The rich soils
that support the
tallgrass prairies
of the Midwest are
also valuable as
agricultural land.
poised to break ground, funding is sought
to make another project a reality, and
potential interconnecting corridors are
eyed for the future.
A Hope and a Dream
Most people think of rail-trails as places
for transportation, recreation or commu-
nity activities. But these trails often pro-
vide tangible, measurable environmental
benefits that are less obvious to typical
trail users, such as improved water qual-
ity in adjacent streams and rivers, habitat
preservation and creation of wildlife cor-
ridors, and mitigation of the effects of
climate change. In some areas, all these
benefits come together in the protec-
tion of an entire ecosystem, a situation
perhaps no more evident than in East
Central Illinois, where, some say, the his-
tory of rail-trails really began.
“Because of their longevity, when
you set aside and retain a railroad cor-
ridor, you also pull aside and retain the
ecosystem associated with that corri-
dor,” says Timothy A. Bartlett, executive
director for the Urbana Park District
(
urbanaparks.org
), which is planning to
develop a park with a trailhead to mark
the beginning of the trail in downtown
Urbana.
Bartlett is working on a project to cre-
ate the Kickapoo Rail Trail (
kickapoo
railtrail.org
), a 24.5-mile recreational trail
linking Champaign and Vermilion coun-
ties, from Urbana on the west to Kickapoo
State Park in Danville on the east. Along
this trail are remnants of tallgrass prairie as
well as woodlands and wetlands—diverse
natural resources that used to dominate the
area before agriculture took over.
Almost 20 years in the making, the
Kickapoo trail project is part of a larger
effort to create an interconnected regional
trail network that dates back to 1988.
at effort was initially championed by
one man, David Monk, a preservationist,
environmentalist, naturalist, educator and
activist who has been working for more
than 30 years to preserve the prairies of
Illinois.
RIES
PHOTOS: CHRIS BUCHER
9
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to
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