Hi all,

Ever since I saw that Bell Bowl Prairie was bulldozed to make a roadway, I was dumbfounded by the fact that the Endangered Species Act didn’t help save any of the species living there, and I am deeply troubled by the fact that Illinois, the Prairie State isn’t prioritizing saving prairies from development of any kind.

I was thinking about how something like this could be prevented in the future, to ensure that all habitats are protected equally. I wondered about why Bell Bowl was legally able to be ruined, I found that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources cannot force a business to protect species, not even endangered ones. I found that the USFWS could not stop the development. I feel that the system is broken, that there are loopholes that allow for habitat destruction.

As soon as the FAA approved the development for Rockford Airport’s expansion, the bulldozers went straight into the prairie leaving almost nothing left, sure, they promised to keep a mere six acres, but in the process they fragmented the land, devastated an 8,000 year old, undisturbed ecosystem, and released tons of carbon into the air. The project was a form of ecocide, as it will probably never recover, and if the land was left alone, it would take an estimated hundred years or more for the land to start to grow back, now that it’s been split in half.

What adds onto the depression of it all, is that the airport had alternative plans that would avoid destroying the prairie but they never went through with any of those because they feared accidents would happen if they built a curved road around Bell Bowl.

It was only a prediction, not clear if that would happen in real life, they could have saved the grassland. They could have just used the road they already had near a field. But for the sake of efficiency, the airport authority wanted a taxiway right in the middle of the one of the very last prairies in Illinois State.

Here is a paragraph talking about endangered species of the prairie, from the SaveBellBowlPrairie website with a list of endangered species:

https://www.savebellbowlprairie.org/about

“Several state and federally Threatened and Endangered species occur at Bell Bowl Prairie.

The Federally Endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) was documented at Bell Bowl Prairie in August 2021. Young queens of this species overwinter in the soil. Ideal overwintering sites include uncompacted, sandy soils, abandoned rodent nests, downed logs, and soft soil under leaf litter. The soil at Bell Bowl is sandy and gravelly, uncompacted, with abundant low growing vegetation, and frequent animal burrows, providing ideal habitat. Several acres of trees and shrubs surround the prairie to the south and west. Impacts to this habitat could result in an illegal “take” (killing) of this federally Endangered species.

The site also supports habitat and contains many plants that co-occur with the federally Threatened prairie bush clover (Lespedeza leptostachya), which is known to occur in the region. As of the November 2019 Environmental Assessment, no search for this rare species had been conducted.

Threatened and Endangered species seen at Bell Bowl Prairie and on Rockford Airport grounds include:

Federally Endangered rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis)
State Threatened Franklin’s ground squirrel (Poliocitellus franklinii)
State Endangered prairie false dandelion (Nothocalais cuspidata)
State Endangered large-flowered penstemon (Penstemon grandiflorus)
State Endangered cat’s claw (Mimosa nuttallii)
State Endangered loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
State Threatened black-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus)
State Endangered northern harrier (Circus hudsonius)*
State Endangered upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)*

• = recorded on Bell Bowl Prairie eBird page
  These are some of the rarest of rare species in Illinois and are worth protecting. If state and federal agencies permit the destruction of this site, they would be signing off on the local extinction of some of the rarest plants in the state.”

You can also find birds that visited the area before construction began here:

https://ebird.org/hotspot/L2383688?m=&rank=mrec&yr=all

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The species who lived there thrived in a grassland environment, Bell Bowl was a gravel prairie, one of the rarest in the state. Now it’s all dirt and dead plants, with the animals without a home. Wildlife that lived here can no longer be at peace, like they were for thousands of years.

 I fear any animals living on the prairie would get hit by trucks once the roadway is complete, or that the noise from development will drive them away. I expect ecological collapse is inevitable. There are only six acres left of the once 25 acre prairie, and I worry it will only degrade from here.

Ecocide by definition is destruction of the natural environment that is widespread, long-term and severe. As in destruction  of the natural environment by deliberate or negligent human action

We need to encourage our nation’s  government to list ecocide as an actual crime punishable by law. Because at this point, if nothing is done, I fear that many species will go extinct without notice. Think about all the possible developments that don’t get seen by the public eye. Ecocide is only recognized in at least 13 countries around the world, it’s time to make ours one of them.

The countries with domestic ecocide laws are France (2021), Georgia (1999), Armenia (2003), Ukraine (2001), Belarus (1999), Ecuador (2008; 2014), Khazakhstan (1997), Kyrgyzstan (1997), Moldova (2002), Russia (1996), Tajikistan (1998), Uzbekistan (1994), Vietnam (1990). Source: Wikipedia.

These countries recognized ecocide, why can’t we? Maybe, just maybe if this petition is successful, then our legislators will listen and help make ecocide a known crime nationwide. I am sick and tired of development projects ruining natural treasures, if anyone has ideas or general feedback, please feel free to leave it in the comments. 

 

Every signature counts, thank you for your time!