Birds, deer and other animals find much-needed shelter in this Illinois forest
In the deep cold of an Upper Midwest winter, a cave-dwelling northern long-eared bat is aroused prematurely from its hibernation again and again.
Eventually, this tiny brown creature’s stored fat reserves dwindle away to nothing, because of the constant reawakenings. The bat is itchy and hungry, and, contrary to its evolution, craves a mid-winter flight – in daytime, no less.
This odd behavior has been attributed by scientists to a fungus, pseudogymnoascus destructans, which eats away at the membrane of the bats’ wings, turns their little noses white, and ultimately causes them to freeze or starve to death.
The aptly named “white-nose syndrome” is causing the catastrophic destruction of bat populations in eastern North America. In some cases, entire colonies – millions of bats – have been eradicated, including up to 99 per cent of the population of the northern long-eared bat in the northeast United States.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently added the bat to the endangered species list,” says Andrew Hawkins, superintendent of planning and development for the Forest Preserve District of Will County, near Joliet, Ill.
In 2009, the Forest Preserve District began restoring a 42-acre section of the Forked Creek Preserve, which is used by the northern long-eared bat as a summer roost, and also shelters birds, deer, and other animals. When funding for the restoration project ran low, the project was halted and left unfinished.
Recently, however, the Forked Creek Preserve attracted the attention of Enbridge, through our Line 78 Pipeline Project. The project has an in-service date of fall 2015, and when complete, will transport crude oil from our Flanagan Terminal near Pontiac, Ill. to our terminal near Griffith, Ind.
At Enbridge, we attempt to minimize the environmental footprint of our pipeline and facility projects whenever possible, and Line 78 will run adjacent and parallel to our existing Line 62 for the majority of its route. But to offset the space used by Line 78, we wanted to make a significant environmental contribution to a nearby project – and in this case, we chose to complete the restoration of the 42-acre portion of the Forked Creek Preserve with a $266,400 donation to the Will County forest preserve.
“(Enbridge’s contribution) will take this restoration project to the next step,” Hawkins says.
Ann Dralle, chairwoman of the Friends of the Forest Preserve District, says the contribution from Enbridge is the largest donation the newly-formed foundation has received.
“Through Enbridge’s donation, we are able to do restoration that would not have happened for a number of years,” says Dralle.
Enbridge has donated more than $50 million to communities where we do business over the past decade, notes Line 78 project director Scott Clark.
“The new pipeline will be (in the area) for many, many years,” he says. “We want to try to do the right thing for the community and the environment along the way.”
