Palos Restoration Project - Blog

McMahon Woods November 8, Black Partridge November 9, 2025

11/13/2025

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday November 8
After several sessions at Paddock, volunteers returned to McMahon Saturday, with brushcutters and chainsaws buzzing to continue the rescue of one patch of woodland there. This was the last day before the weather was to change and they did their best to take advantage. My thanks to Sheri Moor who sent a picture as well as herbiciding all the cut stumps - when brushcutters are running that's quite a task.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday November 9
Though snow fell well into the morning, it let up enough for volunteers to get some brush-cutting done, and Joy got a fire going (that was never in doubt). Jim and Neil cut brush and dragged it to the fire. I was absent, celebrating a very special person's birthday, and thank steward John Marlin for swapping weekends with me to facilitate that celebration.

Paddock Woods Saturdy November 1, McClaughrey Springs November 2, 2025

11/6/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday November 1
Joe hosted our regular Palos Saturday at Paddock, another brush-cutting endeavor along the Yellow Trail near the picnic grove. We've spent several days there this fall and have cleared a large area in one the the prettier places for spring wildflower viewing in our area. Well done, volunteers!

McClaughrey Springs Saturday November 1
Diana hosted Southwest Interfaith Team (SWIFT for short) Saturday at McClaughrey, one of three times she's had a group there in four days. They're a joy to work with and did their usual stellar job removing and burning honeysuckle.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday November 2
This was Diana's usual Sunday, which I missed due to another event. Volunteers continued to cut brush in the same general area as the Saturday group, and Charlie D. did an observation for brushpile burn boss certification. Congrats Charlie!

McClaughrey Springs Tuesday November 4
This was the last of Diana's three sessions for the week, with a busload of students from Curie High School. They divided into groups and cycled through multiple tasks, including invasive removal and water/invertebrate sampling. They also cleared another big chunk of terrain; check the before/after pictures below in the slideshow. Most impressive!

Paddock Woods October 25, Swallow Cliff South October 26, 2025

10/30/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday October 25
This was our third or fourth visit to Paddock, and bundles of previously cut brush made it easy to get the first brush pile going quickly. One chainsaw and two brush cutters guaranteed we wouldn't run out of fuel for the fires.

The area we're clearing is high quality and was previously cleared 8-10 years ago, with the resilience and persistence of honeysuckle bringing us back for another round. The work is going well, with a large section already opened up and another visit planned for this Saturday, November 1.

Swallow Cliff South Sunday October 26
Last time we cut brush here was April, on the other side of the trail. Now we're tackling what we believe is the last major brush clearing in this sector - stay tuned. We again had the 'J Team' out in force - thanks Joy, John, Jim and Joe!

We cut over a decent area with maybe a bit less honeysuckle density than some of the places we've worked recently, but still enough to have Joy and Jim repeating a common refrain; "More here than what I expected". By noon we'd made good progress - then Joe scouted just beyond our work area and came back reporting that we still have a large number of targets that will occupy several days more effort to eliminate. "Poof!" There goes the dream of starting brush removal near Horsetail Lake, at least for the immediate future.

Another common refrain comes to mind, that being 'job security for volunteers.'

Cap Sauers October 18, 2025

10/23/2025

Cap Sauers Saturday October 18
The weather deities favored us on Saturday by holding rain until much later in the day. Brush-cutting and burning was the order of the day, and I'm told our small volunteer group went at it with their usual zeal. Your correspondent was on assignment elsewhere and missed BOTH of our Saturday activities.

Sagawau Nature Walk, Saturday October 18
Naturalist Zach led our group from Palos Park Library and "was very knowledgeable about the history of the preserve, the geography, and identifying plants, animals, and bugs," said Library Director Jessica Rock after the walk. We've always enjoyed our treks to Sagawau and staff always comes through in a big way! Thank you!

Paddock Woods October 11, Cap Sauers October 11, Hidden Pond West October 12, 2025

10/16/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday October 11
Return visit to Paddock, this time with conditions allowing burning of brush. Last week volunteers built stacks of honeysuckle and this week some of it got burned, while Kevin and Doug cut more.

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday October 11
Margaret had a small NEWTS workday at Cap Sauers - that's a program Volunteer Resources created to bring new volunteers in and give them good exposure to our efforts. Saturday was a seed collecting day - big thanks to first-time Palos volunteers Joe, Elyse, Garrett, Kayla, Julia, and Taylor!

Hidden Pond West Sunday October 12
We had a small group (the J-Team!) at Hidden Pond for our first brush-cutting day since March, continuing to clear invasives along the multi-use trail that runs parallel to La Grange Road.
Jim brush-cut, John and I hauled, while Joy managed the fire with her usual attention to detail did a lot of hauling as well.

Paddock Woods October 4, McClaughrey Springs October 5, 2025

10/9/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday October 4
Several warm days with no rain led to a weekend suspension of brush pile burns - end of growing season can be quite volatile in those conditions. So both our weekend sessions were cut-and stack, guaranteeing plenty to burn next time around. I was out of town and didn't get a report or photos on this one.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday October 5
Same thing Sunday, Diana planned to burn brush and instead stacked it for nest month. Among those present were first- time (to my knowledge) Palos volunteers Karolina and Lina, and recent newbie Katie. We also had help from the FPCC Thorn Creek crew, always a welcome addition to our efforts.

Most of today's photos are from a recent hiking adventure to Wyoming and Colorado.

Paddock Woods September 27, Cherry Hill September 28, 2025

10/2/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday September 27
Perhaps 8-10 years ago we removed honeysuckle from a stretch of woodland near the Paddock lt, one that has a wonderful array of native plants. Some resprouts or new plants have crept in, leading Joe to schedule a cut-and-burn session last week.

Most of our targets were hand tool/brush-cutter size, so we had two brushcutters going along with one chainsaw. I had to leave for another event mid-morning, will get back soon to see how much better it looks minus the intruders.

Nature Walk at Cranberry Slough Saturday September 27
This was the first of three fall walks we'll do with Jessica Rock and patrons of Palos Park Public Library (open to others as well). One of two new walkers, brought in by one of our regulars, can recall when we still had the swallows that gave Swallow Cliff its name. We toured the loop that goes around the slough, about 2.4 miles,, including a mom, dad, and four-year-old girl who only needed dad to carry her for a short distance. Future restoration volunteer?

Cherry Hills Woods Sunday September 28
The last couple years we've set aside one fall Sunday to collect native seed from the prairie at Cherry Hill Woods. We did quite well this time with a good group of volunteers - new friends and old - finding a variety of native forbs with seed ready to be picked.

The tall grasses, big bluestem and Indian grass, often tend to dominate and it's a wonder that smaller, flowering forbs can capture enough sunlight to thrive. Adding more seed is our attempt to keep the plant mix more diverse, a definite plus in the natural world even as it has fallen into disfavor in certain sectors..

Cap Sauers September 20, Black Partridge September 21, 2025

9/24/2025

Cap Sauers Holding Saturday September 20
Margaret held her first brush-cutting day of the season, replete with brush-pile burning. We were in a familiar place, along the green trail near an old CCC bridge where we've cleared brush several times in recent months. A couple chainsaws and Doug on the brushcutter were a complement to the volunteers using hand tools.

We were joined by scouts and parents from Darien, who did a terrific job and were fearless in tackling multi-flora rose which was all too common in the area. Thanks to all who attended!

Black Partridge Woods Sunday September 21
Early morning rain cleared by our arrival, allowing us to collect seed in the wooded upland area. We got a lot of grass seed, some forbs, and a lot of accidental desmodium clinging to our clothing by mid-morning. We also had a tour of a very diverse, high quality woodland.

Sunday September 14, Hidden Pond

9/18/2025

We were scheduled to work at McMahon Woods last Saturday morning and awoke to rain, with sporadic thunder and lightning in my area as late as 9:30. Though skies cleared later, around 11:00, Chicago weather won another round.

Hidden Pond Woods Sunday September 14
This was a morning of seed collecting and our concerns about dampness from Saturday's rain vanished upon arrival. We had a great group show up, including first-time Palos volunteer Katie, Matt on his second (?) time out, and Emily Russell from Forest Preserves Volunteer Resources.

We started in the woodland, collecting grasses and Joe Pye weed to distribute in our recent woodland clearings, then got to the prairie on its west side. Eventually we made our way to the east side, by Kean Avenue, collecting a variety of native seed species along the way. We saw one species I don't recall seeing there before; now to pull out the 1990s species list to crosscheck.

Little Calumet revisited
Last Friday the kayak and I went to Kickapoo Woods, hoping to explore the Little Calumet River upstream of the boat launch there. We got maybe a quarter mile, just past the Halsted Street bridge, where shallow, rocky water prompted a course reversal.

I ended up paddling downstream, seeing a number of great egrets both on the water and in the air. Maybe a couple great blue herons, harder to spot with their coloring. The poor egret stands out in a woodland, and looks outstanding when taking to the air.

Just like accidentally flushing a white-tailed deer, you feel bad for disturbing them yet watch in awe when they start moving. So beautiful!

Spears Woods September 6, McClaughrey Springs September 7, 2025

9/11/2025

Spears Woods Saturday September 6
I don't have any information on this one - could not attend and didn't get a report from anyone that did.

I can report that last week Thursday Margaret Tobin had Doug Bosco out at Cap Sauers, reducing the recently-expanded population of giant ragweed in certain spots where it was shading and crowding out normal native flora. This, as she explained in a FB post, is a management decision that is carefully made in partnership with our regional ecologist and limited to more extreme proliferation of native species that normally coexist in balance with other natives.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday September 7, 2025
This was our first brush-cutting day of the fall season here in Palos and came on a morning cool enough that the fires were not overbearing. We were joined by members of the Thorn Creek Resource Management crew (always a boon when the crew can come), cutting brush along the east side of Mill Creek near the Yellow Trail's north side.

Targets were primarily honeysuckle and we had plenty of them, some cut right along the creek and others farther east. We had two fires, both reluctant to start which may have been due to all the moist green fuel we were throwing in. Eventually everything got burned. We had a good turnout for a Sunday morning - thank you volunteers!

Several of the pictures below were taken at Little Red Schoolhouse Tuesday night, at a photography class/walk done by naturalist Kevin. Excellent time!