Lecture leader ready to dig into uses of Illinois plants

WILMINGTON — Bill Handel of the Illinois Natural History Survey will present a lecture Thursday, Feb. 18 as part of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie’s Community Lecture Series.
Handel’s lecture, which is titled Edible and Medicinal Plants of Northern Illinois, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Midewin Supervisor’s Office in Wilmington.
Handel’s presentation will include the historic uses of plants by Native American tribes of northern Illinois, as well as discuss the growth of the medicinal plant trade and modern day uses of the plants today.
While most of the focus on edible and medicinal plants is concentrated on losses due to destruction of the rain forests in Central and South America, North America is often overlooked as a major source of natural plant products, because much of the information on uses of wild plants disappeared more than100 years ago with the Native Americans.
Of the information on plants utilized by North American Indian tribes, the least is known about the Plains Indians. It is known that Native Americans used plants extensively for food and medicine.
It has been reported that more than 1,112 species of plants were utilized by North American Indians for food alone.

In a study of the prairie bio-region, it was found that a total of 123 plant species were used as food and 203 species were used medicinally.

Handel grew up on a 300-acre farm along the bluffs of the Mississippi River in northwestern Illinois. It was here that he first gained an appreciation of nature and plants.

Handel attended Highland College in Freeport, Ill. He finished his education at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, with a double major in Zoology and Botany.

Handel got his bachelor’s degree in botany and his master’s degree in plant biology in 1991 with Dr. Robert Mohlenbrock.

For the past 19 years, Bill has worked at the Illinois Natural History Survey. He primarily studies Illinois natural communities, as well as endangered and threatened species.

Handel’s interests include community restoration and reconstruction of prairie and forest communities and edible and medicinal plants of Native Americans.

All Community Lecture Series programs  will begin at 7 p.m. at the Midewin Supervisor’s Office, located two miles north of Wilmington on Illinois 53.