WHY ARE NATURAL AREA CONSERVATION AND HABITAT RESTORATION IMPORTANT?
In the 1800’s Winnebago County was a land of open prairies, wetlands and savanna. These areas teemed with wildlife, trees and flowers. The rivers ran clean and unrestricted and their natural flowing and flooding patterns created conditions for supporting numerous aquatic and wetland species. As the land became more populated and the land was farmed, fires, so important to prairie, woodland and wetland ecology, were halted. The landscape has undergone a magnitude of frequent change over the past 150 years. Throughout the introduction of exotic species, alterations in drainage, habitat destruction and fragmentation, native plants and animals have been disappearing from Winnebago County. The effects of these changes need to be reversed if we are to preserve the remaining biodiversity and landscapes for future residents. The staff at WCFPD will use this page to provide periodic updates on forest preserve natural resource conservation and habitat restoration goals, practices and initiatives
