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Orland Grassland

Location: Cook County, T36N, R12E, Secs. 28 & 33, Village of Orland Park
Size of area affected by MSCSF-funded work: 505 acres
Resulting Illinois Nature Preserves Commission Land & Water Reserve Dedication: 898 acres
Owner: Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC)
Partners: FPDCC, USACE, CorLands, National Audubon – Chicago Region, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Village of Orland Park

Action: Restoration management plan, drainage and tile inventory, hydric soil mapping, hydrologic restoration, hedgerow removal, treatment of woody resprouts, planting of native seeds and plugs, prescribed burning, herbaceous invasive species control, bird and plant monitoring, native insect inventory, and volunteer recruitment, training and mentoring.

Summary: Restoration management plan for site, drainage and tile inventory, hydric soil mapping, removal of interior reforestation areas, herbaceous invasive control, plan for and implementation of controlled burns, volunteer recruitment, training and mentoring, communications plan and open house event for nearby residents, purchase of restoration equipment for volunteers.

Orland Grassland is a large rectangle that is one-mile wide by 1.5 miles long. The Forest Preserve District of Cook County purchased the site in the 1970s and planted clusters of trees on the former agricultural fields. Before that, presettlement vegetation maps show the site and most of the surrounding area of Orland Township was entirely prairie.

Orland Grassland is surrounded by roads on each side, with homes and businesses on the other sides of the streets. It was imperative that there be a communications plan in place to include direct neighbors, the surrounding communities, and the municipal government of Orland Park, Tinley Park, and Orland Hills in the conceptual development and implementation of the restoration and management plan. The outreach and information initiative was enormously successful; the community is fully behind the restoration at Orland Grassland and the Village of Orland Park consistently has provided meeting space and helped in other ways with the planning and implementation effort.

In addition to the formulation of the site’s restoration and management plan and in-field restoration work, MSCSF helped fund a program to recruit and train a volunteer stewardship group for Orland Grassland. Activities include identifying volunteer leaders, providing technical and logistical support in creating goals and conducting work days, and initiating a newsletter. The Audubon-Chicago Region office is working cooperatively with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County to carry out this work.

Orland Grassland is the best spot in southern Cook County for grassland birds. Henslow sparrows, meadowlarks, clay-colored sparrows and bobolinks all make their homes here. Creating as open of an environment that is as clear of trees as possible was a primary goal. A first priority of the plan was to eliminate the planted clusters of trees in the interior of the site. The participants in the planning effort agreed that it made sense to retain a screen of trees around the perimeter of the site; this keeps the view consistent with what it was before for nearby residents, and it provides visitors to the site a visual barrier between the natural area and the outside world of cars and houses. The remaining wooded areas will be managed as savanna.

Hydrological mapping was done for the site, and plans are being developed to disable the tile system to restore the hydrology. Orland Grassland has the second highest elevation in Cook County, putting it at the top of its watershed; unlike many other natural areas, it is not taking in any dirty water from off-site. It also absorbs and stores a tremendous amount of stormwater that would otherwise be flowing off hard surfaces into sewer systems, so it provides an important service to the Village of Orland Park.

The clearing of interior clusters of trees and shrubs went quickly, and results showed up soon after. Shortly after the first burn, a group of volunteers paused during their work-day to watch the thrilling spectacle of a flock of about 100 sand hill cranes landing in the recently-burned area. The bird monitoring effort reports that others of the grassland birds have been active in areas where they were never seen before. The restoration effort has opened up new areas for them to feed and nest.