Lake Forest Prairie

About the Program
Exelon Corporation’s subsidiary ComEd manages a conservation program at Lake Forest Prairie, a 51-acre power line right-of-way. The site is adjacent to the 123-acre remnant prairie, Skokie River Nature Preserve, located about 30 miles north of Chicago, Illinois and about four miles west of Lake Michigan. The project area is bordered by a golf course, residential area and healthcare complex. The prairie is managed to meet ComEd’s prairie standards as identified in their Prairie Standardization Plan.

Practices and Impacts

• The team actively manages 51 acres of restored and remnant prairie through monitoring and invasive species management.
• Landscape monitoring is adaptively managed to collect more information while maintaining consistency of the data being collected. Pollinator species and plant data are collected from pre-defined points within the project area.
• Pollinator score cards are used for monitoring to ensure pollinator habitat contains native flowering plants, host plants and nesting sites throughout the growing season.
• Monitoring results indicate that pollinators are using the habitat, and there are a variety of native blooming plants and grasses present within the right-of-way.