If you missed the printed copy of our 2013 Annual Report, check it out here!
Inside, you will find stories and articles about all the events and accomplishments of STPS’ in 2013. Check out great photos too!
Click on the picture below to view the report (PDF) or find it in our digital publications category on this website.
Happy Thanksgiving from Save the Prairie Society!
We’re thankful for all the people who make our work possible and anyone who cares about saving our environment. Without you, scenes like this wouldn’t be possible!
Are you an Android user looking to give to charities? Google has you in mind with their app OneToday.
OneToday allows android users to donate $1 to a daily featured charity. You can match friends donations and share with other users the project you are supporting.
Save the Prairie Society has joined up with OneToday with a campaign for our restoration management work. If you’d like to donate to STPS, download the app from the Google Play Store (the app is free) and look for our campaign to be featured as the daily OneToday Project in the future.
We will also make a post when we are the featured daily OneToday project.
For more information on OneToday, visit the official page here.
Thank you for supporting STPS!
I have been a gardener for most of my life (since I was 13, so gardening for 30 yrs), and the past ten years have been spent specifically gardening for butterflies and then learning all about all of the different species and their fascinating life cycles.
This year I am taking this interest into more organized formats to spread awareness and contribute to their survival. With some other people in Oak Park, we are creating a Wild Ones chapter in the hope of encouraging people to incorporate more natural landscaping which is friendlier to butterflies, birds, and other creatures.
I also decided to participate in a different way in the study of butterflies and to volunteer for the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network (IBMN). The IBMN’s purpose is to collect data about butterflies through citizen scientists. Tracking the numbers of butterflies gives useful information about a particular habitat.
Monitors are supposed to visit their assigned site 6-8 times from Memorial Day through August 8; 4 of those visits need to happen before July 20 and data needs to be entered online. Monitors may net the butterflies to obtain specific identification, but I do not feel quite comfortable enough to do that yet. Many of the butterflies we are looking for are ones that I am familiar with and can identify while in flight. Now, some of those similar-looking skippers and small hairstreaks who might move off too fast are another story! Luckily, even unidentified skippers or hairstreaks are still useful data.
This is my first year, and I am so happy to do it at Wolf Road Prairie. It is a special place, and one I look forward to visiting each time. I love seeing the changing landscape and hearing and seeing beautiful birds too. I haven’t seen a Common Yellowt-throat in forever and have never seen a Woodcock but saw one up close when we startled each other. Thanks to all of you that have worked so hard to preserve such a magnificent place.
Shop Willowbrook Whole Foods Market and Support Save the Prairie Society. 
When you reuse your grocery bag you can choose to donate your dime refund to Save the Prairie Society. As part of Earth Month, Whole Foods Market Willowbrook (201 63rd Street in Willowbrook west of 83) is proud to support our organization consisting of dedicated volunteers working to preserve and restore the 80-acre Wolf Road Prairie and buffer lands, a surviving part of the less than 1/100th of 1% high quality prairie that remains in Illinois. In addition, we are also restoring the historical prairie house with plans to use it as a nature museum without compromising its historical features. The fundraiser runs from now until June 30 at the Willowbrook location ONLY. 
The Save the Prairie Society is now on Twitter and Facebook! Be sure to visit us at twitter.com/prairiesociety and to “Like us” at www.facebook.com/prairiesociety . Add your own relevant comments or share your own pictures of Wolf Road Prairie. This is a fabulous way to connect with other nature lovers far and near!
The wild hyacinth is now carpeting Wolf Road Prairie’s savanna floor with their blossoms, and when there is a breeze their perfume fills the air. Look also for white starry Solomon seal and pink wild geraniums. On the prairie, you will find little islands of yellow wood betony, as well as the delicate blue-eyed grass, which sometimes appears blue, but at other times is white tinged with blue, scattered throughout the prairie. Enjoy the stronger colors of the butter-scotch colored hoary puccoon, and the golden Alexanders. And for the observant, the white flowers of the wild strawberries are blooming close to the ground. (Photo by Barbara A. Schreiber)
CONSERVATION ALERT: STARVED ROCK STATE PARK IS IN DANGER. An out-of-state company has proposed an open pit sand mine immediately adjacent to the park. This would involve draining a marsh and impacting the park with heavy traffic, as well as causing major air and noise pollution. To advocate
Please join our dedicated volunteers to help remove invasive plants, such as buckthorn, at Wolf Road Prairie. Weather permitting, we have two more Saturday workdays scheduled for Fall on November 5 and November 14, between 9 a.m. and Noon at #9 Hickory Lane. Hickory Lane is west of the Prairie on the north side of 31st Street, just past the Cook County Forest Preserve Police Station. Just drive past the little bridge on Hickory Lane and turn right onto the first driveway. Even if the weather is exceptionally warm, it is better to wear long pants and sturdy shoes. Everyone welcome. Stay for an hour or the entire time. For more information call 708-354-5512. (Photo credit: Nate Fremont)
Please consider joining us on Sunday evenings from 4-6 pm to help out in our beautiful Franzosenbusch Prairie House garden, located at 11225 Constitution Drive in Westchester. Whether you have a green thumb or not, everyone is welcome to come and spend an enjoyable evening helping us to make our garden even more lovely. Whatever amount of time you can offer will be more than appreciated.