Audubon Society buys 200 acres In Marion County

SPRINGFIELD, IL—The Illinois Audubon Society said it purchased 200 acres in Marion County to protect more than 30 threatened and endangered species at Prairie Ridge State Natural Area. The Maxine Loy Estate acquisition provides special protection to12-mile Prairie Natural Area Inventory Site, maintained by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources through a scenic easement with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

State endangered species occurring at Prairie Ridge and 12-Mile Prairie include royal catchfly and weak bullrush (plants), rattlesnake master borer moth (insect), Blanding’s turtle (reptile) and short-eared owl, upland sandpiper, American bittern, Swainson’s hawk, black tern, northern harrier, snowy egret, loggerhead shrike, black rail, yellow-crowned night heron, osprey, Wilson’s phalarope, king rail, Forster’s tern, common tern, greater prairie chicken and barn owl (birds).