From east to west, the Somme Preserves in Northbrook progress from shaded woodland to sun-dappled savanna and finally to wide-open prairie. But several decades ago, this natural distribution of ecosystems wasn’t so easy to discern, having become shrouded by dense thickets of invasive buckthorn. Pioneering habitat restoration efforts started here in the 1970s and continue today. The work of countless volunteers has helped tiny remnant pockets of native species spread into an ever-changing display of wildflowers, grasses, birds and other seasonal inhabitants.
Restoration zone steward Christos Economou, will discuss how volunteers transformed degraded land into some of the finest tallgrass prairie, savanna and woodland ecosystems in the region. He will also discuss plans for restoring additional land.
About Our Speaker
Christos Economou grew up in the Chicago suburbs and learned to love nature from documentaries, gardens, and the Forest Preserves. He studied chemistry and obtained a PhD on the East Coast working on the total synthesis of complex natural products, where, as his lab was next to the environmental science building, he was increasingly exposed to ecological issues such as biodiversity loss. In 2019, he moved back to the area for work and quickly got connected with the North Branch Restoration Project. Since then, he’s been an active contributor to Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves and a restoration zone steward at Somme Woods in Northbrook. His primary interests are plants and ecology, but increasingly also the less obvious things that make the world work like insects and fungi.