Chapter Events

NOTE:  This virtual program will take place on Zoom and requires advance registration.  Please click the "Register" button at the bottom of this program description to register for this program. 

In 2003 Fred Delcomyn imagined his central Illinois backyard of two and half acres, farmed many years for corn and soybeans, restored to tallgrass prairie. Over the next seventeen years, Delcomyn, with the help of his friend James Ellis planned, prepared, planted seeds, photographed, and burned these acres to reconstruct a prairie. In this program, Delcomyn and Ellis will recount the journey of and lessons learned about prairie restoration through photographs and stories that they chronicle in their 2021 book, A Backyard Prairie: The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers, published by Southern Illinois University Press. More information about this book can be found at http://siupress.com/books/978-0-8093-3819-1

Presenter Bio’s:

Fred Delcomyn us a professor emeritus of the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois, is the author of more than 100 popular and scientific articles. Since 2009, he has served on the board of directors of Grand Prairie Friends, a not-for-profit conservation organization and land trust involved with natural areas protection and restoration in east-central Illinois.  He completed training as a Master Naturalist in 2017, and his writing and photography are often featured in Field Notes, the quarterly newsletter of the East Central Illinois Master Naturalist program.

James L. Ellis works as the Natural Areas Coordinator for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is a botanist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. He has published articles on prairie ecology, conservation, and management for both academic and general audiences. He is a long-time member and volunteer with Grand Prairie Friends where he served on the board of directors from 2000-2021.