Brownlee Cemetery Prairie Preserve
Mercer County, Illinois
Brownlee Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve Plants and Wildlife
In the table below:
Click on the Plant, Bird, Reptile and Amphibian, Insect and Arachnid, and Mammal tabs at the bottom of the table to scroll through the lists.
These lists are based on species identified during site visits, Betz and Lamp (1989), and sightings submitted using the link in the sub-bullet point below. Submitted species are added to the table as time allows.
Click here if you would like to submit records of plants or wildlife you have seen at this location.
Bloom periods are based on those provided by the Illinois Plants Database.
About this natural area:
Brownlee Cemetery Prairie is a remnant of mesic prairie in the Galesburg Section of the Western Forest-Prairie Natural Division. Brownlee cemetery dates back to 1842 when Thomas and Anne Brownlee deeded 3 acres of land to the Associate Church of North Henderson for a church and burial ground. The last burial took place in 1942 and since then the cemetery prairie has maintained much of its original character. Today this mesic black soil prairie consists of Indian grass, big bluestem, little bluestem, leadplant, wild bergamot, yellow coneflower, and rattlesnake master.
Amenities:
None
Literature and links:
Click here to view a Google Scholar search for additional literature using the pre-filled search terms of "Brownlee Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve."
Betz, Robert F. and Lamp, Herbert F. 1989. Species Composition of Old Settler Silt-loam Prairies. Proceedings of the Eleventh North American Prairie Conference.
Moorehouse and Hassen. 2004. Protecting Pioneer Cemetery Prairies: Balancing the Need to Preserve Cultural and Natural Heritage Values. Proceedings of the 19th North American Prairie Conference. Pgs 163-167.
Panzer, Ron. (2002). Compatibility of Prescribed Burning with the Conservation of Insects in Small, Isolated Prairie Reserves. Conservation Biology. 16. 1296 - 1307. 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01077.x.
Spyreas*, G., Pearse*, I.S., Nickrent, D.L., Greenwood, N.M., Epstein, A., and Anders. P., (eds.) 2017. Illinois Plants: a web-based database for the flora of Illinois. https://www.inhs.illinois.edu/data/plantdb
Click here for more from the IDNR webpage for this site.
Click here to view the Wild Ones webpage for this site.
Click here to view River Action's Wild Places page for this site.
Click here to see this site's Facebook page.
Click here to learn more about The Prairie Directory of North America: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Click here to listen to the In Defense of Plants Ep. 51podcast on cemetery prairies.