CHICAGO, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- ComEd and natural landscaping contractor Pizzo and Associates, Ltd., have earned an award from the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association for the restoration of prairie and wetland property in West Chicago.
The restoration work resulted in a Merit Award today for transforming the area from a bluegrass lawn to a diverse native plant community that is both aesthetically pleasing as well as ecologically diverse.
The 2.1-acre area is along transmission lines near one of ComEd's business customers, Ball Horticultural Company. The customer also restored two sites on each side of the ComEd right-of-way, creating a large restoration area.
"This project and others like it improve wildlife habitat, increase carbon sequestration, prevent runoff, slow erosion and improve water quality in neighboring areas," said Neena Hemmady, ComEd manager of environmental programs.
"It is just plain beautiful," said Jack Pizzo, principal landscape architect and senior ecologist for Pizzo and Associates. "The flowering starts in the spring and ends in the fall, with a variety of foliage textures all winter long. There are so many benefits from such a common sense approach to landscaping and land use."
ComEd first established its Prairie Initiative in 1994 to restore prairie habitats along its right-of-ways. The utility received a 2005 Conservation and Native Landscaping Award from the U.S. EPA and Chicago Wilderness and Wildlife Habitat Council certification last year.
Since 1994, ComEd has restored over 300 acres of prairie habitats in its service territory.
ComEd is pursuing or is currently involved in partnerships with agencies such as the Forest Preserve District of Will County, Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, and the Morton Arboretum.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across Northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.
