Southernmost Illinois Forest Owners Letting the Sunshine In

Photos unless otherwise identified by Jody Shimp

Oak trees, the dominant tree in our forests and food for about 100 different animals, depend on light filtering through the canopy to the forest floor. Sunlight filtering through to the ground also gives life to wildflowers, grasses and shrubs. Bees, butterflies and other pollinators feast on these flowers, while the forest floor provides cover for birds and other wildlife to raise their young. Wild turkeys and the declining eastern whip-poor-will, for example, prefer grassy openings in woodlands for nesting.

Illinois’ forests once were more open than the nearly closed canopy forests across much of the state’s landscape today. Currently, southern Illinois forests lack sufficient quantities of oak saplings to maintain a healthy oak forest ecosystem. In southernmost Illinois, the Let the Sun Shine In! (LSSI) partnership is working with landowners to bring light to the forest floor and stimulate the regeneration of oaks.

The main objectives of the LSSI partnership are to improve the age class distribution of forests; emphasize diversity of oak species and oak dominance; implement forest management at the largest scale possible to restore and maintain healthy forests; and, increase native biodiversity. The collaborative forest management working group is developing a regional Oak System Recovery Vision document for southern Illinois upland forests. The project area covers the 11 southernmost counties within the boundary of the Shawnee National Forest, with priority given to two Illinois Wildlife Action Plan Conservation Opportunity Areas, the Eastern Shawnee Hills and LaRue-Pine Hills.

LSSI partners are working across boundaries to recover and restore healthy oak dominated landscapes. For example, partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), Shawnee Resource Conservation and Development Area (Shawnee RC&D), and multiple landowners, LSSI is conducting forest management on 1,800 acres of private lands in eight Forest Stewardship Clusters (see map), which are locally led and driven by agencies, organization and individuals working together on common conservation and forest stewardship goals. Clusters form and grow in response to the needs of landowners and local conservation partners in order to recover oak ecosystems.

Forest management practices utilized include forest stand improvement, prescribed fire, exotic invasive species control, and in some cases, overstory harvest. The bulk of the funding for this project comes from the USFWS Partners program, with additional funding provided by the NWTF and Shawnee RC&D. IDNR’s Division of Forest Resources is providing technical assistance and certification of completed work.

Southernmost Illinois is a hot spot for Forest Stewardship Planning. About 34 percent of landowners in southern Illinois have a Forest Management Plan for their property—compared with the national average of 4 percent—with many landowners managing their property specifically for white-tailed deer and wild turkey. A recent survey of private landowners of forested land in southern Illinois found that more than 80 percent owned land to provide wildlife habitat. Beauty and scenery, privacy, hunting and passing land to heirs rounded out the top five reasons cited by respondents.

On-the-ground Projects

In 2018, multiple LSSI partners worked together for a successful spring burn season despite poor burning conditions due to weather. The first aerial ignition on state land took place on the Trail of Tears State Forest (Union County) with 750 acres of forested land burned. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) provided resources to allow for the aerial ignition, including the helicopter, pilot, fuel truck and necessary staff. In addition, the first cross-boundary landscape prescribed fire, also utilizing aerial ignitions, occurred on 560 acres within the Williams Hill Forest Stewardship Cluster (Pope County), across multiple private lands owned by several landowners. Partners in the burn included the USFS, Southern Illinois Prescribed Burn Association, IDNR and University of Illinois Extension. A steady increase in collaboration capacity and breakthroughs in mapping, data management and communication are resulting in shared stewardship of our oak ecosystem.

The regional “Let the Sun Shine In!” forest management website will go live the third week of May 2019 to serve as a key resource for forest owners and managers in southern Illinois.

The LSSI partnership received a 2018 Forest Service State and Private Forestry Landscape Scale Restoration grant to assist private landowners with bush honeysuckle control within Forest Stewardship Clusters and conduct threatened and endangered plant surveys on private land. This project functions to increase the knowledge of rare plants and to preserve the native biodiversity of southern Illinois oak ecosystems.

LSSI partners have received multiple grants and partner contributions to achieve the much-needed habitat work and resource data collection. The influx of external funding to the area has not only aided landowners in forest stewardship but also helped grow local knowledge of oak ecosystems. As a result, Forest Stewardship Plans are becoming more comprehensive addressing invasive species control, threatened and endangered species recovery, natural area and natural community restoration, and wildlife management.

Landowners interested in the project area may email info@letthesunshinein.life.

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Jody Shimp has been working in Illinois natural communities for 30 years a volunteer, researcher, ecologist and administrator. He received a MS in Plant Biology and a BS in Zoology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He has worked for the Kane County Forest Preserve District, U.S. Forest Service, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Natural Heritage. Currently, he is self-employee and coordinates the “Let the Sun Shine In!” project. Shimp may be contacted at jody.shimp@gmail.com