Palos Restoration Project - Blog

Cranberry Slough June 18, Black Partridge June 19, 2022

6/23/2022

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday June 18
Saturday morning was a thistle walk, volunteers clipping the flowers from non-native thistles as they walked the blue trail at Cap Sauers. It was a good day for butterflies, with many spotted feeding on the flowers as our group worked. A couple are pictured below.

Thanks to first-time Palos volunteer Francesca, and to Kevin Kuhn, recently retired from Forest Preserves Volunteer Resources. He was a great help to us on many occasions while employed with FPCC, and continued in that vein this weekend, also coming tom Black Partridge Sunday to complete a weekend double!

Nature Walk: McClaughrey Springs Saturday June 18
We had a large group of walkers at McClaughrey for the last of our spring walks with Palos Park Library, on a gorgeous late spring morning. We did a loop of 1.7 mi. pausing to talk from time to time (and to catch our breath at the top of the hill dubbed "Big Bertha".)

We're between spring ephemerals and summer flowers right now, so there weren't a lot of blooms to admire, but we had a good time just the same. A delightful group of people. We'll take a couple months off and resume walks in September.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday June 19
This was another thistle-lopping day with a smaller group of volunteers, and more heat, especially in mid-afternoon. It was also Father's Day - while that may have held our volunteer numbers down, the crowd of picnickers at Tampier Lake was large enough to fill every available parking space. Eventually I found a space and got the kayak on the lake for a spell. Beautiful!

Cranberry Slough June 11, 2022

6/16/2022

Cranberry Slough Saturday June 11
This was a cool morning - I wasn't able to come due to another commitment. Now we're fully into summer weed season, with reed canary grass, various thistles, and teasel all showing their (unwelcome) selves around the preserves.

Another favorite summer target is sweet clover; I've seen a lot of the yellow variety flowering lately, and the white should follow close behind. While these plants are a disaster in our natural areas, they are used in agriculture as a cover crop, for hay and pasture, and to enrich soil - it's a legume and fixes nitrogen to the soil.

That means it's not going away, another form of job security for restoration volunteers. ugh

Pioneer Woods June 4, McClaughrey Springs June 5, 2022

6/9/2022

Pioneer Woods Saturday June 4
Off we tramped in search of garlic mustard, from the Pioneer lot to Old Country Lane, then north to the trail junction. We found a goodly amount along the way. While we searched for weeds, Joe, Jim, and Carolyn were doing backpack spraying of other weeds.

All the way from Palatine came Cyndi Duda to lend a hand. Hadn't seen her for a spell, good to reconnect.

Swallow Cliff Woods Walk Saturday June 4
This was the first of several walks led by Friends of the Forest Preserves and their Trailblazers program. It was fun; while the location was Swallow Cliff, we started and finished at 40 Acres Woods and passed through a stretch of McClaughrey Springs along the way.

Bruce, the leader, knows the site and surrounding area well and did a super job. Thanks also to Sydney of FOTFP who organized this. Looking forward to the upcoming walks - we'll have one at Cranberry Slough on June 25 and another at Redgate Woods that was rained out last Monday, to be rescheduled.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday June 5
We had a big group of pickers today, going after both garlic mustard and dame's rocket. We found plenty, too. The former was a bit harder to locate since all the flowers have dropped, but the less-strategic dame's rocket still was boldly showing its colors.

Such a great day, with a light breeze, tolerable temperature, and the soothing lushness of woodland greens. Thanks to all who came.

Paddock Woods May 28, 2022

6/2/2022

Paddock Woods Saturday May 28
Back to Paddock, near the Yellow Trail's eastern edge, for more garlic mustard. We found more than enough to justify our time there, with the occasional thick patch and much more of it scattered across the work area. We had a good group, ten or more, including first-time Palos volunteers Hal and Alex.

The plants have dropped their flowers now, making them a bit harder to locate, especially the smaller ones. I was impressed with new volunteer Alex, who, after seeing the plants briefly, was able to pick find one, from the trail, and ID it properly. Good eyes!

Cap Sauers & Sagawau May 21, Swallow Cliff South May 22, 2022

5/26/2022

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday May 21
We were a small group for this one, no doubt due to the all-day threat of rain. It turned out to be quite a lovely morning, as we saw only light drizzle almost all the way to noon.

Then it picked up some, as your correspondent departed, a few minutes early, for the next gig (below). I'm guessing the remaining volunteers caught a bit more of that round of rain. We certainly caught more than a bit of garlic mustard, working along the blue trail. We composted numerous bags on site.

Sagawau Nature Walk Saturday May 21
Here we didn't fare so well with the weather. The rain continued well into the afternoon, so our small (hardy) group donned rain gear and grabbed umbrellas. Naturalist Lorrie Ward, unfazed, led our group of Palos Park patrons around Sagawau.

We saw a lot, including a luna moth, baby birds inside a nesting box, a very cool fern, and a variety of woodland and prairie plants. It was truly a good time and Lorrie's enthusiasm was a big part of it.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday May 22
We came Sunday for garlic mustard and found another abundance of it, in our original work area at Swallow Cliff, along the Tan Trail. Hard to believe that our Swallow Cliff restoration days started over five years ago.

The preserve was a throng of hikers, runners, and cyclists. A number of passes-by offered their thanks for our efforts, something I'll not soon tire of. If we can only draw a few of them into our ranks...

McClaughrey Springs May 14, Black Partridge May 15, 2022

5/19/2022

McClaughrey Springs Saturday May 14
This was a Chicago River Day, sponsored by Friends of the Chicago River and attended by a big group from Southwest Interfaith Team. They've worked with us us before and are a great group of people. Some helped cut brush with our core of volunteers, while others split into two groups pulling garlic mustard. I believe we had 41 volunteers in all.

Much garlic mustard to pull, more than I've seen here in recent years. Maybe the wet spring spurred its growth. We filled numerous bags which were composted on a log pile by Mill Creek. The brush-cutting group had two fires on the opposite side of the creek. Midway through the morning our Congresswoman, Marie Newman, stopped for a visit. Volunteers seemed to appreciate her words of support for our activities. I did.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday May 15
Our smaller Sunday group focused on garlic mustard, starting along the creek and eventually moving into the upland. We found a considerable amount, though not as thick as at McClaughrey the previous day.

What we also experienced was the fantastic mix of spring wildflowers Black Partridge is known for. It was almost an embarrassment of riches! Shooting stars on the slopes, big clusters of wild ginger and colonies of mayapples down below, wild geraniums and woodland phlox all over, with wild hyacinth, baneberry, and starry Solomon's seal just starting to bloom. Amazing place.

Little Red Schoolhouse Lunar Eclipse Watch Sunday May 15
This didn't look promising due to rain and cloud cover, but the persistent viewers who showed up were rewarded, each time clouds parted, with a glimpse of the night skies. After two sessions of garlic mustard in two days, it was a great way to finish the weekend! Thanks to Deborah at Little Red for hosting the event (and for the appropriate snacks, moon pies!), to Sophia at LRS also.

Willow Springs Woods May 7, 2022

5/12/2022

Willow Springs Woods Saturday May 7
This was our only restoration day and it was a big one - by my count we had 33 volunteers on the site. Sixteen came from Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's TEENS program. Teenagers Exploring and Explaining Nature and Science is an out-of school time program for Chicago high school students to explore nature in the city, learn about college and career paths in natural science fields, and participate in hands-on scientific environmental investigations.

Their curiosity was off the charts. They spotted frogs, a salamander, and fungi; one guy found an antler, and after lunch they did an exploring walk which is a stock part of their visits. They're always a pleasure to host.

We worked on cleaning an area where we did tree-thinning in February, lopping and burning branches while Jim and Kevin bucked the logs. Another treat was help from Ken Schroeder, someone I hadn't seen much of lately. He looks great and simply does not age.

McMahon April 30, McClaughrey Springs May 1, 2022

5/4/2022

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 30
Yet another day of morning rains with threats of more, so our numbers were a bit lower than usual. We still punched a nice hole in a brushy, vine-infested mess right above one of numerous drainages at the site. Just one fire, a rarity for our Saturday sessions, but it was very well fed.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday May 1
Sunday the rain had pretty much passed through the area, and we had a bigger turnout. That included first-time Palos volunteers Marcos and Alondra, Mike, Mickey, Matteo and Jenny, Amir and Alexander. Yes, it's quite exciting to have eight new people show up on one day.

We had three fires and cleared a big section north of the Yellow Trail just off Kean Ave. See Joy Vrchota's before & after pics in the slideshow below. We also got to see how the woods are (finally) greening up despite our cold, gray spring. Even the garlic mustard was putting up flowers by last weekend, a reminder of what's to come..

McMahon April 23, Swallow Cliff April 24, 2022

4/28/2022

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 23
This was our Earth Day weekend, and what better place to start than McMahon, which contains a good portion of the globe's total supply of Asian bittersweet (I may exaggerate a little). Jim and Kevin dove in with chainsaws, Doug with the brush-cutter, and Darien worked on a fire. The rest of us started hacking with hand tools and pulling brush to the fire.

It remains a slow slog, but we are undeniably pushing that wall back. Having said that, if a genie granted me three wishes, one would probably relate to the bittersweet vine at McMahon. World peace, cessation of hunger, and get rid of those ###%#$ vines. hmmm

Swallow Cliff Woods South Sunday April 24
Went to bed Saturday night with our Sunday restoration day in doubt due to the rainy forecast. Awoke Sunday morning with the same uncertainty. Radar showed several bands of rain passing through during our three-hour window. Kathy and Carolyn were game for giving it a try, so we did, and it turned out great!

Despite the rain, everyone who signed up showed up, including first-time Palos volunteer Abby. The rain was mostly a drizzle until well past 11:30, and when it started to pick up, we grabbed our tools and headed for the parking lot. Since we weren't burning it was that easy to get out.

An overcast sky couldn't keep it from being a lovely day. There's a long, narrow ephemeral pond just south of our work site, and chorus frogs residing there gave us a full-throated serenade throughout the morning. I occasionally heard a woodpecker working nearby as well.

The volunteers were great, as they always are, and we cleared honeysuckle encroaching into a lovely quality area in the South woods. We also have our jumping-off point when we return for the next round of brush-cutting, come autumn.

Cap Sauers Holding April 16, 2022

4/21/2022

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday April 16
Making memories at Cap Sauers: Not fond memories this time, just a little thicket of multi-flora rose, wound around some fallen limbs, that put up a tremendous fight before finally succumbing to the lopper. I walked away with just one small face wound. Around the site, other volunteers were engaged in similar struggles, cutting rose and honeysuckle and loading it onto one of our two fires.

Yet another cool morning, though it came with enough sun to coax blooms out of a few spring beauties. Days from now they'll probably number in the thousands, yet it's still exciting to see the first bloom of the season from each of the species. That's been the story of spring thus far.

Thanks to all who attended, including first-time Palos volunteer Mike.