Cook County has a small remnant of tall-grass prairie left within its borders, which is the only reminder of what this area was like before the European settlers turned the prairies into farms. Wolf Road Prairie is a natural garden that is beautiful beyond words. The prairie is bordered by a 60-acre residential area known as Hickory Lane, whose residents have preserved the pastoral feel of the woods and grasslands.
Recently the Proviso Township High School District 209 School Board decided that Hickory Lane is the ideal location for a magnet school, even though it is in the extreme southwest portion of the township. Westchester village officials and the District 209 School Board pushed to have Hickory Lane added to a House bill thatallows local governments to seize blighted areas for redevelopment. “Blight” is the last word one would use in regard to Hickory Lane, which is protected by land covenants meant to preserve its rural quality and, as a result, provide a buffer zone for Wolf Road Prairie.
Construction of a high school and the disastrous effects of 500 to 1,000 students and faculty on such a delicate nature preserve would eventually doom many of the rare and endangered plants and animals that live in the prairie.
Proviso Township does not need another school. The people of Illinois do need to protect the one-tenth of 1 percent of native prairie that is left in the “prairie state.”
