Palos Restoration Project - Blog

Willow Springs November 10, Hidden Pond November 11, 2018

11/15/2018

Willow Springs Woods Saturday November 10
Back to the area we worked two weeks ago, we continued to push farther from the footpath where we began our assaulut. We opened an area around a row of oaks, including one impressive two-trunk tree, hopefully providing an area where their acorns can take root and produce a new generation of trees.

Hidden Pond Sunday November 11
Shepard High School students returned, 28 strong this time, and did a terrific job clearing brush from the wooded area bordering the prairie. They were energetic, engaged and curious, a delight to work with on a brisk Sunday morning. Our thanks to them and to Brian Sievers of Shepard for bringing them!

Nature Walk With a Librarian Swallow Cliff South, November 15
We had another good walk this morning, from Swallow Cliff South over to Horsetail Lake and back. The snow was only enough to get your shoes wet. Looking forward to resuming them Spring 2019!

Signs of season's change abounding even before this morning's snow; frequent flights of sandhill cranes, milkweed pods opening and releasing seed (mother says it's time to plant now), snow fences and hay bales in place at Swallow Cliff sledding hill, all pictured below.

Cap Sauers Moraines November 3, 2018

11/8/2018

Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday November 3
I missed this one due to another obligation, am told there was an over-abundance of Oriental bittersweet.
Tangling, twisting bittersweet, climbing to the top of the canopy, girdling and killing the trees it wraps itself around, tying everything together in a knotted, disgusting mess.
So how do YOU feel about bittersweet?

Then Came the Rain
We had dates at McClaughrey Springs Sunday morning and Cap Sauers Holding Sunday afternoon; both were canceled due to unremitting rain. Later that afternoon I was finished with my day's work aned able to slip into Waterfall Glen for an hour-plus walk on the trails. Still raining but not intolerably. The cold and the rain, and the windy days that followed, stripped many of the leaves that were so striking a few days earlier.

From 1999 - 2001 I was a student at Benedictine U in Lisle and my daily commute took me past Waterfall Glen and Redgate Woods. Spent a lot of time on those trails, after day classes or before the evening ones. Good memories of pretty places...

Willow Springs October 27, Swallow Cliff October 28, 2018

11/1/2018

Willow Springs Woods Saturday October 27
Another super group at Willow, including first-timers Ray and Josie from Willow Springs, Evergreen Park HS Science Club members, and many more. We cleared another substantial area; we arrived via a narrow footpath with thickets of brush on either side and departed from an expansive open area.

Swallow Cliff Woods Saturday October 28
This was Ginger's first official day as workday leader, and our return to brushcutting near the Swallow Cliff South picnic grove. New faces included Bobbie and son Diego from Whitney Young and FPCC stewardship aide Mike. Great to get back into the area where we started work at Swallow Cliff nearly 20 months ago. We had a window of several hours between rainfalls and made the most of it.

Willow Springs October 20, Black Partridge October 21, 2018

10/24/2018

Willow Springs Woods Saturday October 20
Volunteer Mike Kazaitis's birthday was coming so daughters Jennifer and Allison asked how he wanted to celebrate. Mike replied "Go to the woods" and brought both daughters, with husband and boyfriend, respectively, to help us at Willow Springs. Happy Birthday, Mike, and thanks for the gesture of support!

We also had 19 volunteers from the TEENS program at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and numerous others, a total of over 40. Good news for us, bad news for honeysuckle. We opened a large area along both sides of a creek running through the site.

Super day, thanks to all who attended!

Black Partridge Woods Sunday October 21
Hard to top the preceding day, but we did our best, with a team of 11 working near the old farm house site at Partridge, including several students and parents from Whitney Young HS.

Kathy Bruch led most of the group on a hunt for invasive stragglers, then brought them back to the brush pile site where we hauled and burned an accumulation of brush from a pair of earlier days. It was a great team effort and we got all the old cuttings on the fire.

Congratulations to Ginger Rubinstein who is officially a Stewardship Workday Leader with Forest Preserves of Cook County, and will lead volunteer restoration days at Swallow Cliff Woods. The next one is this Sunday, October 28 at 9 am - click the schedule tab on this website for details.

Congrats also to Andrew Meyer who did two observations for the Forest Preserves' Managing Invasives class last weekend.

There are numerous free classes available to volunteers through the Forest Preserves, a terrific way to expand your own base of knowledge while giving you another way to support our efforts. Click the following link to view the variety of classes offered.
ec.samaritan.com/recruiter/index.php?class=OppSearchResults&recruiterID=1405&urgency=590,520

Willow Springs October 13, Hidden Pond & Cap Sauers October 14, 2018

10/15/2018

Willow Springs Woods Saturday October 13
One group took a walking tour of Willow while other volunteers cut and burned honeysuckle near the parking lot. The walkers (several of them students from Whitney Young, plus parents, and Willow Springs resident Jeff) came back to the lot and spent their final hour helping cut. It was a terrific turnout and we got a big chunk of land cleared of invasives. Thanks to all who helped!

Hidden Pond Woods Sunday October 14
Brian Sievers of Shepard HS in Palos Heights brought ~20 students to Hidden Pond, where we continued to clear brush along the southwest edge of the prairie. We also burned off an accumulation of cut brush from prior sessions.

In addition to this great crew from Shepard, we were blessed by the presence of Landon and Niah from Oak Lawn HS, Leslie (and mom) from Whitney Young, Jean, Kathy, Andrew, and steward Mary Busch!

Cap Sauers Holding Sunday October 14
Bob had another good group at his site Sunday afternoon, 11 volunteers total including Kathy Bruch who doubled up am & pm.

'Tis the season for brushcutting and they hit a bunch of honeysuckles in their afternoon session.

McClaughrey Springs Wednesday October 17
Diana hosted 30 Curie HS students, part of her ongoing partnership with the school. They break up into small groups and rotate through chemistry, biology, physics, and restoration tasks. They were a delightful group who worked well, and Manny is a bow saw rock star.

Nature Walk With a Librarian, Black Partridge, October 18
We had a small group and a fine time, walking along the creek at Black Partridge. At the onset we saw FPCC ecologist Kristin Pink busily tagging native shrubs in the low area near the creek. Kristin is a terrific partner, as is Jessica Rock from Palos Park Public Library. Always a pleasure hanging out with Jessica and library patrons.
The final walk of 2018 will be at Swallow Cliff Woods South on Thursday November 15. Join us if you can.

Rainy Days in Palos

10/11/2018

Rainy Saturday
We had only one scheduled restoration day last weekend, and that was canceled due to rain and soggy groud. We DID have a handful of people at Hidden Pond, clearing some hazard trees from a work site where 24 students from Shepard High School in Palos Heights will volunteer Sunday October 14.

Thanks to Dennis Kankowske and John Plunkett for coming, with chainsaws, to knock down these troublesome trees. Thanks to Doug Bosco for coming on short notice, to help haul and burn said trees, and to steward Mary Busch for organizing and leading the work.

Oaks and Brews Thursday October 4
This was a public talk at Imperial Oak Brewing in Willow Springs. My thanks to all who listened as we extolled the virtues of volunteering in the preserves, and to all who came to support the event.

Little Red Schoolhouse Arts and Crafts Fair, Sunday October 7
Carolyn, Kathy, and Ginger all helped promote our activities with shoppers at this fair and we had some good conversations and encouraging words of support for our activities. I've tabled here for a number of years now this was a good day.

Willow Springs Woods Sept. 29, McClaughrey Springs Sept. 30, 2018

10/3/2018

Willow Springs Woods Saturday September 29
Normally we're here around Halloween, across from the cemetery in the 'haunted woods' of Willow West. This year we arrived early and a bit ahead of fall colors. Super turnout, with first-time Palos volunteers Cassi, James, and Mike, a visit from long-time volunteer and friend Ken Schroeder, and a host of energetic volunteers.

Many honeysuckles met their demise by saw and lopper, a number of maples were thinned, and three big fires took care of all that we cut.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday September 30
We had a great crew Sunday as well, working near the Yellow Trail's northeastern section. Devin and Carrie got one fire going, Jean the other, and everyone pitched in cutting and dragging brush. A lot of cut honeysuckle on the ground from Diana's last workday,four weeks ago, got collected and burned too.

Pioneer September 22, Swallow Cliff September 23, 2018

9/27/2018

Pioneer Woods Saturday September 22
We had another productive day, on a cool morning, one of several last week showing that summer is loosening its grip on us. We cut honeysuckle, mostly, with a few multi-flora rose and many bittersweet vines also a part of the mix.

Fiends of the Forest Preserves were a huge help, as were new volunteer George and returning volunteers Miguel, Gian Luca and Leo. At one point we had so much cut brush waiting to be burned, it seemed like it could be an all-day affair. Once the fires got cooking, though, we made quick work of it all.

Thanks to everyone who attended

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday September 23
Seed collecting in the woodland on another lovely fall morning! First-time Palos volunteer Meg and returning volunteer Andrew joined a tour of the inner loop in the south woods, gathering bottlebrush, Joe Pye weed, rye, and others.

Very few berries in sight, notably Solomon's seal, which was abundant a year ago but sparse this time around. When you do find some, likely as not you see only a couple berries at the terminal end of the stalk. Have others experienced similar at their sites?

Upcoming Events

Oaks and Brews, at Imperial Oak Brewing Thursday October 4, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Imperial Oak is at 501 Willow Blvd. in Willow Springs, near the intersection of Archer Avenue and Willow Springs Road.
We're providing a free beer to the first 25 attending and will talk about our Palos preserves and the key role the oak plays in our woodlands. We're trying to spur interest in volunteering and hope some current volunteers will be willing to share their experiences.

Little Red Schoolhouse Art Fair, Sunday October 7, 9 am - 3 pm
We'll have a table at this event. Like Oaks and Brews, we're seeking volunteers who are willing to spend a couple hours sharing their experiences with the public.

Saturday October 13, Explore Willow Springs Woods, 9 am - 12 noon
At 9 am we'll hold a regular workday, cutting and burning brush.
At 10 am we plan a public walking tour, following the hiking trails from the picnic grove into the preserve. We will bring the walkers past the work site and offer the option of joining if they're interested.
We'll need volunteers for both components of the day - anyone who wants to be part of what should be a fun day can contact me by email at janaugust@sbcglobal.net

Cap Sauers September 15, Black Partridge picnic September 16, 2018

9/20/2018

Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday September 15
Though summer weather still lingers, this was a typical fall session in Palos. Two chain saws and a brush-cutter running, honeysuckle and other non-natives tumbling like dominos, and scorching-hot brush piles burns as we cleared an area beyond the ravine where we worked on previous days.

Thanks to Margaret for redirecting me when I headed off in the wrong direction. Otherwise I might still be wandering the wilds of Cap while search parties with headlamps scour the area every night and my picture shows up on milk cartons.

Black Partridge Woods: Annual Palos Picnic 2018
This was another fun day, well- attended despite another toasty-hot afternoon. Thanks to everyone who showed up and brought such a variety of tasty sides and sweets.
Special thanks to grill-master Steve for his help, and to Julie P whose organizational skills are the perfect complement to my own lack of the same.

End-of-season Monarch update
Readers of this page already may know that Julie raised and released several monarchs this year; that's what ensues after you plant milkweed in your garden. The last three flew today and will be sipping margaritas on a beach in Cancun in due time.

One of today's monarchs had a damaged wing; Julie took him to monarch guru Bob Erlich of Evergreen Park, who replaced a portion of the wing and sent him on his way. Damn!

Spears Woods September 8, Hidden Pond September 9, 2018

9/13/2018

Spears Woods Saturday September 8
We did some serious honeysuckle chopping and burning in a brushy thicket adjacent to the prairie at Spears. This day marked the return of Friends of the Forest Preserves Palos crew to our Saturday sessions, including new crew member (and veteran Sundown volunteer) Amber Kunz.

Working fairly close to the parking lot made it a short walk so all our energy was directed to the invaders. Good for us, not so good for them.

Hidden Pond Sunday September 9
We've had two previous workdays where we cut brush and could not burn, so we had large stacks needing disposal. With a great group, including several scouts from Palos Park and the Macchione family, we tackled that mess, dragging and burning with (near) abandon. Getting rid of all that brush on the edge of the prairie will allow the next prescribed burn to come through. Thanks to all for a job well done!