The Chicago Sun-Times published an op-ed penned by Openlands, The Wetlands Initiative, and Sierra Club Illinois, asking that management of the Joliet Training Area (3,000 acres) in Will County be moved to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. We fully support this! Midewin, one of the largest grassland restorations east of the Mississippi, is directly adjacent to the JTA. Last year alone, POC monitored 41 subpopulations of two Threatened, five Endangered, and three rare plants at Midewin. We used to monitor more subpops nearby, but they were unfortunately lost to the development of industrial facilities.

We fear that if the JTA is not protected, it will be paved over, decreasing water availability and habitat, and increasing stormwater runoff and fossil fuel consumption. Preserving and stewarding the hydrology and geography at JTA is a perfect example of nature-based solutions: conserving biodiversity and limiting climate change.