In Illinois, IRAP will provide a fast tool to assess the condition of natural communities in Chicago Wilderness, and in the State. IRAP's goals are to:

• produce a first-cut assessment of the current condition of several sites in Chicago Wilderness;
  
• help select critical sites for long-term monitoring of restoration activities; and
  
• evaluate priority sites for additional protection and management.

An immediate objective of IRAP also is to identify several organisms that lend themselves to rapid assessments, and that are good indicators of the type and condition of the natural community sampled.

Thirteen members of Academic Affairs (Zoology, Botany, and Environmental & Conservation Programs) at the Field Museum will be developing and refining methods for rapid inventories in temperate regions. Draft protocols will be revised by scientists from the Illinois Natural History Survey, and other IDNR and Chicago Wilderness scientists. A revised protocol will be available by the end of 1998. Several groups of organisms are included in the multitaxa surveys: bryophytes, vascular plants, macrofungi (mushrooms), land snails and slugs, rove beetles, carabid beetles, spiders, amphibians and reptiles, and birds.

Why RAP? What gap does RAP fill?

In the tropics, RAP targets regions of high potential for conservation to find the best remaining sites in different ecosystems. RAP trips fill information gaps within these high-priority regions, gathering data on the ground that allow conservationists to evaluate and compare sites based on their biological value. RAP does not attempt to develop complete inventories. It provides, instead, a first-cut assessment complete enough to allow conservation strategies and management plans to be guided by the most relevant biological information set in a regional and global framework.

In Illinois, the Rapid Assessment Program will fill similar information gaps. For some organisms, IRAP surveys will provide the first baseline data for the region. The focus of IRAP, however, will be to assess the condition of entire landscapes, and to evaluate the effects of management, lack of management, or fragmentation on natural areas. IRAP aims to quickly pinpoint areas that are relatively intact, or are potentially restorable. The focus on restoration and ecosystem function requires that an appropriate set of organisms (for example, fungi and other soil-associated organisms that play a vital role in ecological restoration) be targeted for IRAP. IRAP also will provide a tool for quick assessment of the current state of biological communities in Chicago Wilderness (and in the State). Coupled with long-term monitoring efforts at key sites, IRAP will allow for snapshot evaluation of the condition of the region's natural communities over time. This information will be critical for improving and fine-tuning restoration activities, and for updating and revising the regional Biodiversity Recovery Plan being developed for Chicago Wilderness.

IRAP Sites

Four locations throughout Chicago Wilderness were selected that represent the major natural communities in the region: prairies, oak woodlands, and wetlands. The sites include Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Swallow Cliff Woods, Lake Calumet, and Green Lake Woods. Because Midewin is so large scientists will be able to test a landscape approach in a mosaic of different habitats.

Because of current accessibility issues, at Midewin, Field Museum scientists are focusing their initial efforts on the section west of Route 53. The following sites are included in their sampling protocol:

• Drummond Prairie - an ungrazed prairie at the NW corner of Midewin. It ranges from wet dolomitic prairie with sedges and cattails at the north end, to dry exposed flatrocks to the south;
  
• Grant Creek Prairie - a grazed, somewhat drier prairie, dominated by cool­season grasses;
  
• Hoff Woods - a mesic oak-woodland, and
  
• Jackson Creek Seeps.

Preliminary Results

To date, we have experimented with different sampling regimes for the different taxonomic groups. For bryophytes, the rapid sampling is nearly complete. Preliminary results are available for rove beetles. For birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mollusks work is underway. For vascular plants and fungi, data collection began in July. For spiders, a sampling regime is in place; many have been collected, soon they will be sorted and identified. Below is a brief, general summary of the preliminary data.

The Grant Creek Prairie site is dominated by cool­season grasses and currently is being grazed by cattle. Preliminary indications are that a number of characteristic bryophyte species present at Drummond (e.g., Riccia spp.) are absent, and vice versa, although at least one weedy moss species, Ceratodon, is present at both sites. The aquatic moss Fissidens fontanus was found in the creek just E of the bridge.

Hoff Woods lies directly NE of Gate 10, and is a rich woods on a gentle WSW facing slope. There is a deep humus layer on the ground, and a dense herbaceous layer of nettles, Hydrophyllum, Impatiens, wild ginger, jack­in­the­pulpit, green­dragon, etc. Trees are primarily basswood, ash, and elm, and wild cherry, with a few large, open­grown white oaks near the top of the slope. Bryophytes are primarily confined to rotten logs.

Notable bryophytes at Drummond Prairie include several species of the xerophytic thallose hepatic, Riccia, and another xerophytic hepatic, Reboulia. The site has (reputedly) not been grazed since the mid 1930's, which is consistent with the well­developed, intact cryptogamic crusts (mats of cyanobacteria, lichens, and xeromorphic hepatics) which cover the exposed bedrock surface. These take a long time to develop and are fragile and tend to be destroyed by grazers.

Of all sites sampled, the molluscan fauna at ungrazed Drummond Prairie is most diverse with 20 of the 41 species previously recorded from Will County, a county with one of the best sampled malacofaunas in the state. In addition there are five species recorded from Will County for the first time and two new state records. Nearby Grant Creek Prairie, a grazed field, with somewhat similar substrate and appearance, has far fewer species. Only four land snails were recorded, most of them wide ranging generalists, tolerant of extreme conditions.

The two litter subsamples from Hoff Woods contained 21 and 27 species of Staphylinidae, of which 12 were in both. The sample of moss and litter around tussocks at Drummond Prairie contained 10 species of Staphylinidae, all distinct from those in the woods litter.

Further sampling should either reinforce or refute the distinctness of the staphylinid faunas of these two communities, and may reveal characteristic species for one or both.

For herps, two species have been recorded thus far: Coluber constrictor flaviventris (Eastern Yellowbelly Racer), and Thamnophis r. radix (Eastern Plains Garter Snake).

For birds, Midewin has been visited once and the areas to be surveyed in detail have been selected. Bird surveys will be conducted throughout the west side of Midewin (west of State Rte. 53), with Drummond Prairie the focus of quantitative surveys. The east side is currently poorly accessible due to salvage activities. If it becomes more accessible over the next year, these areas will be surveyed in the coming spring and summer.