116 Hamilton Place  Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1041  July 17, 2000
	Sierra Club Woods & Wetlands Group

I recently received a site plan map from the village for the Nike Site. Although it is good to see swales, and wetland buffers required by the WDO, I was very troubled that none of the entire site has been set aside for Illinois' most threatened and valuable wilderness habitat: prairies.

As you are no doubt aware, all of the numerous proposed athletic fields must be well drained, and will probably be irrigated, fertilized, and regularly treated with herbacide and insecticide, to support European turf grass that does not otherwise survive well here. With its very shallow root system, and the underlying drainage system, this will offer little water absorption capacity (and probably should be considered as impermeable area when calculating the retention areas). This will likely add to the flood burden we place on Indian Creek and the Des Plaines River, and increase their already serious flood and erosion problems.

Prairies, on the other hand thrive naturally on our native soils without drainage, irrigation, or regular chemical treatment. They generate deep, absorptive soils, and provide unique habitat for many beautiful but vanishing species such as meadowlark, bobolink, bluebird, as well as butterflies. Prairies are also the only ecosystem in our biome that sequester carbon dioxide, to help stop Global Warming. Considering the rising role of environmental science in our school curricula, I believe we will miss an important opportunity to provide a natural laboratory for convenient field trips from the several surrounding schools if we fail to retain and restore at least a few dozen acres as prairie.

I think the Village should revise the plan to preserve an area as prairie, and indicate whether the vast drained athletic field areas on the present plan have been mitigated with increased wetland areas, or whether only the roads and parking lots have been included in those calculations.
 

Sincerely,  Evan L. Craig  Chair