1. Cook County Forest Preserve
Growing plants for the
Cook County Forest Preserve =

2. Why forest preserves matter
Offer a home for rare animals and plants
Reduce climate change
Protect water quality and reduce flooding
Give people a chance to recreate and connect with nature

3. What is “ecological restoration”?

4. People and nature - Working together
This
Harms Woods
Lacking fire, this oak woodland became choked with buckthorn.

5. With buckthorn gone, an oak woodland is revealed.
Now there’s room for normal plants to return.

6. Three years later, the woodland is thriving.
With increased sunlight and seeding of native plants, this area is recovering.

7. What do volunteers do? Remove invasives (bad plants) to create room for native plants.
Pulling garlic mustard
Cutting down buckthorn

8. What do volunteers do? Harvest native seeds.

9. Seeds harvested by volunteers for you to grow:
Wafer ash
Blazing star
Prairie milkweed* 
Switch grass
Butterfly milkweed
Yellow coneflower
Rose milkweed
Prairie sunflower*
Wild rye
Wild cucumber*
Rattlesnake master
Burr marigold
* Rare
Mountain mint

10. Wafer ash Ptelea trifoliata
This is the only woody plant among the seeds given to CHAS.
Twisted shrub that birds love to perch in.
Also called the “hop tree” because it may have been used in making beer.

11. Prairie, butterfly, and rose milkweed
Host plant for monarch butterfly.
Lots of insects love it!
Prairie milkweed is rare in Illinois and only grows in high-quality prairies.

12. Virginia wild rye Elymus virginicus
The wild cousin of the rye used to make bread and whiskey.
Provides nutritious food for animals and birds.

13. Rattlesnake master Eryngium yuccifolium Up to 5” tall
The spikey balls are actually clusters of small flowers.
In the carrot family.
Native Americans used it as a snakebite remedy.

14. Burr marigold Bidens aristosa Common native flower
Its seeds stick to passersby.
Its nicknames include beggars ticks, black jack, cobbler's pegs, Spanish needles, stickseeds, and tickseeds.

15. Mountain mint Pycnanthemum muticum Strong minty smell
Lots of pollinators love this plant.
Leaves can be used to make mild tea. Native Americans used this plant for treatment of fevers, colds, stomach aches, and other minor physical ailments.

16. Blazing star Liatris spicata Likes wet prairies
Pollinators love this plant.
4” tall

17. Switch grass Panicum virgatum Classic prairie grass Turns gold in fall
Seeds are small and hard, like sesame seeds

18. Yellow coneflower Ratibida pinnata Grows to be 4” tall
Prefers prairies

19. Prairie sunflower Helianthus pauciflorus
The flowers attract bumblebees, miner bees, leaf-cutting bees, bee flies, butterflies, and skippers.
Found in prairie remnants.

20. Wild cucumber Echinocystis lobata Grows along the edges of woods; rare
Vine
Related to—you guessed it—cucumbers!

21. Healthy preserves depend on volunteers.
Restore the conditions that support healthy nature
Maintain the diversity of plants