The Margery Adams Wildlife Sanctuary, usually called the ''Adams Wildlife Sanctuary'', is a headquarters building and land parcel owned and managed by the Illinois Audubon Society. Its second-growth forest land and restored

tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroach ...

are managed so as to maximize the diversity of the urban wildlife that visits the property. It is named after Margery Adams who donated the property to the society.

History

A four-room wooden house was built here in 1857. Early Springfield citizen L.B. Adams purchased the house and a surrounding parcel of property, the ancestor of today's Sanctuary, in 1869. The Adams family lived in the home and utilized much of the parcel as a fruit

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

. After being passed through two generations, the parcel was bequeathed to its final individual owner, Adams's granddaughter Margery Adams (1897-1983), who allowed the orchard to progressively revert into

second-growth A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

woodland. After using the parcel throughout her life as her private home, Margery Adams bequeathed the home and property to the Illinois Audubon Society with the request that the Society occupy and maintain the property as a private wildlife refuge. The Society implemented a capital program to expand and renovate Adams's historic house as a headquarters and meeting center in 2008. A donation added 12 additional acres to the property. , some

invasive plant An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

s are being removed and the grounds are being restored to serve as a bird and wildlife sanctuary. The wooded portion of the Wildlife Sanctuary features cottonwood, hackberry,

silver maple ''Acer saccharinum'', commonly known as silver maple, creek maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, large maple, water maple, swamp maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canad ...

shingle oak ''Quercus imbricaria'', the shingle oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native primarily to the Midwestern and Upper South regions of North America. Description A tree usually 15–18 meters (50–60 feet) high, maxim ...

, and

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south t ...

. Ornithologists have identified 81 different species of birds. The sanctuary and its trails are free and open to the public. The sanctuary is located at 2315 Clear Lake Avenue, Springfield, Illinois.

References

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External links

Margery Adams Wildlife Sanctuary
- official site Botanical gardens in Illinois Nature centers in Illinois Protected areas of Sangamon County, Illinois Springfield, Illinois Tourist attractions in Springfield, Illinois 1983 establishments in Illinois

History

See also

References

External links