Palos Restoration Project - Blog

Cap Sauers Holding May 20, Black Partridge Woods May 21, 2023

5/24/2023

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday May 20
I missed this one due to the nature walk below, but that didn't stop our volunteers, including first-time Palos volunteer Karen, from collecting an impressive haul of garlic mustard at Cap. Ten bags was the reported haul, and can be seen in the slideshow below.

Nature Walk at McClaughrey Springs Woods Saturday May 20
This was another fun walk on a cool beautiful spring morning. As is our norm, we took our time, with frequent stops to admire and discuss whatever plants we found along the trail We're in a transitional phase right now, with most of the spring ephemerals fading and the summer flowers getting ready to bloom.

We had the good fortune to find big patches of wild geranium and woodland phlox, in addition to a number of other treats, including two species of native waterleaf. One of them, great waterleaf, is having a banner year - I've seen more of it at McClaughrey and Swallow Cliff than I can recall in recent years..

Black Partridge Woods Sunday May 21
Twin targets of the morning were Dame's rocket, in full bloom, and garlic mustard, which had dropped most of its flowers and attempted to hide from us. As George aptly pointed out, the Dame's rocket, with it's greater stature and bulk, fills a bag much faster than does garlic mustard.

We were joined on this hunt by first-time Palos volunteer Billy, and worked beneath and along the side of a slope that overlooks the Des Plaines River and Goose Lake. As is the case whenever you visit Partridge in spring, the native flowers are stunning. Truly a special place!

McClaughrey Springs May 13, Hidden Pond May 14, 2023

5/17/2023

Saturday May 13, McClaughrey Springs Woods
Saturday was a Chicago River Day, sponsored by Friends of the Chicago River, working since 1979 to improve the health of the Chicago River system for the benefit of people and wildlife. Some of the 70+ events of the day were litter cleanups; ours was habitat restoration, focused on removal of garlic mustard.

In addition to regular volunteers we hosted a group of students from Westinghouse High School, led by instructor Nina Hike. They worked near Mill Creek and scored a large haul of the little invaders - job well done!

Sunday May 14, Hidden Pond Woods
Our Mother's Day special was another garlic mustard search, with a great group including first-time Palos volunteers Edith and Bogie. With a couple exceptions, the weed was growing sporadically, in small bunches, allowing us to cover a good-sized chunk of the south woods.

As is always the case when weed-hunting, the real delight is all the plants encountered along the way. We saw native flowers and shrubs, and a goodly number of small oak saplings growing near the trail. Oaks, a keystone species in our woodlands, don't propagate well in brushed-over areas, so the presence of saplings is a sign that restoration efforts are having a positive impact.

Paddock May 6, McClaughrey Springs May 7, 2023

5/9/2023

Paddock Woods Saturday May 6
Our official kickoff to garlic mustard season (we did pick some a couple weeks back at Black Partridge) was also the treat that Paddock always is, with an assortment of wildflowers in bloom and full color. Beautiful!

Differences from site to site are amazing too. Paddock and McClaugrey Springs border one another, with a thin strip of Kean Avenue all that separates them. Yet the habitats differ, and we see plants at each site not typically found at the other. One thing they have in common this year is garlic mustard, and we found enough to keep us moving, but never so much to be disheartening.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday May 7
One of the day's treats is the abundance of wild ginger seen here, rivaled in Palos only by Black Partridge. This low-growing, unassuming plant, with its fuzzy bashful flower, fascinates me.

We had a good crew on Sunday's garlic mustard hunt, including first-time Palos volunteers Lou and Melanie. We worked one side of Mill Creek, both along the bank and on the flats immediately above. We found enough garlic mustard to justify our efforts, but never in the large numbers we've seen in years past at McClaughrey.

McMahon April 29, Hidden Pond April 30, 2023

5/4/2023

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 29
The last weekend in April is our last weekend of brushpile burns until fall so we wanted to make the most of it. We did, with another good group at McMahon Saturday, including Oak Lawn HS students Austin and O'Ryan. Two more big fires - the first one started up so quickly you'd have thought accelerant was involved, but it wasn't. Just dry fuel, and a favorable wind; maybe John and Carolyn had a special mojo working that day as well.

We hauled logs and cut brush to our pair of big blazes while Doug, Jim and Kevin cut more with brushcutter and chainsaws respectively. The ground was dry enough warrant extra caution, at least 'til late morning when the first of several rounds of showers moved in.

Hidden Pond Woods Sunday April 30
Our ability to work Sunday was very much in question due Saturday's rain, which was predicted to continue through Sunday morning and afternoon. We cut large stacks of brush three weeks earlier that couldn't be burned then, due to low humidity, and didn't want to leave it lying about until fall.

The weather deities heard our entreaties and kept conditions dry until past 10:00 am, when we had a good fire going and much of the fuel already loaded. We got more brush cut and burned by quitting time, with one more quick round of rain. We also managed to scatter some seed, collected last fall, in one of our previous work areas. It was another satisfying and productive day, thanks to the diligence and great spirit of our volunteers.

McMahon Woods April 22, Swallow Cliff April 23, 2023

4/27/2023

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 22
On Earth Day we were treated to a cool, breezy day with several rounds of rain and/or graupel. Despite the weather we had a nice group, including first-time Palos volunteer Concepcion and several young men from Oak Lawn High School, finishing service hours for graduation.

We were back in the scrappy area from last visit, continuing to clean up behind winter's tree thinning. This meant some big fires and ample log-tossing for those so inclined. I believe we'll be back this week as there remains quite a bit of fuel on the ground and a tangled mess nearby.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday April 23
Another cool morning, this one with no rain and with sunlight reaching the ground. We had a big group (16), including first-time Palos volunteer Tony, and worked inside the trail loop, on the edge of an ephemeral pond that had chorus frogs crooning last time we were there.

Some of us worked along the edge of that pond, and others ranged farther afield, covering a pretty big area and taking out some tall, robust honeysuckles. In removing the honeysuckle, we also reduced pressure on several species of native shrubs growing in that area, a win-win by any standard.

Cap Sauers Holding April 15, Black Partridge Woods April 16, 2023

4/20/2023

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday April 15
We returned to the spot where we thinned trees earlier this past year, focusing on brush, mostly honeysuckle, this time. Nearly a week of warm, dry days left ground conditions iffy, so we followed guidance to use extreme caution and to fully extinguish the fires at day's end. (Normally we're allowed to leave hot embers, as long as we have high confidence they're contained.)

We were joined on this morning by at least two first-time Palos volunteers, Eduardo and Big Will, and very much appreciate their help as well as the efforts of all the other volunteers. With one brushcutter, one chainsaw, and a large contingent of energetic volunteers, we were off to a good start when I had to depart for my second stop of the day, below.

Nature Walk With Palos Park Library, Paddock Woods, Saturday April 15
This was a treat! That warm weather, noted above, gave us a terrific array of spring wildflowers, more species than I'd normally expect to see at one time. It felt like the movie title "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

To wit; spring beauties, cutleaf toothwort, Dutchman's breeches, trout lily, a lonely violet or two, blue cohosh, swamp buttercups, and bloodroot. Large-flowered bellwort was beginning to unfurl its leaves with a few bashful flowers emerging. The many trillium we saw had not yet flowered, though the following day we saw one at Black Partridge which had.

My thanks to Jessica Rock of Palos Park Public Library for organizing these walks, to Kathy Branigan for bringing her Master Naturalist expertise, and to all the walkers for their participation. Looking forward to the next one at McClaughrey Springs on Saturday, May 20th at 11 a.m.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday April 16
This day was another pleasant surprise. Rain was forecast throughout the morning, which held our numbers down - though it didn't stop first-time Palos volunteer Brian - and nixed any plans to cut, burn, or herbicide. Instead John Marlin took our small group on a garlic mustard hunt, first along the creek and later in the upland.

The delightful part was the flowers, tiny beads of water glistening on their petals, vibrant despite the gray skies. Truly beautiful, and a reminder to always take a camera when you go out in the rain.

McMahon Woods April 8, Hidden Pond April 9, 2023

4/12/2023

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 8
On our second of four trips to McMahon this April we worked farther north than last time, near Crooked Creek. Lots of heavy lifting on this day, from a previous tree-thinning day which left a lot of lumber on the ground. We built two large fires to burn it off, which went quite well with a relatively low-humidity day - still within our limits on the burn permit - facilitating fire starting..

Thanks to first-time Palos volunteers Jon, Kayleigh, and Evan for joining us, they were a tremendous help. We'll be back to this location again as we still had an abundance of logs on the ground when volunteers departed.

Hidden Pond Woods Sunday April 9
On Sunday humidity dropped below the minimum level for safe burning, prompting a no-burn message from FPCC. Instead, we cut and stacked brush for on another day. As usually happens when we don't burn, we cut quite a mass of brush with a smallish team of nine, including another first-time Palos volunteer, Matt. We tentatively plan to return on Sunday April 30, which likely will be the last brush pile burn in Palos until September.

When We Burn, or Not
The burn permit FPCC has with the EPA requires several elements be present; a minimum wind of 5 mph, to help clear the smoke; maximum wind speed 20 mph, for safety; relative humidity above 25%; AQI (Air Quality Index) under 100; burning prohibited on Red Flag Days, which generally are days with wind over 25 mph and humidity below 25%. We've had three or four days this week when burns were prohibited, due mostly to the unusual stretch of very low humidity.

McMahon Woods April 1, McClaughrey Springs April 2, 2023

4/6/2023

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 1
High winds Saturday morning brought a no-burn edict from FPCC, so we spent much of our morning wrestling McMahon's omnipresent bittersweet vines into submission. It's tough to overstate how annoying these are, and I'm impressed how volunteers continue to return to this site. Lesser women and men would walk away.

We'll be back at McMahon this week, though we'll work farther to the south, and return yet again the last two Saturdays of the month, offering ample opportunity to get some licks in at this very unique site.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday April 2
This was a much better day, with warmer temps and reasonable winds, as we cut more brush on the east side of Mill Creek, again within sight of Kean Avenue and the parking lot. Congratulations to Joe Connolly who completed his second observation and will become a certified Brush Pile Burn boss.

This was the first weekend I saw the honeysuckle leafing out, making it easier to spot than the natives which lag behind a little. We cleared another good stretch of land above the creek on our last brush-clearing day here untill fall. Thanks to everyone who came for the terrific effort!

Paw Paw March 25, Swallow Cliff March 26, 2023

3/30/2023

Paw Paw Woods Saturday March 25
One of those days you're not sure what, if anything, is going to happen. We had a forecast of rain and some brisk winds on a late March morning. Snowflakes fell sporadically (big snow to the northwest) and humidity was around 90%, yet we soon had two good fires going. Darien started one, Jim D and Doug did the other. Much of the fuel was maples, which are notoriously slow to ignite, so our outcome was quite a pleasant one.

Our work area was near the tree thinning done earlier this year, and within a sector burned by FP crews the prior Tuesday. That made for an easier walk in, as well as good fire containment in the event of any embers escaping.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday March 26
Sunday was another weather issue, insufficient wind to burn. By our EPA permit we need a 5 mph minimum wind speed, and that wasn't forthcoming until almost 11:00 am. The first two hours we cut honeysuckle and made multiple feeder piles.

Once the wind reached the required minimum we loaded the fire as fast as we safely could, getting the bulk of the day's cuttings burned in little more than an hour. As is always the case, the group was terrific! It included first-time Palos volunteers Matt, Noah, Ashley, and Dan.

Cap Sauers March 18, Black Partridge March 19, 2023

3/23/2023

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday March 18
'Twas quite the bitter morning, with a brisk wind off Bergman prairie that cut through multiple layers of clothing. Once we reached the work site, the protected by trees and lying in a depression, we barely noticed that wind. In fact, could've used a bit more of it to stir our fires.

Three chainsaws and one brush-cutter made for a lot of brush clearing, with honeysuckle and buckthorn the usual culprits. We cut and dragged over a big stretch and the site looked so much better by the time volunteers departed.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday March 19
Back at the dairy farm site, we continued to cut honeysuckle - including some absurdly thick and twisted ones - along the edge of a grassy field bordering an old hedgerow. Our brush pile couldn't have had a better location; on an old burn scar with a NW wind blowing smoke away from the volunteers and into a degraded mess of brush. It burned big and hot throughout the morning, yet it was contained within an hour after we stopped loading it.

We cleared a nice piece of land moving toward Bluff Road. At one point two sandhill cranes flew overhead, very close to the ground which was a treat.