Restoring Adams Wildlife Sanctuary
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ders from the property. Bird feeders are already in the area. “I foresee a super nice spot for people who just want to come and experience local nature, to watch birds and butterflies, squirrels and critters,” Massie says. “They can experience it in a nice setting or have the availability to go out on trails.”

In this area, Massie will also develop a series of native, prairie-plant rain gardens that stop runoff by collecting water in basins. This feature, along with marked prairie plantings on the northwestern side of the building, will add to the site’s educational component.

The front yard will become more representative of Adams and her home’s character. Massie plans to plant a historic shade garden, mixing native species like violets and ferns with plant species that pioneers may have brought into the area, like lilacs.

Massie, who has worked inside Springfield and in such outside areas as Petersburg, calls Adams’ gift to the Illinois Audubon Society a gift to the city. “That much acreage within one-and-a-half miles of the Old State Capitol is really amazing,” he says. “It’s really different from a park in its purpose and character.”

Clay calls the sanctuary a “poster child” for invasive species, and LaGesse wholeheartedly agrees. After previous protests over the Margery Adams home, the local sanctuary committee intends to be proactive in including the public in its tree and plant removal plans.

“This is a high profile project for the society,” Clay says. “Some folks have been driving by and looking at this place for years and years. And now there’s going to be some changes in the landscape.

“We need to be thinking about inviting the community in here, to say ‘This is what you can expect to see here over the next 18 months. And these are the reasons it’s going to happen.’”

The Illinois Audubon Society has hosted workdays for interested patrons, but it has never created a master list of volunteers.

Clay hopes this project will draw a new crowd willing to adopt and maintain their own sections of the property. In just the past month, Springfield School District 186 has offered to send students to photograph the sanctuary and senior organization RSVP Springfield has asked to attend interpretative programs at the site. LaGesse has had trouble getting young people interested in conservation and agrees that new development at Adams Wildlife Sanctuary could be the turning point.

“It’s from these sorts of experiences that we get the next generation of conservationists and environmentalists,” he says. “Nature isn’t really interpreted as a pleasant experience, so it’s up to us to portray nature as a positive and as a positive experience.”

Contact Amanda Robert at [email protected].