Palos Restoration Project - Blog

Cap Sauers May 19, Black Partridge May 20, 2018

5/23/2018

Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday May 19, Black Partridge Sunday May 20
Two days of wandering stunning landscapes, looking for garlic mustard plants conspicuous, in most cases, by their absence. That, of course, is good news. It's also good to cover far more ground than you would on a brush-cutting day, seeing a variety of plants emerging, in bloom, and fading.

We truly have some wondrous places in Palos and are blessed to be able to and experience them.. We also are blessed with individuals who possess a wealth of knowledge and the willingness to share.

Paddock Woods

5/14/2018

Paddock Woods Saturday May 12
Were we looking for garlic mustard? Guess so...
Did we find it? Yes we did.

It wasn't in huge amounts, just enough to suggest we have some more pullin' to do. Some areas were fairly sparse, which was comforting. One newly recovering section, cleared of brush maybe 18 months ago with the help of Moraine Valley Community College staff, was pretty thick with the weed. The other side of the trail, subject of contractor work maybe two years ago, also had some targets for our clutching little hands.

The amazing part - not so amazing if you subscribe to my belief about Joe Neumann and the weather - is the thunder and heavy rain around 8 am, which cleared just before 9, then returned around 1:30 pm, just when we were wrapping up. How does he do that?

Hidden Pond Woods Sunday May 13
Mothers Day was also supposed to be rainy and turned out much better than the forecast. We walked through the south woods and pulled a fair number of plants, took and break and headed toward the prairie. I had to leave at that point so I'm not sure how much was found in that section of the woods, but I returned later in the day and found a lonely couple of shooting stars farther out on the prairie. Lovely!

One note: the newly emerging garlic mustard plants, closer to the ground, force you to bend much farther. Not cool at all...

McClaughrey May 5 & 6, Cap Sauers May 6, 2018

5/9/2018

McClaughrey Springs Saturday May 5
Saturday we had a group from the TEENS program at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum as well as new volunteer Elizabeth who also came to McClaughrey and Cap Sauers on Sunday. In addition we had a group of our stalwart volunteers.

Our students spent the first half of their time pulling garlic mustard near Mill Creek. After break we split up, with several continuing to pull while others grabbed tools and helped cut and burn honeysuckle with the core group.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday May 6
We must have done a good job pulling garlic mustard Saturday, because Sunday Diana said they were having trouble locating plants. Improvisation is key; she gave a short tour to the new volunteers while several others stayed behind cutting and burning brush again.

Happy that everyone got to the site okay despite closure of Route 83 for the annual Southwest Half Marathon.

Cap Sauers Sunday May 6
Thanks to Kris DaPra of FPCC who led this session when steward Bob Arentz could not. More good news here: she led a group of a half dozen who found only a very small number of garlic mustard plants at the site.

We're not sure if the scarcity of the weed is a good sign or if it's merely coming later than normal due to the snows and cold through much of April. Joe Neumann speculates that perhaps the late emergence gave our natives a better chance to compete with the interlopers. Over the next several weeks we'll see.

However the garlic mustard saga plays out, it's been a joy walking the trails and viewing all the spring wildflowers as they take turns blooming.

Willow Springs Woods April 28, 2018

5/3/2018

Special thanks to Sheri Moor, Margaret Tobin, and Elsa Anderson for tending to our table at the Oak Lawn Earth Day event last Saturday April 28, spreading the gospel of restoration iin the forest preserves.

Another special thanks to Kathy and Dave Branigan for doing the same kind of evangelizing at the Lake Katherine Nature and Arts Festival on the same day.

Each contact that we make, each person we engage, helps inform the public about the incredible resource we have in our local preserves, and the need for public support to keep our efforts going and growing.

Willow Springs Woods Saturday April 28
Joe had a large and active group helping clear brush at Willow Springs, including the Evergreen Park High School Science Club who join us regularly.

They worked near the ruins of an old farmhouse (?), a hint of the history of the land before it became a preserve. Much invasive brush got cut and burned, great job by all who attended!

Brush-cutting season is winding down - with spring flowers popping and birds nesting, the focus soon shifts to our stalwart foe, garlic mustard. Too soon to tell how big a year THAT devil will have, stay tuned...

Willow Springs April 21, Swallow Cliff April 22, 2018

4/26/2018

I called it the first weekend of Spring and it truly was. More than two days since the last snow, sun shining, all is good. We had a super time!

Willow Springs Woods Saturday April 21
We had numerous volunteers in addition to the full complement of six from Friends of the Forest Preserves Palos crew. Working the edges of a field that was the target of a contract brush-mowing project earlier in the year, we continued to expand the field outward toward the trail.

We had a great mix of energetic people and another (I say this so often it could be my mantra) most productive day. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Swallow Cliff Woods South Sunday April 22
On a lovely Sunday morning Swallow Cliff is alive with runners, hikers, dog-walkers, and - on this Sunday - a large group of restoration volunteers. So many we had to break out a second bin of tools.

It was great to have Jackie and Srdjan back (Congratulations you two!) and great to work with, among others, a group from Berry Global in Alsip, scouts and leaders from BSA Troop 596 in Oak Lawn, and volunteers, both new and returning, too numerous to list here.

From the top of the spur that leads from the south lot to the Swallow Cliff stairs, we now have a mostly unimpeded view of the marsh below. This has been one of steward Jackie's goals. Terrific crew, terrific job!

Willow Springs Woods April 14, 2018

4/19/2018

SPRING
Snow on my front lawn, more snow on the neighbor's roof. Night after night the thermometer dips below freezing. Still, solid evidence exists that spring is on its way.

Tuesday I saw my first trout lily of the season (leaves, no flower yet) and Wednesday the first bloodroot (the flowers, closed tightly, as were the leaves clasping the stalk). Some wild leek were also probing the chill morning air.

Give them a few warm sunny days, and these guys are coming with a vengeance.

Willow Springs Woods Saturday April 14
High winds and forecasts of steady rain (which mostly missed us) made cancellation a tempting option, but we went ahead with our plans, counting on that Joe Neumann mojo I talked about two weeks ago.

While our sole brush pile fire was stubborn as they come, we got a decent patch of brush cleared near the shelter and picnic grove. We also enjoyed the company of three very hardy souls who came for our walking tour (Beth, Dave, and Vanetta) and hung around to chat for a while.

Thanks also to first-time Palos volunteer Colin who stayed 'til three in the afternoon!

Sunday April 15 was a wash, with cancellations at Swallow Cliff (am) and Black Partridge (pm) due to decidedly rain and cold.

Nature Walk With a Librarian Thursday April 18, McClaughrey Springs Woods
We walked again with Jessica Rock and patrons of Palos Park Public Library. We saw numerous spring flowers (trillium, cutleaf toothwort, Virginia waterleaf among them), mostly without flowers, and spotted one small group of spring beauties already blooming.

Spears Woods April 7, Hidden Pond & Cap Sauers Holding April 8 2018

4/9/2018

Spears Woods Saturday April 7
Revisiting the site we worked last week, we had a super day, pushing the honeysuckle almost all the way to the prairie!

Great turnout too, with new volunteers Chad and Peggy (who returned to Cap Sauers the next day), Ray and Jaden from Trinity U., and almost newbie Eric (who also came to Hidden Pond the next day), the Friends of the Forest Preserves crew plus alumnus Ginger. I counted 24 people total.

Two brush-cutters again - until the handle on one fatigued and snapped - and a couple of chain saws as well. We had an extra-good feeling walking out knowing how much was accomplished. Thanks to all for a job well done!

Hidden Pond Sunday April 8
We had another excellent showing on Sunday, including new volunteers Troy from Loyola U. and Nancy who came with Eric. Near-calm meant no brush pile burn - luckily a bright April sun took the edge off the 20-something temps that greeted us.

We started the morning cutting honeysuckle along the NW edge of the prairie; later on steward Mary Busch led volunteers in distributing seed collected last fall.

Cap Sauers Holding Sunday April 8
After all the preceding activity, we had another half-dozen volunteers out at Cap in the afternoon, including Chad and Peggy on their second Palos outing of the weekend. They cleared a peninsula of brush, as Bob Arentz described it, and improved the view on a hillside where he's directed his recent efforts.

Pelicans in Palos
Last weekend Kevin Coyote-Trust posted some terrific pictures of pelicans seen on Maple Lake. I was fortunate to see some mid-week, not sure how long they'll hang now that warmer temps are, at least briefly, upon us. Lovely birds, a triumph of function over form.

April 02nd, 2018

4/2/2018

Spears Woods Saturday March 31, subtitled
Did Joe get his mojo back?

I used to think Joe Neumann had a special "in" with the weather gods. Whatever the forecast Joe's workday seemed to happen. We might have a foot of snow by late afternoon (yes, that happened), I might have water pouring into my basement (ouch! I skipped that workday but Joe carried on), he always managed to pull it off. Until the past year or so, when we lost at least a couple of his days to conditions too serious to ignore.

Weather forecast for Saturday looked real bad; rain in the morning followed by high winds. The rain came - at 7 am the radar showed a long line of showers and by 8 we had a steady rain. But at 9 it fortuitously had diminished so we decided to give it a shot. By 10 we were nestled in a low spot at Spears, sheltered from the worst of the wind, and managed a very productive morning of brush-cutting and burning. Two brush-cutters, two chain saws, numerous energetic loppers and haulers. The sun made its first appearance around 11.

Thanks to new volunteers Eric, Stone, Milo, Edward, Brianna, and Emely - all of whom came, some from a substantial distance, despite the ominous forecast. Perhaps they knew Joe's reputation - "Neumann never knuckles", as Steve Krupa has said.

Time will tell but, for one day, at least, Joe's mojo was back in full force.

Sunday April 1, McClaughrey Springs
Diana and company worked near Mill Creek and the north edge of the Yellow trail, cleaning a previous working site and cutting more brush, including some of Palos's remaining buckthorns. She had a terrific turnout on Easter morning and got a lot accomplished. Thanks to Steve for his account of the day.

Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday March 24

3/26/2018

Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday March 24

Seven students from A.A. Stagg HS Key Club were part of our team for the day, and they did an excellent job. We worked the same area where we thinned trees early in March, burning off some leftovers while Doug and Diana cut brush nearby. The FOTFP Palos crew had their own sector, chain-sawing, brush-cutting, and burning.

Unlike the past two Saturdays, we had good humidity, decent wind, and no trouble getting fires going. A relief, since that same wind on the walk in left us all a bit chilled.

Saturday night was the 2nd Hike the Night for Earth Hour at Orland Grasslands. I seldom pass up a chance to walk a preserve at night; used to do it on my own from time to time but FPCC police sometimes took issue. Remember, preserves are open dawn to dusk. (If you sign up as a frog monitor you can get out after dark!)

Several of our volunteers were part of a packed house at Palos Heights Library on March 27 for a "Glaciers, Quarries, and Seas", a talk by Carl Sandburg science teacher Jim Corcoran on the geology of the Palos landscape. Good stuff..., thanks to Jeannine Kacmar at Palos Heights Public Library for her programming.

Spears March 17, Swallow Cliff & Black Partridge March 18, 2018

3/21/2018

Spears Woods Saturday March 17
One week ago were were here on a dry day and our fires were slow to start. This time, we had a 'wintry mix' that didn't stop falling until mid-morning, with an icy glaze on our kindling and everything on the ground damp if not outright soaked. So the fires were even slower to start; we relied heavily on the propane tank and leaf-blower to keep things going.

Having said that, it was a most successful day! We made huge progress in cleaning this area, burned eight? big brush piles, and walked out with it looking so much better than it did walking in. Our sincere thanks to all who participated.

Swallow Cliff Woods South Sunday March 18
Negligible wind meant no brush pile burns, so we dragged brush to the curb for the chipper crew to tend to. Thank you to all the first-time Palos volunteers: June, Phil, Quinn, Gerald, and Barry. I hope we'll see you again.

We worked in a terrible tangle of vines, among them bitter sweet, grape, and multi-flora rose. See the pictures below for a hint. By morning's end we cleared a big chunk of it, and will get more on a future play date.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday March 18
Through a combination of volunteer, FPCC crew, Friends of the Forest Preserves, and contractors, Black Partridge is now rid of all its major thickets of brush. There are still stragglers, but it's the first site for which we can make that statement. John Marlin has been steward for almost 26 years now, so he's been witness to all the change.

We worked near the east border of the preserve and passed a cool ephemeral pond that I hadn't seen before. Looking very good in there.