LODA, Ill.–A low pocket of deep violet-blue caught my eye last Saturday by contrast with the high browns and yellows of fall at Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve.
It was gentian. Downy gentian I think, not the closed purple gentian or cream gentian former steward Beckie Green had told me to watch for.
I’ve evolved in my relationship with prairies. Growing up on a farm, I found it hard to look at a prairie without thinking the wildness is the work of a lazy, no-account farmer. That feeling hung on for decades before I learned to appreciate prairies. Having Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie nearby fueled my breakthrough.
Now, I evolved so much that I’ve volunteered for a couple years at Rock Creek Wildflower and Pollinator Area, a new restoration in Manteno. Green is the steward and kept telling me to visit the remnant prairie at Loda.
Remnant prairies are basically pieces untilled since settlement. Grand Prairie Friends describes Loda Cemetery Prairie NP as an “outstanding example of the original mesic black soil prairie.”
“Prairies of any type that retain a level of quality for inclusion on the Illinois Natural Area Inventory number 438 and total to 3,768 acres; black soil prairies like Loda 175, and 1,830 acres,” emailed Todd Strole, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission executive director. “But take note, only 664 acres remain if you take Goose Lake Prairie out of the mix. Most are postage stamps remnants in the Prairie State!”
Contrast that with the 22 million acres of prairie land Illinois had in 1820, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Loda Cemetery Prairie NP makes an L on the north and east sides of Pine Ridge Cemetery on the north end of Loda. The remnant is embedded between buffers on the west, north and east.
The Gensburg-Markham Prairie, west of the Tri-State, is my favorite remnant prairie. Joel Greenberg, author of “A Natural History of the Chicago Region,” calls it the finest example in the Chicago region. His other favorites are Wolf Road Prairie NP in Westchester, South Unit of Illinois Beach State Park (more high-quality ecosystems than anywhere else in the state) and Lockport Prairie NP (only accessible high-quality dolomite prairie in the state).
Strole hates to play favorites, but he loves Revis Springs Hill Prairie NP, for its beauty and because he “deposited blood, sweat, and tears in its loess soil as a district heritage biologist many years ago.” Amy Doll, director of the Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, favors Fults Hill Prairie NP in Monroe County, Old Plank Road Prairie NP in Matteson and Harlem Hills NP in Loves Park.
What triggered my growing love of prairies is learning to look close at plants, insects and birds. Those small interlocking pieces hold worlds.
At Loda Prairie, there’s no parking lot, so I improvised, then walked the mowed path serpentining through the east buffer. There were multitudes of grasshoppers, butterflies (including a monarch), moths and crickets. One treasure at Loda Cemetery Prairie NP is its prairie cicadas. I didn’t hear or see any. July is a better for that. I found New England asters, leadplant and lots of brown-eyed Susan and goldenrod. GPF figures “about 130 species of prairie flowers and grasses” are there.
Then I wandered the perimeter to the prairie viewing platform in the armpit of the L. A sea of towering Indian grass and sawtooth sunflowers stretched west. That gave a sense of what prairie must have been like 200 years ago. Looking and listening hard, you could see and hear vehicles on I-57 in the distance. But you got a sense of real prairie.
As I wandered, mostly on the perimeter, I found American germander, lots of rattlesnake master and some purple prairie clover. Milkweed grew on the edges. One milkweed had dozens of milkweed bugs. Some teasel and thistles grew on the edges, otherwise it was fairly pristine. Near the end, I found the gentian. By the sticktights on my shirt and pants, I passed tick-trefoil at some point.
A caterpillar hitched a ride on my shoulder when I climbed into our Prius. I plucked a fox moth caterpillar (I think) off my shirt, then released the caterpillar in the grass.
It was time.
“I must say that any cemetery prairie finds a soft spot in my heart,” Strole said. “Somehow, knowing that people were laid to rest in natural setting that has changed little over time brings a feeling of awe and respect that is unmatched.”
Information on Loda Cemetery Prairie NP is at grandprairiefriends.org.
Unless you’re a prairie fanatic, I would not make a special trip. But, if visiting Champaign, it is an good easy way to break up the trip.