Henry Ellers: working to preserve Illinois botanical history

[depakid]

Plants have a friend in Henry Eilers.

For decades, the retired nurseryman from Litchfield has led local efforts to preserve what was left of the character of Illinois the landscape settlers from Europe found when they arrived.

The Shoal Creek Barrens at Lake Lou Yaeger has been renamed the Henry Eilers Shoal Creek Nature Preserve in his honor. The State Journal-Register's People and the Prairie Awards Program also has recognized Eilers' volunteer efforts.

Eilers, 75, hasn't worked alone. Shoal Creek has been a project of a handful of citizens and groups such as the Litchfield Rotary Club for years. The plant diversity at Shoal Creek is jaw-dropping. "We have over 700 species identified and vouchered," he says. "With that in mind, we still have found a number of new species.

"That's amazing for a 260-acre spot."

Eilers says the preserve has become a refuge for local plants in danger of being lost forever. "We wrote a mission statement in the early 1990s in the beginning, and one of the things we mentioned there is that we wanted to use the site as a haven for local genotypes," Eilers says.

Plants in the path of road projects or other development nearby have been salvaged and replanted within Shoal Creek.

The Illinois state-threatened Virginia bunchflower lily, the state-endangered green trillium and royal catchfly all have survived and thrived after being rescued and relocated. The bunchflower lily and green trillium both were in the way of new fiber-optic lines.

"I didn't make a count this year, but after a burn (three years ago), I counted over a 100 green trilliums," he says. "I saw it in new places this year, which makes sense because ants will carry the seeds."

Royal catchfly is widely grown as a wildflower, but Shoal Creek's plants were some of the last of their kind growing wild in Madison County. "We have established a very nice population."

In addition to rare species, Shoal Creek is home to the real crowd-pleasers like the yellow lady-slipper orchid.

"They are just doing tremendous," Eilers says. "I have, after all these years, found a number of new locations. So it is doing exceptionally well. "One clump had two dozen blooms this spring."

But plants aren't the only ones to benefit. Eilers says, for example, that there are about 10 species of reptiles and snakes using the preserve.

More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-botanicalhistory,0,5147884,full.story