Wolf Road Prairie

photo by DABrown

Wolf Road Prairie 10/08

I love this place. It is a natural mesic prairie that has been untouched by the John Deere plow and by human hand. Woodland era Native Americans (from up to 500 years ago) had a small settlement near the river and used on a trail footpath now a major road to Chicago and Lake Michigan. The prairie is located just a couple of miles from Chicago. In fact, you can see the downtown skyline easily which makes it simply amazing it has survived the onslaught of civilization, the price of land around here is astronomical.

I observed, this spring, at dusk, the beautiful mating flight and calling of the American Woodcock.

Poet and naturalist Wendell Berry once said, “This place, if I am to live well in it, requires and deserves a lifetime of the most careful attention.”

The key word there is attention. Really get to know the place where you live! I ask myself in the morning, what will my attention bring me today? By evening, today, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help hold in esteem, care for and restore this unique place.