After an 18-month battle, the fight to save Bell Bowl Prairie may be in its final hours

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Environmental advocates who have fought for the past 18 months to save Bell Bowl Prairie are bracing themselves for what could be the final hours of a natural prairie that’s existed for thousands of years.

On Wednesday, the Natural Land Institute lost on its motion to have a Rockford airport cargo expansion project halted until its lawsuit could be reviewed in the Seventh Circuit Court Appeals in Chicago. That motion was denied by two of the judges in the appellate court, and now the Natural Land Institute is asking for all the judges on the bench to review the motion to stay construction, according to Kerry Leigh, executive director of the NLI.

“We speak for the voiceless prairie, and we have been successful in saving it for 18 months so far,” Leigh said.

Dozens of supporters of the prairie rallied outside the Winnebago County Courthouse early Wednesday evening and called upon people to continue to pressure local and state lawmakers to intervene before the construction project moves forward. The Chicago Rockford International Airport has not commented publicly on when construction would begin, but NLI and court documents indicate it could begin as early as Thursday.

“We can stand here knowing that we’ve done everything that we can, and will continue to do everything we can until the last minute,” said Jillian Neece, a community organizer with Friends of Illinois Nature Preserve.

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Neece said the efforts of the Save Bell Bowl Prairie movement have introduced the rare native site to tens of thousands of people who didn’t know about it before.

“There’s thousands of people who didn’t even know what a prairie was, and now they do. And now they’re looking for these type of rare ecosystems in their own backyard whether they live in Rockford or not,” Neece said. “Even if Bell Bowl isn’t still there tomorrow, we still know that we’ve done good work.”

After the rally, several supporters gathered near the airport construction site for a vigil they intend to keep throughout the night.

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It was an emotional day for many supporters of the prairie as they’re running out of options to prevent the airport from building a road through the native land.

“We come here with some of us holding back tears because of the death of that prairie and all that’s there,” said the Rev. Frank Langholf, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church. “But I also grieve for the lack of vision that got us in this place to begin with.”

The Federal Aviation Administration, which gave the airport the greenlight to move forward with construction, noted that several acres of prairie would remain after the road is built. The agency determined in its review that the airport’s construction project would have no significant impact on the environment or any endangered species.

“Chicago Rockford International Airport will retain more than 6 acres of the Bell Bowl Prairie. This includes more than 3 acres of high-quality prairie,” the FAA said Tuesday in a statement provided to the Rock River Current. “Any excavation and shrub and brush clearing work in the project area will occur between October 15 through March 15 to avoid impacts to the rusty patched bumble bee and avoid the prime nesting seasons for the black-billed cuckoo and the upland sandpiper.”

The NLI, however, says the FAA’s reasoning was flawed. Supporters are still hoping intervention can prevent the airport from moving forward before March 15. If they can delay the project that long, then the airport is not allowed to do excavation work because it is the foraging season for the rusty patched bumble bee.

The airport’s $50 million dollar cargo expansion is estimated to create hundreds of construction jobs and generate up to 600 permanent jobs at the airport. It would also build upon the airport’s success as the fastest-growing cargo airport in the world.

Supporters of the prairie say they don’t want to halt the project, but instead they want the route of the road relocated to spare the prairie.

“The staff members and board of the airport could have one day taken their children and grandchildren out to visit the prairie (which they would have loved by the way) and explained to them how they helped save this beautiful, very important place,” Judy Barnard, a Forest Preserves of Winnebago County commissioner, said in a message to the Rock River Current. “They could have been the heroes.”

For now, the Natural Land Institute says it plans to keep an eye on the prairie to see if and when construction goes forward. Its plan of last resort is to save sod from the prairie and translocate it.

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