Exelon Corporation
Burnham Prairie
Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, United States
Certified through 2025
Project Name
Project Type
Burnham Prairie
Grassland
About the Program
Exelon’s Burnham Prairie Project involves the restoration and management of a 25-acre prairie/grassland in a Rights-of-Way (ROW) near the village of Burnham, Illinois. The conservation objectives are to preserve the unique remnant dry-mesic and wet-mesic prairie plant communities and associated wildlife habitat, manage the ROW as a buffer to Burnham Prairie Nature Preserve, monitor for prairie establishment success and utilize adaptive management as needed, identify and rapidly respond to new or worsening threats to the remnant habitats and provide pollinator habitat. Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. conducts monitoring and develops management plans, and Forest Preserves of Cook County ecologists oversee management.
Practices and Impacts
Exelon’s Burnham Prairie Project involves the restoration and management of a 25-acre prairie/grassland in a Rights-of-Way (ROW) near the village of Burnham, Illinois. The conservation objectives are to preserve the unique remnant dry-mesic and wet-mesic prairie plant communities and associated wildlife habitat, manage the ROW as a buffer to Burnham Prairie Nature Preserve, monitor for prairie establishment success and utilize adaptive management as needed, identify and rapidly respond to new or worsening threats to the remnant habitats and provide pollinator habitat. Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. conducts monitoring and develops management plans, and Forest Preserves of Cook County ecologists oversee management.
Practices and Impacts
- Annual meandering surveys are used to identify current plant composition. Data is subsequently used to create the floristic composition and habitat quality indicators to describe plant population trends and changes in habitat quality.
- Pollinator presence and use of the site is monitored to assess the site's contribution to the health of local pollinator populations.
- Invasive plants are treated with herbicide.
