One of the last remaining prairies in Illinois—8,000-year-old Bell Bowl Prairie in Rockford—is slated for destruction as the Chicago Rockford International Airport expands. Bell Bowl is a gravel prairie—among the rarest type of remaining prairie—and it contains some of the most intact and undisturbed natural plant communities found anywhere in the state. If the expansion occurs as the airport currently proposes, then rare, threatened, and endangered species will be destroyed—driven by growth in international shipping and Rockford’s role as a cargo hub for Amazon and UPS.