Bartel Grassland Volunteers

The Bartel Grassland Restoration Project is a large prairie restoration, a group effort sustained through a partnership of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Audubon-Chicago Region, CorLands, the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers, Thorn Creek Audubon and the Bartel Grassland Volunteers.

The grassland part of the property is approximately 380 acres of fallow farmland that was primarily wet-mesic prairie prior to settlement by Europeans in the early nineteenth century. Through the efforts of the sponsor groups and volunteers, the Bartel Grassland will be restored to as close to the original conditions as possible.

While there are several species of native prairie plants now growing at Bartel, the plant community is presently dominated by European and Asian exotics. Bartel volunteers are engaged in activities designed to restore as many of the original plant species as possible through seed gathering at local prairie remnants. Removal of the field tiles that drained away the water has resulted in a return to a condition closer to the wetter soils that were present there in pre-settlement times.

Grassland birds have returned to Bartel in large numbers. Bobolinks, Savannah Sparrows, Henslow's Sparrows and other grassland species now call Bartel home in response to the improvements already made, and will hopefully continue to increase in the future.

Volunteer Activities
Please contact us by e-mail to be placed on our contact list for upcoming activities. These include, among other things, seed gathering, cleaning and planting, seed scouting, brush cutting, weed pulling.