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History & Highlights Chicago Illinois Field Office |
Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid
(Platanthera leucophaea)
Once a common feature in wetlands and prairies throughout much of the Midwestern United States, habitat destruction and alteration lead to the decline of this beautiful plant. It was listed as a threatened species in 1989.
Historical Records for this Species in Northeast Illinois are available from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties.
The Chicago Illinois Field Office is the lead office for coordinating the Service's efforts to recover this species. In addition to arranging meetings of the Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid Recovery Team, we regularly network and consult with other orchid experts to discuss actions that might benefit its recovery. We also completed (in 1999) the approved recovery plan, and have helped implement other range-wide actions to recover this species.
In the Chicago region we hold annual meetings of land managers and others with an interest in this species, and have funded various projects which may contribute locally to its recovery. The efforts were recently chronicled in an article that appeared in the Service's Endangered Species Bulletin.
These projects have included the Nature Conservancy's efforts to form an active and dedicated group of Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid volunteers, as well as research into the orchid's biology, genetics, life history, and pollination requirements. Other collaborators include botanists at the The Chicago Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, and Chicago State University.
Some Other Pertinent Facts for Platanthera leucophaea:
Listed as threatened in 1989. Web areas, and listing and recovery literature and dates include:
Complete regulatory profile, provided on the Service's Endangered Species website.
Final rule listing the species (.pdf format), published in The Federal Register (54 FR 39857 39863), September 28,1989).
Recovery plan approved in 2000.
USFWS Fact sheet.
Tulsa, Oklahoma Field Office species account web page.
