Land and Wetlands Management and Habitat Restoration

Argonne's tradition of environmental stewardship dates back at least as far as 1953, when the laboratory planted 3 million new pine trees on its then-new DuPage County site. Though the trees were not native to the area, they nevertheless helped stop soil erosion and renew the site's ecology, which had been disrupted by 100 years of continual farming. Before the farming began in the 19th century, the land had been natural savanna – prairie punctuated periodically with small stands of trees.

Today, the Argonne landscape is a mosaic of tall grass prairie, oak savanna, oak forest and wetland areas. These natural habitats serve Argonne in several important ways, helping to clean the air and water, to reduce flooding and to enhance the site's aesthetics.

Unfortunately, over the past few decades the natural habitat has been diminished by a number of factors, including invasive exotic species, an overabundance of white-tailed deer, and too few natural fires that eliminate excessive plant overgrowth. As a result, formerly open woodlands and savannas have become choked with invasive shrubs; native understory and herbaceous plants are disappearing; oak trees have stopped their natural cycle of regeneration; erosion and flooding have increased; and biodiversity has decreased.

In the mid-1990s, the environmental stewardship program was renewed when Argonne and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) jointly established a Land Management and Habitat Restoration Program. This program draws on and enhances Argonne 's existing expertise in ecological science. DOE and Argonne belong to Chicago Wilderness, a partnership of more than 100 public and private organizations that have joined forces to protect, restore and manage natural areas in and around Chicago. Argonne and DOE have also partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use native landscaping to help the Chicago region meet air-quality standards for ozone. These efforts are part of a historic movement that helps restore the ecology of an urban environment and to promote the sprit of environmental stewardship.

Vision and Goals

The joint Argonne-DOE Land Management and Habitat Restoration program is working to integrate native species into the developed and non-developed areas of Argonne's Illinois site, while meeting regulatory and policy obligations, and following sound ecological management principles. The program's goals are:

• To reintroduce native species into developed areas to reduce maintenance, improve erosion control and flood control, reduce air pollution and increase biodiversity; and
• To preserve and restore high-quality non-developed areas, such as wetlands, prairie, woodlands and savannas.

Accomplishments

The program's significant accomplishments include:

• Controlled burns and hand-clearing of invasive shrubs are restoring native vegetation in oak woodlands and savannas and reducing soil erosion.
• Invasive vegetation was removed from around the pond in front of Argonne 's main administration building and replaced with native wetland and upland species.
• An eight-acre plot near Argonne 's eastern border, once occupied by Quonset huts and associated parking lots, has been converted to prairie.
• A new wetland was created to replace wetlands lost to construction of the Advanced Photon Source.
• Native prairie species were planted in the upland areas around two wetlands. These native plants help clean the water that feeds the wetlands.
• Native grasses and forbs were planted to restore areas excavated for utility-line projects and to reduce air emissions associated with lawn mowing.

Ongoing Restoration

A few restoration projects are still under way:

• The planting of native species around the Building 201 pond is nearing completion.
• Ecological management continues for the eight acres of converted prairie, for the wetlands and nearby upland and savanna areas, and for oak woodlands that have been cleared and burned.
• A separate wetlands area north of the Advanced Photon Source is being expanded to create a “wetlands bank” against the possibility that future construction at Argonne will eliminate existing wetlands.
• As contaminated areas on site are cleaned up, native species are planted to assist the effort.
• Native plants are planned for landscaping around new construction and for revegetating disturbed areas.

The Future

A major advantage of habitat restoration is greater plant and wildlife diversity and a more stable site ecology with less flooding and soil erosion. The program could also help reduce future infrastructure costs to control storm water, flooding and soil erosion. Less obvious benefits include enhancing the natural beauty of the Argonne and Waterfall Glen landscapes and providing potential habitat for rare or endangered species.