'Twas a wet and muddy morning as we tromped through Willow Springs Woods. We leapt over the swollen creek - for accuracy's sake, the young'uns leapt while some waded - on our way to the work site.
Once we arrived the honeysuckle, barberry, multi-flora rose and bittersweet had not a chance; we hacked and dragged and burned, clearing a messy area near one of the recently brush-mowed sections. We are diligently working our way toward Old Country Lane to connect with Spears on the other side.
McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday March 31
This was a make-up tree-thinning day - our February session was canceled by rough weather. We were fortunate to have Chainsaw Bob and Sultan Dennis from T. Stone and Jim from Thatcher joining us for chainsaw duty, along with Steve. Mark and Ryan from Resource Management also brought their saws and helped until starting a prescribed burn later in the morning.
With big fires on a bracingly cold morning it felt more like January than the last day of March. We had a total of five students from Hickory Hills - three scouting brothers Joe, Mike and Bill, plus Jeimar and younger brother Sean. We had numerous other volunteers and no complaints about nothing to do. Thanks also to Alex and Jesus who stayed all the way to 3 pm.
A special shout-out to Chris Schriam, who passed the tests for her State of Illinois herbicide operator and applicator licenses last Friday. Well done!