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ICO003
Bluff Spring Fen
- Location:
- Hanover Township T41N, R9E, Sec. 19,30
Size: 91 acres
- Natural Resources
- Communities:
- Dry mesic woodland (C)
- Dry gravel prairie (C)
- Loamy mesic prairie (B,C)
- Graminoid Fen (A,B,C)
- Calcareous seep (A)
- Sedge meadow (B,C)
- Streamside marsh (C)
- Rare Plants:
- Asclepias lanuginosa/Woolly milkweed (E)
- Amelanchier sanguinea/Shadbush (E)
- Helianthus giganteus/Tall sunflower (E)
- Spiranthes lucida/Yellow-lipped ladies’ tresses (E)
- Triglochin palustris/Slender bog arrow grass (T)
- Utricularia intermedia/Flatleaf bladderwort (E)
- Utricularia minor/Small bladderwort (E)
- Eleocharis rostellata/Beaked spike rush (T)
- Tofieldia glutinosa/False asphodel (T)
- Rare Animals:
- none
Other Significant Features:
- Spring runs (harbor rare mottled sculpin); several remnant-dependent butterflies present in increasing populations.
Protection Status:
- Protected by City of Elgin and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (dedicated nature preserve) and intensively managed
Management Problems:
- Brush encroachment
- Soil erosion on gravel prairies from past ATV use
- Illegal uses damaging vegetation
- Past gravel mining impacts on water quality
- Substrate damage by utility corridor
- Water cress, common reed, and hybrid cattail
