Restoration and Today
At the time of donation in 1971, the Gensburg-Markham Prairie had become deeply degraded by invasive exotic plants. Decades of prairie restoration work, begun by Northeastern Illinois University's Robert Betz, have cleared away some of the brush and allowed much of the original prairie's tallgrass flora to re-establish itself. Controlled burns have played a key role in this work. The prairie was listed as an Illinois Nature Preserve in September 1980.
More than 100 acres (0.40 km2) of tallgrass prairie within the larger grassland are now classified as high-quality tallgrass prairie. The grassland is owned by the Nature Conservancy and Northeastern Illinois University, which cooperate in its management.
Characteristic tallgrass prairie fauna, such as the Henslow's sparrow, have been sighted at the prairie.
Read more about this topic: Gensburg-Markham Prairie
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