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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, A prairie is a type of grassland and is the
3largest type of habitat in North America; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Prairies usually form on level or smoothly
5rolling landscapes; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Weather conditions in Illinois over thousands of
7years helped determine that prairies would exist in the State;
8climate in prairies is characterized by hot, dry summers and
9cold winters; when these conditions developed approximately
108,300 years ago, the tallgrass prairie became a major part of
11the Illinois landscape; and
 
12    WHEREAS, In 1820, Illinois had 22 million acres of prairie
13land and 14 million acres of forests; prairies were mainly in
14the northern two-thirds of the State with forests in the
15southern one-third; all but nine counties had large areas of
16prairies; in central Illinois, trees could only be found in
17scattered sites called "prairie groves" or along waterways;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, By 1900, most of Illinois' prairies were gone;
20the majority of these lands were converted to agricultural
21practices; by 1978, less than 2,300 acres of high quality

 

 

SR0129- 2 -LRB103 31082 MST 57720 r

1prairie remained in the entire State; most of the undisturbed
2prairie sites today are found along railroad rights-of-way, in
3pioneer cemeteries, and in places that are not suitable for
4farming; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Because much of the prairie has been destroyed,
6many of the organisms that depend upon it for their habitat
7needs have been forced to move to new habitats or have become
8very scarce in the State; and
 
9    WHEREAS, It is not possible to return to the days of vast
10expanses of prairie in Illinois, as they are gone forever;
11today, we need to protect, manage, and learn from the prairie
12remnants that remain and restore prairie where we can;
13therefore, be it
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
15ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare the third
16week of September 2023 as "Prairie Week" in the State of
17Illinois in order to promote the awareness of and appreciation
18for prairies; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
20presented to the Department of Natural Resources.