Another deadline has passed in the high-profile battle to save Bell Bowl Prairie in Rockford, one of the last remnants of ancient prairie in Illinois, and home to the federally endangered rusty patched bumblebee.
The Chicago Rockford International Airport, which owns the prairie and wants to build a road through the heart of it, had agreed to delay construction until at least Oct. 15, when the bees’ foraging (or feeding) season ends.
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But advocates say that Bell Bowl still has temporary protections, in the form of assurances that the airport will not begin construction until completion of state and federal assessments of the effects on the rusty patched bumblebee.
Those assessments are still open and pending, and it’s unclear when they will be done, according to environmentalists who are fighting the current construction plans.
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“That’s what makes it hard,” said Amy Doll, director of Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves. “It’s hard to rally around, ‘Sometime, they may destroy the prairie.’ ”
Prairie advocates have been told they will receive notification if construction is allowed to continue, and the Natural Land Institute is considering a lawsuit seeking to block the construction, which is part of a $50 million airport expansion project.
An earlier lawsuit was successful in temporarily halting construction. Environmentalists want the airport to move the proposed road so that it won’t disturb the 5-acre heart of the prairie, which remains much as it was 8,000 years ago.
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Environmentalists have proposed that the airport apply for federal funding to pay for a redesign.
Airport officials could not be reached for comment.
The prairie has attracted attention well beyond Rockford, with support from state environmental groups, a protest outside Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Chicago mansion and a 4,200-member Facebook page, as well as petitions and letters to newspapers.
“The attention that it has received – it’s kind of remarkable for 14 acres in Winnebago County,” said Doll.
She said she is cautiously optimistic about prairie’s prospects.
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“This could be a turning point,” she said. “People have a new understanding of the limits of the law. It’s reenergized people who are thinking about, ‘How do we advocate for our native areas — before we get to this point?’”
