Cody D. Considine,^1,*,** John W. Groninger,^2,*** Charles M. Ruffner,^2,**** Matthew D. Therrell,^3,***** Sara G. Baer<sup>4,******

1</sup>1 The Nature Conservancy, Nachusa Grasslands 8772 S. Lowden Rd. Franklin Grove, IL 61031
²2 Department of Forestry Center for Ecology Southern Illinois University Carbondale 1205 Lincoln Dri
³3 Department of Geography and Environmental Resources Center for Ecology Southern Illinois Universit
⁴4 Department of Plant Biology Center for Ecology Southern Illinois University Carbondale 1125 Lincol

^* Corresponding author: cconsidine@tnc.org
^**Cody is the Restoration Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy at Nachusa Grasslands in Northern Illinois. He helps manage and restore a 1214 ha preserve within a 5000 ha complex of prairie, woodlands, and wetlands located in the Middle Rock Conservation Area. One of his goals is to produce highly diverse prairie restorations that are floristically similar to local remnant prairies in that it fools the remnant dependent animals, along with botanists and scientists, into thinking the restoration is indeed a remnant. His recent prairie restoration included over 230 species that were planted at rates above 148 kg/ha from seed that was collected locally.
^***John is a Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the Department of Forestry and a member of the Center for Ecology. His research interests include reforestation, stand dynamics, ecosystem management, and temperate agroforestry systems.
^****Charles studies the historical and current management activities of landscapes on our planet and teaches courses on Disturbance Ecology, Historical Ecology, Fire Management, and Forest Measurements within the Department of Forestry at SIUC.
^*****Matthew's primary research expertise is in the development of high quality tree-ring chronologies for use in the study of paleoclimatology and human-environmental dynamics. His current research includes reconstructing drought in southern Africa and studying paleoflooding on the Mississippi River.
^******Sara is an Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the Department of Plant Biology and a member of the Center for Ecology. Her research is primarily focused on ecological filters that affect the recovery of soil structure and functioning, plant community composition, and ecosystem processes during ecological restoration. She applies ecological theory to advance and inform restoration and uses quantitative ecological responses from restored systems to test the generality of theory in ecology.