Enlightening and Inspiring Generations with Generations of Ideas

Pioneer Cemetery Prairies of Illinois

Event Date: 
Jan 12 2021 - 6:00pm

On Tuesday, January 12th, at 6:00 p.m., the LaSalle Public Library will virtually host Botanist and Naturalist, Chris Benda, when he hosts “Pioneer Cemetery Prairies of Illinois.”

Despite Illinois being called “The Prairie State,” there has been a nearly complete conversion of the native tallgrass prairie to agriculture and other development.  Much of the remaining high-quality prairie in the state occurs in small pioneer cemeteries, which were set aside in the late 1800s.  This unique program will explain what makes a cemetery prairie special and why it is important to protect and preserve them. There are twenty-nine Pioneer Cemetery Prairies in Illinois, with two in the Illinois Valley area – Hetzler Cemetery Prairie, Bureau County and Mt. Palatine Cemetery Prairie, Putnam County.

Chris Benda is a botanist and past president of the Illinois Native Plant Society (2015-2016).  A native of Minnesota, Chris moved to Illinois from California in 2004 and received a master’s degree in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign in 2007.  Besides conducting botanical fieldwork around the world, he teaches the Flora of Southern Illinois at Southern Illinois University and a variety of classes at The Morton Arboretum, as well as leading nature tours for Camp Ondessonk.  He has research appointments with the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory and is an accomplished photographer and author of several publications about natural areas in Illinois.

This program is free and open to the public.  Registration is required to receive the Zoom link.  Register by going to: https://bit.ly/3pdpjyq. If you prefer to connect to this program using an iPad or smartphone, rather than a computer, need more information, or have questions, please contact Rachael Blomquist, Digital Content Librarian, at [email protected] or call the Library at 815-223-2341.