Palos Restoration Project - Blog

Chicago River Day May 9, 2026

5/13/2026

Paddock/McClaughrey Springs River Day Saturday, May 9
I was at another event (below), not certain if our local group worked one side of Kean Avenue at McClaughrey or split into two, with some going east of Kean into Paddock. Either way, it was a Chicago River Day with volunteers focused on pulling garlic mustard.

From Doug Bosco's FB post we had a good-sized group celebrating the virile crayfish (Faxonius virilis), the featured animal for this year's River Day and one of four crayfish native to our region. Interesting to know it has become invasive in parts of North America outside its native range as well as in Europe. Please, people, leave your crayfish at home when you travel.

The middle of May is still garlic mustard season, and we have a couple more weekends of picking to build on the good efforts of Saturday's team.

Kickapoo Woods River Day Saturday, May 9
Four of us (Joy, Neal, Nicole, and I) went to the Little Calumet boat launch at Kickapoo Woods for a canoe cleanup of the river, one of the more intriguing options Friends of the Chicago River offers. Two canoes, almost a mile of river, and an array of distressing trash awaited us.

Joy and Nicole nabbed a large intact piece of Styrofoam packaging, likely for a big-screen TV, and Joy also wrestled a big log off the muddy bank. Neal grabbed a board from some park district's picnic table as well as a plastic gas can. The worst, in my view, was all the small piece of Styrofoam, crumbled and more easily ingested by wildlife. It's a beautiful stretch of river and an honor to help with the cleanup.

Paddock Woods May 2, 2026

5/7/2026

Paddock Woods Saturday May 2
We had quite the corps of volunteers Saturday; thirteen from the FPCC NEWTS program (thank you Yuan, Rachel, Ellen, Jonathan, Patricia, Grace, Warren, Lexi, Ryan, Marcia, Ellen, Bryan, and Emma); another group from a Moraine Valley Community College class taught by Negin Almassi of Forest Preserves of Cook County, in addition to Maddie, Teri, and Emily from Volunteer Resources and a number of our regular volunteers.

The focus was garlic mustard, and we found enough to go around for a group this large. Volunteers picked and composted huge heaps of the stuff throughout the morning, while getting to see a good sampling of the native wildflowers currently in bloom. Paddock has a rich mix of natives and was a terrific site for this endeavor. Our heartfelt thanks to all who attended!

Willow Springs Woods April 25, Swallow Cliff April 26, 2026

4/29/2026

Willow Springs Woods Saturday April 25
In what turned out to be our last brush-cutting of the season, we tackled a tangle of honeysuckle, mostly, near Katydid Slough at the south end of the preserve. This is a spot we spent a large bloc of time clearing ten to fifteen years ago and has predictably seen some new invasive growth since then. We worked on a slope that lies above Katydid Prairie.

I had another stop later - see below - so Margaret Tobin sent a couple pictures for me to share. The big central patch of brush was eradicated, along with numerous outliers. With a modicum of luck our labors will help the next round of prescribed fire climb the slope and take out some of the inevitable invaders.

Nature Walk - Paddock Woods, Saturday April 25
Jessica Rock and patrons of Palos Park Library came to Paddock for the first of three spring walks, with a total of 17 walkers. That's more than I can recall on past walks and they were all a delight.

Numerous spring wildflowers were in bloom, including red and white (large-flowered) trillium, large flowered bellwort, buttercups and phlox and wild geraniums. The latter seemed a bit early this year, perhaps spurred by ample rain and recent warm days.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday April 26
With the proliferation of flowers, we chose to go after garlic mustard rather than cutting and burning brush. Garlic mustard has also thrived so we didn't have to look far for targets, starting along the brown trail coming out of the parking lot and eventually moving down the tan spur toward the stairs. The two sides of that trail mark the first spots volunteers cleared, starting over nine years ago.

We gathered multiple trash bags of GM for composting and by 11:00 or so were treated to a spot of sunshine, taking the edge off a cool morning. Much thanks to all who attended, including recent newbies Laura and Ryan and first-timers Ben and Alec.

Willow Springs April 18, Black Partridge April 19, 2026

4/23/2026

Saturday April 18, Cap Sauers Holding
Missed this one due to another commitment - with Earth Day on April 22, the preceding weekend was chock-full of Earth Day activities. Our volunteers returned to the area on the northwest side of Cap Sauers for another day of brush clearing, probably the last of winter-spring season..

Sunday April 19, Black Partridge Woods
After a couple months of being unable to burn brush piles, the weather finally cooperated. Though we were small in numbers (John, Jim, Jan, Anna, Lamees and Kathy, plus David and Eric from Tinley Resource Management) we got almost all of the already-cut brush burned plus another large swath cleared by David and Eric with brushcutter and chainsaw!

Other Earth Day/Earth Week Activities
On Saturday Little Red Schoolhouse hosted a small group of students from Evergreen Park High School who came to do restoration. Dave Branigan and I worked with naturalist Rebecca Moss to eliminate a thicket of honeysuckle, the ultimate 'sore thumb', nestled between the old schoolhouse building and Long John Slough. The students dove in with loppers and bowsaws, and less than two hours later, with a last-minute flurry, managed to down all the targets. They did so well!

Also on Saturday, a group of 20-25 Boy Scouts from the SW region(Portage Creek) joined Diana Krugat Paddock Woods, cutting honeysuckle on the north side of the Yellow Trail opposite the Palos Park North parking lot on Kean Avenue. They were on a five-miles hike through 40 Acre and Swallow Cliff Woods and stopped for a 90 minut4e session of brush-cutting.

We don't have any pictures or account of this - winging it based on two piles of hot embers spotted in that location late Saturday afternoon. My stringers must want a raise and are sending a message.

Willow Springs April 11, Hidden Pond April 12, 2026

4/16/2026

Willow Springs Woods Saturday April 11
Saturday was another foray into the land of multi-flora rose, where only the brave dare tread. While I missed this party, I salute the effort of those who came. With the all that MF rose, along with a decent amount of honeysuckle removed from the area, the chances of getting a future prescribed burn done are certainly enhanced.

Hidden Pond West Sunday April 12
Sunday the warming trend continued, with high winds that led to a game-time decision to not burn brush piles. With winds forecast in the mid-20 mph range by 3:00 pm, it wasn't worth taking the chance.

We were small in number but still managed a lot of cutting by quitting time, with two members of the FPCC Resource Management crew racking up a big stack of cut brush. While they worked in one area, the rest of us, including first-time Palos volunteers Kai and Julia, worked first on removing some outlier honeysuckles along the trail, then pushing a bit farther north to join the RM crew.

Next brush-cutting day we'll have a great jump-start and plentiful, dried fuel for the fires.

Paddock Woods April 4, McClaughrey Springs April 5, 2026

4/8/2026

Paddock Woods Saturday April 4
This weekend there were no bans on brush pile burns, though Saturday's rain was a bit of a confounder. in getting fires going. Fire #1 needed some love after break time to get it cooking, and fire #2 was still obstinate at 1:00 pm when your correspondent had to leave.

Contractors did brush mowing here recently and volunteers were expanding on their work, as well as knocking down a lot of smaller honeysuckles the brush-mower could not reach due to deadfall.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday April 5
Had to skip this one prep for family brunch, but mostly to sample deviled eggs soon as they were made. Sunday was a much better day, with no rain and enough afternoon sun to get a small basketball game going on the driveway.

Meanwhile, back in the woods: Joy reported a good workday, and left one picture, seen below. It was a small volunteer group, given the holiday, and included our regional ecologist Kristin Pink. I trust fire-starting was not as problematic as one day prior.

Willow Springs Woods March 28

4/2/2026

Willow Springs Woods Saturday March 28
Another Saturday in the vicinity of Katydid Slough, working primarily on multi-flora rose in an area vying to become the MF Rose capital of Palos. Several of us missed this one, visiting No Kings events at different locations.

Brush pile burns were not allowed Saturday or Sunday; Forest Preserves crews were doing prescribed burns and the fire managers didn't want those crews diverted by a possible mishap on a brush pile burn, given somewhat low humidity and brisk breezes that increase the risk of such incidents. With the window for prescribed burns rapidly closing I can't argue with that reasoning. (Not getting to sample Iza Redlinski's soup at her Sunday Brookfield workday due to no fire for cooking - now THAT'S a sacrifice for sure.)

So volunteers slashed and dragged and built feeder piles for the next visit to this part of Willow Springs, on the north side of 95th Street opposite Crawdad Slough to the south.

With no Palos restoration activity last Sunday I escaped to Brookfield Prairie to help cut and stack buckthorn along the 26th Street side of the site. Over the last couple years volunteers have chipped away at a large thicket of buckthorn that runs west from 1st Avenue for several blocks. They've made remarkable progress despite its density and the usual presence of spring mud due to hydrology of the location.

Cap Sauers March 21, Swallow Cliff March 22, 2026

3/26/2026

Saturday March 21, Cap Sauers Holding
Early morning was quite cool and warmed pretty quickly, allowing us to hear chorus frogs by 9:00 am near Bergman Slough. We walked to our recent work site - the walk is getting longer as we push farther in from the trail Upon arrival we faced a large amount of cut brush from previous workdays and made our way through it to the site of our solitary fire, blessedly at a low spot.

Most volunteers, including first-time Palos people Maya and John, started cutting until the fire got going, then switched to hauling. We cleared a most impressive span, including all the cut brush dodged on the way in. Meanwhile, Doug brush-cutting and Kevin and Nicole chain-sawing gave us lots more to haul and add to the fire.

Sunday March 22, Swallow Cliff Woods South
Sunday was the reverse of Saturday, starting out reasonable comfortable and growing chilly, with more wind, as the morning wore on. We had a good group, including first-time Palos volunteers Laura, Ryan, Maddy and Kyla - the latter two on the 'bring-a-friend' program with Claire.

We did great, with one chainsaw (electric with a big-time noise reduction from gas!) and a group of energetic bowsaw slingers, keeping our single fire loaded all morning. By quitting time we had almost broken through to the edge, which will open up a view of the wetland to the southwest. Two days later FPCC crews did a prescribed burn through the area, truly the cherry atop the sundae!

I included several pictures from the Swallow Cliff burn, walking clockwise from the parking lot. Over the last eight years volunteers have worked in numerous areas along that circuit, as have contractors throughout the area. What's that saying about teamwork?

Paddock Woods March 14, Black Partridge March 15, 2026

3/19/2026

Saturday March 14, Paddock Woods
While I missed this one for another commitment, our volunteers returned to the new honeysuckle area at Paddock, on an overcast morn just crying for a brushpile fire or two. Timing was perfect, with some of our spring ephemerals already poking a leaf or two above ground, testing the waters for people who like their metaphors mixed.

The occasional flurry of snow didn't inhibit the fire-starters or the cutters and haulers, who will help the spring sun raise some blooms in a decidedly pretty area with a diversity of native plants.

Sunday March 15, Black Partridge Woods
We faced a no burning decree for Sunday due to high winds, and the imminent threat of rain brought us to Black Partridge early on Sunday morning. Radar viewed at 7:00 am showed rain starting around 10:30 and it arrived right on time.

We got two solid hours of cutting done, with Jim on the brush-cutter, John, Neal and Jan wielding bowsaws and loppers, working demonically until the first raindrops fell. It felt good to get those licks in; we've already lost multiple Black Partridge days to weather this season and have, at most, one more shot at the honeysuckle before the transition to spring and summer tasks. Small crew, mighty crew!

Willow Springs March 7, Hidden Pond March 8, 2026

3/11/2026

Saturday March 7, Willow Springs Woods
This can best be termed "Festival of the Roses" as the primary target was one of our regular nemeses, multi-flora rose. I'd not object to deporting all of these devils. We had three gas brush-cutters running and, someone made an emergency run for additional rakes, the best way to gather the cut vines without getting entangled in them.

David and Derek from Tinley Resource Management joined us and worked with both brush-cutter and chainsaw. Volunteers Barb spotted an array of jelly fungi, and Jim saw a garter snake, both pictured in today's slideshow. The morning began with unseasonable warmth and cooled, with rain and stiff winds, becoming the coldest 55 degrees I can recall.

Sunday March 8 Hidden Pond Woods
We made a big dent in a stretch of buckthorn and honeysuckle lying between LaGrange Road and the multi-use trail, with a huge assist from seven members of The Peregrines, "a community of friends (new and old alike) who travel to important natural areas in northeastern Illinois, making an impact through targeted ecological restoration work." The group is with Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves and are doing great things.

We also were joined by regional ecologist Kristin Pink, two crew members from Tinley Resource Management (David and Derek), and several of our regular volunteers. Combined, we cleared buckthorn from a long stretch on the edge of the multi-use trail, Even the sandhill cranes migrating overhead seemed impressed, circling several times as if checking our work.