“Before European settlement, two-thirds of Illinois was tall grass prairie. Today, we find it virtually extinct,” says Bernie Buchholz of the Friends of Nachusa Grasslands. Over the past thirty years, The Nature Conservancy has preserved and restored 3,600 acres of prairie, woodlands, and wetlands in Franklin Grove. The Friends of Nachusa Grasslands, a volunteer organization founded in 2008, provides for the long-term care and management of the project. The Friends of Nachusa Grasslands also promote and fund scientific research and recently helped reintroduce the most iconic prairie resident to the grounds: the American bison.

The Friends of Nachusa Grasslands is committed to building endowments to support their future; they are a two-time recipient of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois’ Carroll H. Starr Endowment Challenge. (For nonprofits interested in building an endowment at the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, the Carroll H. Starr Endowment Challenge will be offered again summer 2018.)

To learn more about the Friends of Nachusa Grasslands and how you can stroll through a rare patch of prairie in the Prairie State and see bison in their native habitat, visit http://www.nachusagrasslands.org/.

This is the third in a series of short films produced by the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois and the Harlem Veteran Project. To see all the films released so far, visit our YouTube channel.