{"id":84892,"date":"2023-07-07T08:26:32","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T15:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=84892"},"modified":"2023-07-07T08:26:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T15:26:32","slug":"home-sweet-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=84892","title":{"rendered":"Home Sweet Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Headed northbound on I-55, I found myself surrounded by fields of familiar Illinois flora: Zea mays <\/em>and Glycine max<\/em>, better-known by their common names \u201ccorn\u201d and \u201csoybeans.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon my return home from college, however, I now also eyed scattered blooms of Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica<\/em>), Wild Hyacinth (Camassia scilloides<\/em>), and Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon meadia<\/em>) in preparation for the next six months spent at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Native Michigan Lilies (Lilium michiganense) in full bloom. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Formed by glacial outburst floods during the Ice Age, Midewin and the surrounding areas host some of Illinois\u2019 last remaining dolomite prairies. Numerous rare plant species call this habitat home, spared from the plow due to its characteristically thin soils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This unique plant community has presented the opportunity to work alongside the Chicago Botanic Garden\u2019s Plant of Concern program, monitoring sub-populations of Small White Lady\u2019s Slipper (Cypripedium candidum<\/em>), Slender Sandwort (Minuartia patula<\/em>), Butler\u2019s Quillwort (Iso\u00ebtes butleri<\/em>), and Buffalo Clover (Trifolium reflexum<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Eastern Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa), commonly found among bedrock scrapes. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many weeks have already been spent stumbling through sedge-meadows and honing my plant identification skills \u2014 much needed for the intimidating amount of Carex<\/em> on our Target Species List.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other days have been used to put my CLM training to the test, collecting seed from Yellow Stargrass (Hypoxis hirsuta<\/em>), Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium albidum<\/em>), and Prairie Violet (Viola pedatifida<\/em>) from a patch of remnant prairie at Lobelia Meadows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bicknell\u2019s Sedge (Carex bicknellii) ready for harvest. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite being raised less than 10 miles away from Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, I\u2019ve already explored it more this past month than I have my entire life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although it\u2019s no Chugach or Tongass National Forest, Midewin is nevertheless a gem of the Prairie State \u2014  no matter how many acres of corn and soybeans hide it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exploring Goose Lake Prairie, one of the many other natural areas that Illinois has to offer. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dade Bradley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Headed northbound on I-55, I found myself surrounded by fields of familiar Illinois flora: Zea mays and Glycine max, better-known by their common names \u201ccorn\u201d and \u201csoybeans.\u201d  Upon my return home from college, however, I now also eyed scattered blooms of Spring Beauty … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[50,3489,3634],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84892"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84906,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84892\/revisions\/84906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}