Tallgrass Prairies of Illinois

The Midwest, now America’s agricultural belt, was once a vast prairie with grasses, wildflowers and North America’s largest mammal, the American Bison. Tallgrass prairies covered eastern parts of North and South Dakota, half of Nebraska, eastern parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and stretched eastward into Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee had small pockets of tallgrass prairies as well. Today prairies are down to 1 percent of their natural expanse. The few areas that remain bring photographers every year to work the colorful blooms. Paradoxically, several of the best preserved examples of native tallgrass prairie lie in the shadows of sprawling Chicago.

Most people know very little about prairies and have never really visited one. Prairies fall into three categories: tallgrass prairie (in the eastern half of the midwest), mixed grass prairie (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas) and shortgrass pairie (western North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and into eastern Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico). Prairies are dominated by herbaceous plants, mostly grasses.

The prairie eco system is complex, and much more could be discussed about this fascinating environment. I just wanted to give a few examples of the expanse of the prairie system and minimally show the importance the prairie ecosystem plays in the world today. Our focus is on the tallgrass prairie of Illinois, and this is where we’ll go from here. If you’d like to learn more about tallgrass prairies, I recommend a book called Tallgrass Prairie, by John Madson.

Black-eyed Susans blooming in Illinois Prairie. As you can see in this photo, midwest summer skies are not beautiful therefore minimizing the sky is helpful in your landscape photography.

Photographer’s View

If you’re from the Midwest, you know all to well how much the weather can change from season to season and even within a season. If you aren’t from the midwest, let me forewarn you that July and August, the peak for wildflower blooms on the Illinois prairies, can be brutally hot and humid. The other downside is that some prairies are damp and therefore mosquito-friendly. Despite this, the prairies are very much worth the obstacles I just mentioned. Work in the cooler morning and early evening hours, wear long-sleeved shirts, and cover your face with a safe repellant. I have also found rubber surgical gloves work wonderfully in mosquito infested areas.

You will be amazed at how high the grass can be. Several flower species are tall as well and can be difficult to frame. A lightweight two foot stepladder will put you above the grasses and flowers. This also means, of course, that you’ll need a tripod extendable to five or six feet with the camera mounted.

Don’t expect to photograph breathtaking landscapes or endless expanses of flowers. Prairie wildflowers typically grow in pockets mixed with grasses. Anytime you’re going to shoot flowers, I can’t stress enough the importance of contacting locals before departing to check on peak bloom. Agriculture has divided prairies into small pockets scattered throughout the state, so plan on doing some driving in-between locations.

Prairies start to look alike after a while. I don’t believe it’s necessary to visit more than two or three. Prairies also tend to be in the middle of nowhere with few or no amenities. A good sampling of prairies within a couple hours drive of Chicago will give you plenty of photographic subjects. Take your time to explore and enjoy your experience. If you shoot with a keen eye and open mind, you should come home with plenty of beautiful images – and enjoy an experience that measures well beyond your expectations.

Iroquois County Conservation Area

Iroquois County Conservation Area, once the largest wetland in Illinois, is near the Indiana border south of Chicago. This is a wonderful prairie with a mixture of dry to marshy conditions. Needless to say, you’ll probably experience a lot of mosquitoes, but the flower blooms should be some of the best you see on your journey. Prairie blazing star is plentiful and one of the most common plants you’ll find here, along with an assortment of rattlesnake master, goldenrod and big bluestem grasses.

Your best bet in this prairie is to look for clusters of plants and small intimate scenes. You’ll be challenged and walk away disappointed if you’re looking for a big overall prairie scene. August skies in the Midwest aren’t very attractive. You will probably experience some white, hazy skies. Avoid using any sky in your composition under these conditions or at the very least minimize the amount of sky you use. White skies will render very bright and draw the viewers eye away from the subject. Many of the plants at Iroquois County Conservation Area are tall plants mixed in with tall grasses. A stepladder or step stool will elevate you enough to shoot down into a cluster of flowers or little scene and avoid the sky. This can’t solve all your creative problems but will open more opportunities.

A mixture of Summer Prairie Flowers are common throughout many midwestern prairies.

Goose Lake Prairie Nature Preserve

Goose Lake Prairie is the largest of Illinois prairies, at 2,838 acres. Several trails within this preserve allow for an in-depth exploration of the prairie ecosystem, but you won’t have to walk very far from the road. There aren’t really any major land features to consider for photography, so let the flower blooms dictate where you photograph. Goose lake Prairie should offer you the most predictable of flower blooms. Sixty percent of Goose Lake Prairie consists of grasses such as big bluestem, Indian grass, switchgrass and the tallest of the grasses, prairie cordgrass, which can reach heights of eight to twelve feet. The remaining 40 percent is flowering broad-leaved plants.

Goose Lake Prairie is commonly known in the photography community and is probably one of the more visited prairies among photographers. I have an easier time here than other places composing images with a wide variety of plant species in a single visit. Besides wildflowers, you should come prepared for early-morning butterfly photography. You won’t want to miss butterflies sitting on colorful blooms covered in morning dew. Once the sun warms these little critters, you can forget photographing them.

Indian Boundary Prairies and Others

You could rack up alot of miles in your car visiting prairie after prairie, but there’s little need to do so. Beyond Iroquois County and Goose Lake, consider Indian Boundary Prairies, which is a group of four prairies, Gensburg-Markham Prairie, Dropseed Prairie, Paintbrush Prairie and Sundrop Prairie. These four prairies combined take up three hundred acres known as the Indian Boundary Prairies and sit in the shadows of Chicago. Part of this group has been named a National Natural Landmark because of its plant and butterfly diversity and genetic resources. These prairies are quite small compared with the two I have already covered. You will be confined to macro photography or small intimate flower scenes.

If you want to see more prairies or want to skip the smaller sites for more secluded prairies, do an internet search on tallgrass prairies of Illinios, or consult the Madson book I mentioned earlier in this chapter. He lists several prairies throughout the state, which are all very good, but much farther afield and more secluded than the ones I have covered here. Most important before you visit any of these prairies is to make contact with a naturalist or prairie manager to see what’s in bloom and at what stage the blooms are in. You will want to photograph around the peak of a wide variety of plant species. If only one or two plants are in bloom, the flower groupings you hope to capture could be all but impossible, and you’ll end up disappointed.

Close-up of Purple Cone Flower. There are endless opportunities for macro and intimate flower photography in the Illinois Prairies.

When to Go

Prairie wildflowers can bloom anytime from April through October. I consider the peak bloom for a variety to be from early July through the middle of August. The July/August window has the most showy plants and best compositional variety. This is the time frame in which you should encounter a mixture of tall plants with smaller plants and a variety of color. You should also see several species of butterflies.

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