‘We want airport and prairie’: Group pitches plan to save Bell Bowl Prairie and allow Rockford airport expansion

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A group working to save an ancient prairie from destruction under an airport expansion is pitching a new concept it says will allow development while preserving precious habitat.

Save Bell Bowl Prairie, a growing group of conservationists working to protect a 5-acre patch of rare native prairie, unveiled plans Tuesday night designed to rearrange a roadway, building, parking lot and detention ponds so that the natural land won’t be bulldozed as part of the expansion.

They’re working against a ticking clock as they try to pressure the Greater Rockford Airport Authority into altering its site plan to spare the prairie. Construction on the site was halted until Nov. 1 after a federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee was discovered foraging the prairie earlier this year. But bulldozers are standing by ready to restart work and grade the land for a roadway once the temporary stay is lifted at the end of bee foraging season.

The land is part of a Chicago Rockford International Airport project that includes a 100,000-square-foot air cargo facility and ramp expansion that promises to bolster the airport’s success as the fastest growing cargo airport in the world.

“The airport development does mean hundreds of new jobs. That’s not lost on this group … Saving Bell Bowl Prairie doesn’t mean that this economic development doesn’t happen,” said Amy Doll, director of the Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves. “It’s not that we want airport or prairie. We want airport and prairie.”

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Domenico D’Alessandro, a regenerative design professional, laid out his concept to a group of roughly 50 people gathered Tuesday at the Burpee Museum of Natural History. Dozens more listened to plans virtually over Zoom. The plan moves roads around the outside of the prairie and relocates the main building, parking and detention ponds to areas where it will not disturb the natural land.

D’Alessandro says the prairie could be protected by constructing an employee parking garage and using porous paving and an underground cistern system instead of detention ponds.

“One thing I wanted to do was make sure the airport got what they wanted. I changed the configuration of their layouts, but I did not change the footprints,” D’Alessandro said. “That road can be easily, easily realigned to go around the prairie and still maintain the same service.”

D’Alessandro’s plan is just a concept, and more engineering and design work would need to be explored if it moved forward. It’s also unclear how much the work would cost in comparison to the airport’s existing design.

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Only about 25 acres of dry gravel prairies remain in the state, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Bell Bowl Prairie is also home to state endangered plants such as the prairie false dandelion and large-flowered penstemon. State endangered birds including the black-billed cuckoo and loggerhead shrike have also been spotted at the site.

“We only have 21.8 acres of Grade A prairie in all of Illinois. How can this not be a significant habitat?” D’Alessandro said Tuesday. “The question to me remains: Why is the prairie so expendable and the parking lot so precious?”

Airport officials have previously noted that they underwent an environmental review in 2019 before the project began, and that they explored other options and locations for the expansion. They have also said they could transplant some of the rare or endangered plant species, but environmentalists have expressed doubt about the feasibility of such a transplant.

Conservationists with the group have bombarded airport officials and state, local and federal lawmakers with emails pushing for the project to be tweaked to save the prairie. It’s an uphill battle given how much of the work is already underway and the airport’s significance to the regional economy as a catalyst for new job and business growth. The airport continues to make its mark as a prime cargo operation, ending last year with the largest annual cargo weight landed at the airport in its history.

But group members like Zach Grycan, director of stewardship for the Natural Land Institute, remain steadfast that there is an option that saves the prairie while allowing airport expansion.

“There are a few different iterations of these plans going back to 2008. They’ve changed their minds about where things were going to go several times already,” Grycan said. “I think that with a little bit of discourse we can get them to change their opinion again.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.