Lockport Prairie Closes For Improvement Of Endangered Dragonfly's Habitat Project

The Forest Preserve of Will County announced the temporary closure of Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve. The preserve is scheduled to close to the public for four moths, beginning Tuesday, November 1, in order to allow ComEd to improve the habitat of the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly. ComEd, the largest electric utility in Illinois, will remove its power poles from the 320-acre Forest Preserve property. The process will involve cutting the poles at ground levels, which a helicopter will lift, and later the poles will be cut into pieces and pilled up until they are removed. The project is based on the planning by a association of stakeholders created by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to protect endangered species such as the mentioned dragonfly.

Kristopher Lah, endangered species coordinator with the USFWS office in Chicago said that "In the long term, removal of the poles will avoid future disturbance to habitat from utility line maintenance and will enable the (Forest Preserve District) to better manage habitat for the listed species because the poles will no longer be an obstruction or a safety concern."

“The company's actions to remove the utility poles will help the Forest Preserve District with future restoration efforts,” said Ralph Schultz, the Forest Preserve District’s chief operating officer. "ComEd's decision to voluntarily remove and relocate the transmission lines bisecting Lockport Prairie will have a positive impact on the habitat. Removal of the utility poles will make it easier for the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with a multimillion-dollar habitat restoration project at the preserve, and it will make the District's prescribed burning and other land stewardship activities easier to accomplish without having to protect the poles or work around them."