Science & Nature

Illinois’ Rare Plants Have a Fighting Chance of Survival Thanks to This Volunteer Monitoring Program

When it comes to endangered species, animals receive the lion’s share of attention versus plants. They get more protections, too.

“Plants have gotten the short end of the stick,” said Gretel Kiefer, a plant ecologist at Chicago Botanic Garden, with nearly 30% of U.S. species at risk of extinction.

It’s her job to help change that, at least in Illinois.

Kiefer manages the Plants of Concern program for northeastern Illinois, a community science project designed to detect population trends among the state’s rare species. In recent years, the program has expanded to biodiversity hot spots in southern Illinois and northwestern Illinois.

In the context of Plants of Concern, “rare” can mean a number of things, Kiefer said.

It could apply to a plant listed as endangered or threatened at the federal or state level, she said, or it could be a plant that’s regionally rare — common in one part of the state but not another. Some of these rarities, it should be noted, are holding on in remnant habitats, while other populations have been introduced as part of restoration projects.

Regardless of which category a plant falls under, it’s visited annually by a monitor, who keeps tabs on where the species occur, how healthy the populations are, and whether there’s been any change from one year to the next.

In the event a plant can’t be located — sometimes plants move or sometimes conditions such as drought will inhibit flowering — the population won’t be considered lost until monitors have visited the area three years in row with no sightings.

“We consider that most likely gone, but always with the hope that they might be seen again in that location,” Kiefer said.

The monitoring information is then shared with program partners including forest preserve districts, park districts, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, private landowners and organizations like Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, who use the data to guide land management decisions.

“At the next layer, monitoring is the basis for doing more recovery action, doing seed banking, doing propagation or reintroduction using banked seed,” said Kiefer.

Preventing ‘Blink Out’

The white lady slipper orchid was de-listed as endangered after monitors found it was more abundant than thought. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest)

Kiefer also submits species to the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board, either for inclusion on the endangered/threatened list or for de-listing if a plant is more plentiful than previously thought.

The ultimate goal of her work is to intervene before a population “blinks out.”

“There’s a species of trillium, we probably only have one location left. At that point, what can you do?” Kiefer said. “It’s important we’re collecting monitoring data so, first, it doesn’t get to that point, and we can also take action before it’s that dire.”

Because the program crosses jurisdictional boundaries, Kiefer has a broader view of how plants are faring across the region and can help broker exchanges between sites or counties.

“Some populations may be suffering because there’s not a lot of genetic diversity,” she offered as an example. “We can say, ‘Hey, people in Lake County, the populations in Cook County aren’t doing well. Are you interested in swapping genetic propagules?’ We’ve done some experimental plots where we brought in some plants from nearby to increase the genetic diversity of a population if they’re not setting seed like they should, or if the population is declining.”

Cloak and Dagger

More than 250 volunteers are engaged with the Plants of Concern program. Once Kiefer has paired a monitor with a plant — a complicated process she likened to matchmaking — then, and only then, does the volunteer receive details on the plant’s location.

Habitat disturbance is one concern when it comes to revealing the whereabouts of rare plants, but poaching is another. Showy species like rare native orchids are the most frequent targets of poachers, but Kiefer said even nondescript species have been uprooted.

One such example was heartleaf plantain (Plantago cordata) — easily mistaken for its weedier relatives — which grows in streams and is scarcely found in northeast Illinois anymore.

Lake County had restored habitat that was appropriate for the plant and asked Kiefer if she could locate a seed source.

“I reached out to a private landowner and they basically said, ‘Yeah, we had the species but somebody came in and dug up the plants,’” Kiefer said.

The chance of a plant’s survival after it’s been plucked from its home is doubtful, she added.

“So many of our rare species are in rare habitat — they’re rare because the habitat is rare. They’re on sandstone cliffs, they’re growing in clear, groundwater-fed streams that aren’t polluted. Their habitat requirements are so specific, you can’t replicate it,” Kiefer said.

Yellow trout lily is thriving at Chicago Botanic Garden thanks to land management practices that including prescribed burns and controlling brush. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Because there’s greater security surrounding plants of concern on the grounds of the Botanic Garden, Kiefer invited WTTW News to visit McDonald Woods, where a population of rare yellow trout lily thrives.

In late April, the woods were carpeted in the more common white trout lily (Erythronium albidum) — a spring ephemeral with telltale mottled foliage that is found in every county in Illinois.

By contrast, yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) was clustered in just two patches in the woods. This species, Kiefer explained, is more widespread in the eastern U.S., with the Chicago region forming the western edge of its range.

To demonstrate the monitoring process, Kiefer said the first step would be to mark the extent of the rare species’ “territory” by placing flags in the ground and taking GPS points — data that’s collected by a mobile app the program created for monitors. The app, Kiefer said, has standardized the data entry process and also generates reports immediately.

Then comes old-fashioned counting. Monitors count individuals if the plants are relatively few in number; can extrapolate from a transect if plants are numerous (counting a section of the plants and then multiplying); or ballpark the figure such as “fewer than 100” or “more than 500” if pressed for time, like in the event a storm is approaching.

Does an abundance of plants — as in, too many to count — sound like the opposite of “rare”? It’s all relative, Kiefer said.

“For the yellow trout lily, here in northeastern Illinois, there are only a few locations where it occurs. They happen to grow in high numbers at those locations, but there’s not many occurrences,” she said. “You have to think if something happened to one of those locations — if it was developed or something — that would hugely impact the regional population.”

(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

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Monitors are also asked to tally how many of the plants are reproducing (i.e., are flowering or have floral parts) and how many aren’t, and to survey the general area, making note of what other native species are present and which natives are dominant.

“We also take data on what are the threats: Are there invasive species that are encroaching on the population? What invasive species are they? How abundant are they? Do we see signs of deer browse or unauthorized trails?” Kiefer said.

In the case of yellow trout lily, which was introduced at McDonald Woods, healthy practices such as prescribed burns and opening up the ground layer by removing shrubs have helped the plant establish a sizable colony.

“With the management that’s been done,” Kiefer said, “the population has just taken off.”

And that’s not just a win for the yellow trout lily.

“If you’re managing and taking care of your rare species, then you are improving the health of the habitat for all species,” said Kiefer, “not just plants, not just the rare species, but the insects, the wildlife, the underground soil activity — everything.”

Where the Wild Things Are

A pink lady slipper orchid. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast)

Plants of Concern has been active in northeastern Illinois for more than 20 years. Development of the mobile app, along with the introduction of online training sessions, made it possible for the Botanic Garden to spread the program to other parts of the state.

Chris Benda manages the program in southern Illinois, which was established in 2021, and Grant Fessler manages northwest Illinois, established in 2024.

The two shared some of their early wins at the recent Wild Things conference held in March.

Starting from scratch, Fessler said his first order of business was to find the plants — working off historic records maintained by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources — in order to build a list for monitors.

Many of the plants hadn’t been seen in decades, including a rare pink lady slipper orchid.

“It has really specialized habitat of bogs and acidic woodlands,” Fessler said during his presentation. “It was last seen in 1999, and the person who found it then wasn’t able to relocate it.”

Using rough CPS coordinates, Fessler went orchid hunting in May 2024 with IDNR staff. After 45 minutes of fruitless searching, the team gave up and moved on, and naturally that’s when they spotted the pink lady.

“It was a magical moment,” Fessler said. “It didn’t feel real, like meeting a celebrity.”

They found five blooming plants and 25 vegetative, a lucky strike that proved even more fortuitous when, a few days later, IDNR staff returned to the site and discovered the plants had been chomped by deer. They were able to put up fencing around the plants to deter future browsing, but only because Plants of Concern had scouted the orchid in the first place.

“Now that DNR knows where it is, DNR can protect it,” Fessler said. “Hopefully it has a fighting chance.”

In Illinois’ southernmost counties — where unique, unglaciated habitats range from sandstone canyons to cypress swamps —  Benda encounters plants unlike anything seen up north.

They include oddities like the crested coralroot orchid (Hexalectris spicata), a plant that doesn’t photosynthesize and lives off fungus.  

 

As he builds the monitoring program, the crux has been figuring out which species need monitoring, Benda told Wild Things attendees.

There have been instances where he’s counted 100 individuals of a given plant, but only two the next year, he said, and it will take the development of long-term datasets to determine what’s normal.

One of the most thrilling discoveries in the southern region to date came courtesy of sharp-eyed volunteer monitors who were “off the clock” but recognized the rare Guyandotte beauty (Synandra hispidula), a flowering plan in the mint family, while trail running.

They contacted Benda who confirmed the find and surveyed hundreds of the plants in bloom. He shared his excitement in the moment on social media, calling it “biggest natural highs a botanist can experience.”

For Kiefer, what makes the Plants of Concern program special is that Benda’s experience is shared by volunteer monitors from all walks of life, who’ve taken on stewardship of the state’s rare plants.

“It’s encouraging,” she said, “that people are getting outside and are excited about making observations, learning plants and taking action in natural areas.”

That’s where she finds hope, Kiefer said: “There are people that really care and they’re dedicating their free time to going out and looking (for rare plants). That aspect is really what is so inspiring.”

 

Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 |  [email protected]