Chicago Road Seedbed overview

<p>Like most of Illinois, very little of Midewin consists of natural prairie &ndash; less than 200 acres, scattered in little remnants across the site. To restore the remainder of Midewin to tallgrass prairie and other native habitats (nearly 20,000 acres) will take considerable time and plant materials, including seed.</p><p>Three seedbeds, at the Supervisor&rsquo;s Office, River Road and Chicago Road, provide the native plant seeds from over 100 species of prairie plants to help restore Midewin with native plants.</p><p>Plantings for this seedbed began in 1996, the year Midewin was created. It is the second largest native plant seedbed at 2 acres. The plantings are mostly native grasses and forbs surrounded by a fence to prevent deer browsing. It will take a walk or bicycle ride to visit these seedbeds, located one mile south of the Hoff Road Trailhead. There is a nice walking trail around Turtle Pond here, too.</p><p>Although some types of wild seed are available from specialized native plant nurseries, many are not. That&rsquo;s one major purpose of Midewin&rsquo;s three native seed production gardens -- to produce seeds of native grasses and wildflowers that we cannot get from other sources. Many of these plant species are not commercially available, or if available, not in the amounts we need to restore prairie to Midewin. Even with our own production of seed and plants, it will still take many decades to restore much of the native habitats to Midewin.</p><p>For more information on seed production and some <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/midewin/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=STELPRDB5176370">Frequently Asked Questions </a> visit the Land And Resources Management section of the website.</p>