Latest news

The FAA has given the go ahead to the Greater Rockford Airport Authority (GRAA) to build a road through ancient Bell Bowl Prairie, despite public outcry and available alternatives. Counsel for the GRAA has told NLI's lawyers the airport will start working as early as Thursday March 9th. They are attempting to destroy the prairie before they would have to halt work again by March 15th, when the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee will begin foraging on the prairie (as it has done for thousands of years). If the prairie can be spared until March 15th, the airport will have to wait until October 15th to resume prairie-destroying activities. See this detailed timeline of events.

Upcoming events

One of the last remaining prairies in Illinois, Bell Bowl Prairie, is slated for destruction as part of the expansion of the Chicago Rockford International Airport. Rare, threatened, and endangered species will be destroyed.

Expansion at the Chicago Rockford International Airport can be done responsibly and in ways that do not negatively impact the Bell Bowl Prairie or its rare plants and animals. Feasible, alternative plans exist and can be implemented to benefit the prairie and the Rockford community.

If Bell Bowl Prairie is new to you, read more about the campaign to Save Bell Bowl Prairie and why the prairie is important here. You can also view the timeline of events around Save Bell Bowl Prairie efforts.

Bell Bowl Prairie is a Category I Illinois Natural Areas Inventory (INAI) site, a designation granted by state biologists that reflects the site’s very high ecological quality. State-recognized natural areas such as this can and should be protected with conservation easements and dedicated nature preserve status. Several state and federally Threatened and Endangered species occur at Bell Bowl Prairie.

A federally Endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) was found at Bell Bowl Prairie in 2021. The site also supports habitat and contains many plants that co-occur with the federally Threatened prairie bush clover (Lespedeza leptostachya), which is known to occur in the region. As of the November 2019 Environmental Assessment, no search for this rare species had been conducted. A more complete list of Threatened and Endangered species seen at Bell Bowl Prairie can be found here.

Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We want to hold a space of healthy dialogue and community for as many people as possible to see a place for themselves as advocates for Bell Bowl Prairie. Differences of opinion are welcome, however, mean-spirited, abusive, hateful, or racist comments will only hinder building support and therefore are not acceptable.

We believe that race, inclusivity, Black Lives Matter, and intersectionality with environmentalism are appropriate conversations. They are interconnected and relevant to our goal of saving Bell Bowl Prairie.

We encourage everyone to broaden their understanding of these ideas and to engage in broad respectful discussion. If we are able to learn and grow together we’ll have a stronger, more inclusive, and thus more effective team. This is how we will keep Bell Bowl Prairie safe.

Credit

Images and graphics on this site have been shared or used with permission and were originally created by Clay Bolt, Edward Cope, Liz Anna Kozik, Katie Kucera, Chris Reisetter, cassi saari, Jeff Skrentny, Andrea Wallace, and Derek Ziomber.

Contact

If you have information, images, documentation, or other resources you wish to contribute to this website, please send them to bellbowlprairie@gmail.com. This email is not otherwise being used for correspondence at this time. You may also contact Robbie Telfer at robbie@friendsilnature.org or Jillian Neece at jillian@friendsilnature.org with questions or requests.