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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.

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

4/20/2023

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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.

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McMahon Woods April 8, Hidden Pond April 9, 2023

4/12/2023

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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.

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McMahon Woods April 1, McClaughrey Springs April 2, 2023

4/6/2023

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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!

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McMahon Woods April 22, Swallow Cliff April 23, 2023

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

McMahon Woods April 8, Hidden Pond April 9, 2023

McMahon Woods April 1, McClaughrey Springs April 2, 2023

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