What on earth is a “nacho workshop” and why am I reading about it on SGI’s blog? The last place I would expect to find exciting new nacho recipes is on a blog spot for a conservation organization, right? Where’s the cheese, please?

Let’s dig in.

I recently enjoyed the fabulous experience of attending the Grassland Restoration Network’s annual workshop and I’m here to tell you that this was “nacho” regular workshop by a longshot.

Unlike that pun, the workshop was pure joy. The knowledge I gained about the restoration process and the volunteers and stewards that make it all possible is far beyond what I could ever digest from an average symposium or conference. The difference is the people. These are nacho regular people either. They are superheroes.

This year’s annual workshop was a 3-day event hosted by the Citizens for Conservation (CFC) in Barrington, IL. CFC pulled this complex workshop off in spectacular fashion.

“Who wants to know?”

With over 100 attendees, many of whom were from out-of-state, the thorough planning by CFC ensured that every guest arrived at every tour without getting lost and with plenty of time to mingle in-between. With maps on our phones and new friends in rental car rideshares, away we went.

If my goal was not to share with you some key take-aways from the site stewards, then I could expound on the fact that CFC had every detail covered - all the way down to omnivore vs. vegan pre-ordered picnic meals. I mean, really? When SGI hosts this event in 2040 (yikes) you’re all gittin’ crawdad grits or poke salad fer lunch. Maybe some moonshine too, but not until after Phillip Juras shares his new collection of paintings with us. His artwork is inebriating enough! Let the planning begin!

But for 2022, the skilled organizers designated every guest to one of four tour groups, and we remained with our cohorts through a rotation of four restoration sites, each as beautifully diverse as the previous tour. (Shout out to everyone in Tour Group 4! Woot! WOOT!)

• Poplar Creek and Shoe Factory Road Nature Preserve - Forest Preserves of Cook County

• Spring Creek and Galloping Hill - Forest Preserves of Cook County

• Grassy Lake - Lake County Forest Preserves

• Flint Creek Savanna - Citizens for Conservation

Each site was spectacular in its own right, and each tour was led by the site stewards, volunteer representatives, and Forest Preserve Ecologists that had been the collective muscle behind the might. To experience each site through testimony from the practitioners that had transformed these overgrown, degraded landscapes into restoration sites - some receiving the highest honor of Illinois Nature Preserve - gave us a taste of the intimate relationship with the land that the volunteers in this region are known for and trusted with.

A typical conference provides intellectual familiarity, but this workshop developed kinship with the stewards, the guests, the lands, and the planet. We were guests for a time, but we are now family forever.

Listening to Jenny Flexman, volunteer steward for the Poplar Creek and Shoe Factory Road Nature Preserve for over 31 years, I realized that the simple needs in my own life that propel me through even the hardest times are needs that I share with humanity itself. We need to be needed; we need to be valued; we need to be trusted.

With these needs met, we become superhumans capable of restoring entire ecosystems back to (almost) their pre-European settlement splendor. I listened to the peaceful determination in Jenny’s voice as she described the sustainability that a sense of empowerment provides to a volunteer organization; I saw in her eyes the recognition that equity is everything in life. At least it is everything worth having.

Wanting to see as many Illinois prairie remnants and restorations that I could squeeze into this perfectly-weathered August week, I topped off the workshop with a visit to Nachusa Grasslands (The Nature Conservancy) in the nearby-ish Franklin Grove, IL.

Molly Duncan, a Crew Leader and Resident Fellow at this magnificent site, had attended the workshop in Barrington. Because of the wonderful networking the workshop provided, my friend from Tennessee and I were invited out to the 4000-acre restoration site for a site tour and a talk with Dee Hudson, an Administrative Assistant with The Nature Conservancy.

Receiving a site tour from a technician that knew the site like a dear friend added such depth to the experience. Molly introduced us by name to the knobs and swales at Nachusa. Again, we sat alone in reverie in the midst of dear friends of the earth.

Dee Hudson took time out of her schedule to share her valuable experience in working with volunteers with me. We sat in the shade of the barn (whew! thank you) and she addressed my questions graciously. The wisdom she shared with me simply dissolved months of a growing concern of mine. Thank you Dee, for the art and impact of storytelling.

I bring back to Tennessee with me the clear understanding that lightning might not strike twice. The perfect storm of socio-political conditions that germinated the phenomenon of the Barrington Greenway Initiative may not be replicated elsewhere, but the same basic ingredients for thriving human life, both individually and corporately, must remain at the tip of the spear.

Those necessary ingredients, like tortilla chips and cheese and heat, are trust, autonomy, and empowerment. The rest is all fun, hard work, and dedication. The three make some great nachos.

For more information regarding the Grassland Restoration Network, Citizens for Conservation, or the wonderful GRN Workshop I attended, this link will be a good starting point for your down-the-rabbit-hole excursion.

Laura Hunt, Volunteer Coordinator

Laura is building a bridge for people to fuel their passions while contributing to grassland research and conservation.