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

5/26/2022

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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...

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McClaughrey Springs May 14, Black Partridge May 15, 2022

5/19/2022

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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.


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Willow Springs Woods May 7, 2022

5/12/2022

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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.

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McMahon April 30, McClaughrey Springs May 1, 2022

5/4/2022

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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..

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    Author

    I'm Jan Pietrzak with the Palos Restoration Project. This blog and website were created for your information and enjoyment.

    I hope you'll be encouraged and inspired to volunteer at any of the numerous forest preserves in our area.

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