Endangered bumblebee is blocking Rockford airport expansion that will destroy rare prairie — but only for another week

Birder John Longhenry takes a look at the Bell Bowl Prairie, adjacent to Chicago Rockford International Airport, on Oct. 20, 2021, in Winnebago County. Construction has begun on an 280-acre airport expansion that cuts through the 5-acre virgin gravel prairie containing at least 164 species of plants, bumblebees and rare nesting birds such as the grasshopper sparrow. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)