-Salazar, a naturalist employed by NEIU, is the current manager. In 1987, the land was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Parks Service. The original 95-acres owned by NEIU has been supplemented by purchases of surrounding land by NEIU and The Nature Conservancy, to total almost 200 acres of protected prairie.