Army Corps Bids On Project To Benefit, Protect Lockport Prairie

LOCKPORT, IL — A patch of habitat at Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve will be worked on by the Army Corps. According to the forest preserve, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be spending millions of dollars in the next couple of years to remove invasive species, encourage native plant growth and replenish the underground water source for a patch of extremely rare habitat in the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve.

The forest preserve said Lockport Prairie features wet and wet-mesic dolomite prairie, which are among the most critically imperiled natural communities on Earth. More than half of the high quality wet dolomite prairie in the world is located at the preserve, which is home to endangered and threatened species.

The Army Corps released a bid packet for the project on Nov. 17 and bids will be opened Dec. 19, according to the forest preserve. Restoration work could begin this winter and it will span an estimated five years. The project will total $2.5 million initially, but there could be additional appropriations in the coming years to fund more restoration options.

"The Forest Preserve and Army Corps of Engineers have been working together for over a decade to develop a strategy to preserve and enhance Lockport Prairie," Ralph Schultz, the Forest Preserve's chief operating officer, said in a release. "We're excited this project is moving into its next phase with a significant investment by the Corps in preserving the future of one of Will County's natural wonders."

According to the forest preserve, Lockport Prairie inhabitants include the federally endangered Hine's emerald dragonfly, leafy prairie clover and lakeside daisy; the state-endangered golden corydalis and spotted turtle; and the state-threatened stiff sandwort and Blanding's turtle.

The project’s goal is to restore the natural habitat and critical groundwater relationship between the Forest Preserve's Prairie Bluff Preserve in Crest Hill and Lockport Prairie in Lockport Township.

The forest preserve said as groundwater from Prairie Bluff moves slowly toward the Des Plaines River, it flows into Lockport Prairie where it seeps from a bluff or filters above ground creating habitat for a diversity of plants and creatures. But the preserve is getting drier because the flow of groundwater has been reduced by decades of human activity, ranging from excavation of the I&M Canal to the creation of parking lots and roads in the area.

Photo provided by Forest Preserve District of Will County. Lakeside daisies are among the threatened or endangered species that can be found at the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve. The preserve will benefit in the next couple years from a multimillion-dollar Army Corps of Engineers’ project that will improve habitat at the Lockport Prairie and the adjacent Prairie Bluff Preserve. (Photo by Juanita Armstrong-Ullberg, Forest Preserve staff)