Seventh-graders from Roosevelt Middle School waded knee-deep through prairie grass on Wednesday, Oct. 7, hunting for seeds of a wildflower that can grow 10 feet tall.

The students in Cory Kadlec's science class traveled to a small prairie near the Silver Creek Family area in Melrose Park, alongside the Des Plaines River, to collect seeds from pale Indian plantain, a native North American wildflower. Those seeds will be spread in early November on a one-acre plot in Thatcher Woods near the pavilion at 8030 Chicago Ave. in River Forest, replacing ground formerly covered with non-native Eurasian grass.

The trip is part of a three-year prairie regeneration project that Kadlec and Maria Vujic, a naturalist at the Trailside Museum of Natural History in River Forest, launched in fall 2023, as first reported by Oak Park's Wednesday Journal. Students collect seeds each fall and spread them in Thatcher Woods, building up native plant life one season at a time.

The results are visible.

Vujic said the regenerated acre is already thriving with many native plants growing after three years. The plot is the only no-mow area in the Cook County Forest Preserves managed with locally collected seeds, according to Vujic.

The work is hands-on in every sense. Students used high-knee walks through the tall prairie to spot the plants, then looked for "fluffy" seed heads that signal ripeness. Vujic and Joe Wagner, a Trailside Museum naturalist assistant, taught the class about the region's ecological history and how farming and development stripped away the prairie that once covered about 60% of Illinois.

"Thanks to our partnership with Forest Preserve naturalists and local volunteers, students are able to have a positive impact on a valuable and rare local prairie ecosystem," Kadlec said. "The tangible and visible results are encouraging and will hopefully inspire future actions."

Kadlec has taught in River Forest School District 90 for more than 30 years. The Trailside Museum, established in 1932 as the first public nature education facility for the Forest Preserves of Cook County, is housed in a historic 1876 mansion on Thatcher Avenue.

The next step: spreading the collected seeds in Thatcher Woods in early November.