The Nachusa Grasslands found in Northeastern Lee County is a preserved area that creates a beautiful habitat for wildlife amidst the expansive agriculture and rapid urbanization of northern Illinois. I visited the meandering Franklin Creek on the Jay Meiners Wetland, just north of the Grist Mill, to evaluate the ecological conditions of this reserved landscape and waterway. I had stumbled upon this gem while motorcycling last summer and returned there for a twist in my plan to survey the Rock River beforehand. The wetland is nestled between two rolling hills with protruding sandstone and lush grasses and wildflowers. The opportunity to investigate a smaller stream made the experience more personal because of its isolation and unfamiliarity.
The habitat provides a quite favorable area to host wildlife, as it is intended to do so. There was evidence of many species in the area; I found a single pair of Canada Geese, deer and raccoon tracks, a few carp, gopher holes, and varying birdcalls had been present. Wildflowers were plentiful and a bumblebee was captured by my eye and ear among them. Surprisingly, there was no garlic mustard suffocating the land. However, it was prominent on the opposite side of the road, as was most of the litter. I only saw one large, empty coke bottle on the preserve and several plastic bags stuck on barbed wire on other private property.
The land was quite attractive and appeared to be landscaped by only nature. I found rocks roped together in the land next to a pool and riffle in the creek. I deduced it must have been deliberately fashioned to minimize erosion from the swift current. I scored the bottom substrate available cover with a 15. There was nearly half of the bottom covered in rocks and the rest was sandy mud. The embeddedness was excellent; I could see the rocks had only a bit of their surface sprinkled with particles. It was just enough to get a 17. The Franklin Creek met all ranging velocity depths and sparkled with beauty at a riffle, triggering a 19. I could see tadpoles beneath the shallow surface just upstream from a meander. The flow of the water was continuous, and I know from the area’s history that it runs annually. The water level was high and obviously had submerged many grasses stalks. 14 had been the best I could offer for the flow stability, because of slight potential for drought in recent extremes. Bottom deposition was not apparent, so I gave it a 12. There were a few twisting bends along with merely adequate depths in the noted riffle and pool, scoring an 11 for the diversity between pools, riffles, runs, and bends. The mostly stable bank of the stream showed some signs of erosion, and sloped enough of a great degree to get a 7 out of 10. Nearly 85% of the area I was in was covered by tall grasses, and was predominant along the water’s edge. For the lushness of this grass, I gave 9 points to the bank vegetative stability category. With that abundance of grasses, the streamside cover had only scored a 5 out of 10. Altogether, the score was then tallied to 109 points out of 135. A very respectable score indeed, yet has room for improvement for a habitat that is being maintained. It would be difficult to do so, because of the already abundant farmland that surrounds the preserve, which attributes to sediment pollution.
A question that had risen in my thoughts was the contribution of sand into the waterway by erosion of the sandstone jutting from within the earth. With this geographical commodity quite common in our area, how does one prevent this naturally occurring pollutant from flowing into the creek? Also, how can it be a negative aspect of ecological standard when it cannot be removed and interacts with the elements that encompass it? I can only deduce that it breaks down slowly, thus not effecting the environment in an overwhelming manner. The sand was half of the ground that made up the area mixed with soil, so having the two together proved to not be that damaging.
Overall, I found the wetland quite captivating and well maintained. It is definitely a place I would like to visit and explore more. The irony in the mystic beauty of the land was although there was minimal litter; I found several golf balls. The land is set aside for natural habitat, but someone was using it as a driving range. That remains to show how humans will use any bit of land as their own personal playground, thus contributing to species discounting, and do not care to pick up after themselves. The few things I felt that could change to better the location would have to be reducing the speed limit by the wetland, add a few more trees to the landscape, and remove some of the barbed wire that surrounds the property. Cars would fly by me when I was near the road and posed a threat to more that just I. Planting a few new trees would add to the atmosphere and help provide in streamside cover. The barbed wire can harm wildlife and humans exploring the habitat and was not in the best shape as it was. It has been in my findings that there is always room for improvement for the environment and in one’s own being. It proves to say that doing a little to help our earth can make change in substantial ways. The same goes that a bit of harm can do just the opposite.
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