Prospect Heights Natural Resources Commission

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All programs take place at the Prospect Heights Public Library's AB meeting room or on  Zoom. Talks start promptly at 7:00. Nature Speaks is free admission but registration is necessary.

Erin Haase is an ecologist, botanist, and educator with a master’s degree in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Illinois-Chicago.  She has been a natural resource specialist at Fermilab since 2022 and the assistant director of James Woodworth Prairie in Glenview, IL since 2014.

She has been an active volunteer with the North Branch Restoration Project in Cook County for over 20 years, serving as steward of Bunker Hill Savanna in Chicago since 2015.  In addition, she is a Plants of Concern monitor for the Chicago Botanic Garden and a board member of the Northeast Chapter of the Illinois Native Plant Society.  Prior to working at Fermilab, she taught environmental science and chemistry for Chicago Public Schools and connected hundreds of urban students to nature through habitat restoration workdays.

November 11, 2026 - 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Live and in-person, Wally Levernier & Erin Haase

"50 Years of Prairie Restoration at Fermilab"

In this presentation, Wally and Erin will give a brief description and history of prairies in Illinois, and how their decline led to an ambitious project that started in 1975 to restore tallgrass prairie at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, at that time the largest restoration of its kind. With the collaboration of lab staff, community experts, and volunteers, the prairie restoration grew to a patchwork of over 1110 acres at its maximum extent, setting an example for similar restoration projects across the region.

In 2025, extensive vegetation surveys were conducted to understand how the quality and biodiversity of the prairies have changed over the 50-year span of the project.  Preliminary analysis indicates that despite brush encroachment and invasive species challenges, species richness and floristic quality index (FQI) have continued to increase in the majority of the restoration units, with many attaining the FQI goal of 50.

We will also discuss overall lessons we have learned about the process of prairie restoration from this 50-year project.

Wally Levernier has been restoring Midwestern ecosystems for over 20 years. Since 2018 he has been the Senior Natural Resource Specialist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory where he is responsible for the management of approximately 2,600 acres of Midwestern ecosystems including 850 acres of restored tallgrass prairies. This includes coordinating volunteer efforts and coordinating external environmental research that occurs at the lab through the National Environmental Research Park (NERP) program.

The evening will conclude with a discussion of current priorities and projects of the Fermilab Ecology Group, including collaboration with the nonprofit group Fermilab Natural Areas, plant and wildlife monitoring, and bird habitat management.