The sky at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie feels enormous, a vista unlike any other. About an hour southwest of Chicago, on land that once housed the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant, Midewin was the first national tallgrass prairie in the United States. It was established in 1996 after the Army transferred the land to the U.S. Forest Service. During World War II and the Cold War, this expanse produced and stored munitions. After the plant was decommissioned, local advocates, conservation groups, and federal agencies pushed to restore the site to its original ecosystem. The result is a vast patchwork of recovering prairie, wetlands, and oak savanna spread across roughly 20,000 acres in Will County, Illinois. Tallgrass prairie once covered an estimated 170 million acres of North America. Today, less than one percent remains, making restoration here both symbolic and urgent.…