Illinois volunteers restore 43 acres with 9,000 native plants and 1,100 pounds of seed

PC: US Fish and Wildlife Service In northeast Illinois, the Greenbelt Forest Preserve covers 607 acres between North Chicago and Waukegan. Invasive plants, including teasel, Canada thistle, canary grass, buckthorn and common reed, have displaced native vegetation there. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, working with the Lake County Forest Preserve District and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the agency's Coastal Program has restored 43 acres along the headwaters of the Skokie River. Volunteers, including a local Youth Conservation Corps, contributed more than 2,400 hours, and the cleared land was replanted with more than 1,100 pounds of native seed and nearly 9,000 native plant plugs.How did Illinois restore 43 acres of wetland habitatIts Coastal Program is working with the Lake County Forest Preserve District and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). Their efforts recently restored 43 acres of wetland and surrounding upland areas along the headwaters of the Skokie River.The relationship between the Coastal Program and the District as mutually beneficial and more than a decade in the making. It states that this work has resulted in the restoration of o...