Sangamon River Forest Preserve

Remarks at the Sangamon River Forest Preserve “Sneak Preview”
June 15, 2008 by CCFPD Executive Director Jerry Pagac

The Sangamon River Forest Preserve is now our fifth and newest preserve, and we have been busy trying to learn all we can about this unique property. The District’s mission is all about preserving and sharing our county’s natural and cultural history. As we discover more and more about this particular place, we are struck by the opportunity it affords us to reveal the historic landscape of our county; no doubt the best opportunity to do so of any land the District now owns.

This is a story that most people are unaware of and even if they are, it is very difficult to imagine what the landscape was like when settlers first gazed out on the native Illinois tallgrass prairie. When we see a vestige of prairie today we are often awe struck by its beauty, especially when in mid-summer bloom.

When the first European settlers entered Champaign County from the east, they were probably shocked to see what they described as an endless sea of grass. Over 90% of the entire county was grassland, much of it wet. Quite naturally, the settlers clung to the “groves,” the areas on either side of the rivers that were heavily forested and familiar to them. These “Islands” in the sea of grass provided shelter from the wind, fuel for their fires and material to build their homes and utensils. This also meant that, like islands elsewhere, the people were cut off from others and there was limited space to try to eke out a living. Nonetheless, they persevered surrounded by what they viewed as a hostile wasteland.

Let’s go back even further in time. Throughout the eons, lightning induced fires would annually burn huge areas of the prairie allowing only the fire adapted grasses and forbs to thrive. The fires were unable to advance very far into the wooded groves situated along the rivers. It was just too lush and moist to sustain the fire. In a few areas where the fire was able to begin to encroach, a transition landscape known as savanna emerged. This half prairie, half forest ecosystem retained most of the prairie grasses and forbs but a few oaks with their thick, protective bark hung on, able to withstand repeated exposure to fire; damaged but still clinging to life. With each successive fire episode the individual oaks reinforced their resistance, building up what you might call tree “scar tissue”; corky bark that serves as insulation from the heat that boiled the sap of all the other species, causing their demise. All but these few oaks succumbed to the inferno and perished.

These ancient giants stand apart here in the tall grass yet today, a testament to nature’s ability to adapt and survive. Some of the oaks here may be two hundred years old! But why were they spared the axe? No doubt the settlers quickly realized this rolling land with large shade trees was a perfect place for their cattle to graze, and besides, the open grown trees were already too large and branched to make good timber. Cutting them down would be a huge effort for what was gained and their shade in summer was a relief for cattle and man.

So it was that prairie, grove, savanna and settlers persisted together for the next 50 or more years after the first settlers arrived.

It is important to note that prairie species have very long root systems that hold moisture in the soil. The resulting sticky, clinging mud made plowing prairie all but impossible. However, one invention would soon change everything. The invention and perfection of the self-scouring plow enabled the prairie to finally be broken and used for agriculture. The land would never again be the same. This formerly “worthless” prairie was destined to be “discovered” as perhaps the best place on the entire earth to grow one of man’s most important food crops - corn.

Actually, we skipped ahead and need to mention one more critical step that was needed before Champaign County’s prairie could reach its agricultural potential. Despite what I said earlier about the soil, our county was one of the last to be settled in the state. Remember early on we pointed out that much of the county was wet prairie. There was water on or very near the surface almost everywhere, thanks to the work of the receding glacier and its varying deposits of layers of clays, sands and gravels. Have you ever looked at a state map and wondered why more rivers have their headwaters in our county than any other in the state? At one time there was standing water almost everywhere!

If this land was ever to be productive it needed to shed some of its water. As if on cue, people began arriving from the low country of Europe with their incredible drainage expertise. They set to work on an elaborate and labor intensive underground system of tile or pipe, first made from wood and later mass produced from clay. The tile was buried in paralleling lines on a lateral gradient that would allow the water to move off the land. There were openings in the top of each section of tile to allow water to enter but along the bottom, a continuous trough meant the water could continuously flow by gravity.

Eventually this subterranean flow had to enter surface streams which in turn had to be deepened. We have a great case in point right here with Wildcat Slough which flows from the northeast through the preserve and into the Sangamon. It looks like a stream but is called a slough. Why? There were some areas of the historic landscape that were so wet, they were called swamps or sloughs. Today, we call them wetlands and most that once existed are now gone. Even these extremely wet places could be drained but the job needed to be done by dredging an artificial channel, deep into the bottom of the wetland or slough. That is why when we look at Wildcat Slough today, we see what looks like a stream even as it retains its old descriptive in the name.

So what is the District’s goal regarding this land? It is to restore the landscape as close as we possibly can to its original pre-settlement conditions. If successful, we will no longer have to imagine what it once looked like. We will be able to see the historic landscape with our own eyes. The original surveyor’s maps will guide our restoration, allowing us to reveal the story of our heritage. West and the east of the Sangamon valley, the prairie grassland once “flowed” right up to the wooded groves of the stream valleys. That upland soil on the preserve has been in corn but soon it will once again hold the roots of the prairie plants that evolved and thrived here for thousands of years following the retreat of the last glacier. The transitional oak savanna ecosystem which has persisted on the east side of the new preserve will continue to tower above the grasses below. With individual branches as large as most trees, these craggy giants reach out in every direction to capture the light.

How will we manage the land once the prairie is restored and again takes its place with savanna and forest grove? The answer is fire! Periodic fire will ensure the continued health of the preserve.

We have talked very little up to now about the grove...the thickly forested areas in which the seasonal fires could not penetrate. Fortunately, these low, bottomland areas have already been planted with thousands of native tree seedlings by the former landowners, Ron and Karen Cook. These thriving young trees will become the backbone of the restored Sangamon Grove. The result - visitors will someday be able to experience what their forbears did when they arrived at this challenging and amazing place on the Illinois frontier. In short, it will be a window to our past.

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