In celebration of National Public Lands Day, the Village of Bridgeview, Township of Lyons, ecologist Dr. Louis Mulé of Tallgrass Associates, and local volunteers cleaned up trash, removed invasive/non-native plants, and collected native plant seeds at Bridgeview’s Shooting Star Prairie bordering Harlem Avenue near 76th Street. Teams removed and bagged different plants, such as Canadian Goldenrod and Sawtooth Sunflower, under the direction of Dr. Mulé. Other teams collected seeds from native plants vital to the black soil prairie’s health, including Common Milkweed, Compass Plant, Coneflower, Indian Grass, Mountain Mint, and Switchgrass.
Dr. Mulé explained the importance of the seed collection, saying “these are wild native seeds locally adapted to our area—our ecotype. Generally, they are more difficult to obtain and cost more than horticultural variants sold by growers.”
Seed collection is typically done in the late summer or fall and ensures that stewards of the prairie have each major species of plant to support those native plant populations and keep them healthy. Seeds are placed into a paper bag and stored in a refrigerator, simulating winter temperatures so that the seeds will properly sprout when planted in the spring. Seed collection also provides a valuable record of what plants are thriving in the area, and volunteers interested in starting a native garden at their homes were free to take seeds to support their local environments.
The National Public Lands Day event provided a valuable educational and volunteer opportunity for Scouts from Troop 14 in La Grange as well as students from Reavis High School who attended with their environmental science teacher. Fourteen bags of seeds were collected, weighing an estimated 2.2 lbs. and providing an estimated value of $104.78. The Village of Bridgeview appreciates the volunteers who came out to help preserve and maintain the Shooting Star Prairie.
