The Chiwaukee Prairie-Illinois Beach Lake Plain is a stretch of connected natural areas on the western shore of Lake Michigan which spans across the Wisconsin-Illinois Border. The Lake Plain includes Kenosha Dunes, Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area, Spring Bluff Forest Preserve, Illinois Beach State Park, Hosah Park, and Waukegan Dunes and serves as the highest quality dune and swale ecosystem in the Chicago Region. Protected through the Lake Plain Coalition, efforts are underway to manage the Lake Plain as one unit across state lines.

In this talk, Lake Plain Coordinator Belynda Alberte discusses why these habitats are so special and how they support endangered Great Lakes piping plovers.

Ms. Alberte works with the Coalition on their organizational needs, seeking funding sources for habitat management and conservation strategies, and overall project management in the Lake Plain. She also assists in management and stewardship of the Lake Plain Natural Areas with agency staff, nonprofits and volunteers. A botanist by trade, Ms. Alberte’s Master's thesis explored the vegetation of the Lake Plain (University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Masters of Biology with a Concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation).