Palos Restoration Project
  • Home
  • About
  • Schedule
  • Maps
  • Volunteer
  • Blog
  • Contact

Cranberry Slough June 25, 2016

6/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Saturday morning was a warm one; we were cutting/pulling heads off reed canary grass and thistles at Cranberry Slough. A handful of volunteers stayed deep into the afternoon; Joe, Margaret, Carolyn?

The next few weekends will be spent weed-chasing; yellow and white sweet clover, thistle, reed canary among them. It's not physically demanding work which is good as we segue into July and the heat of summer.

Meanwhile, Raquel Garcia-Alvarez from Volunteer Resources sent staff to Swallow Cliff on Saturday for the grand opening of the new building and staircase, and to the Hickory Hills Street Fair on Sunday, distributing information on the preserves and trying to spark interest in volunteering. We appreciate their help getting the word out.

Dignitaries present for the ribbon-cutting included President Toni Preckwinkle, Superintendent Arnold Randall, former commissioner Liz Gorman, Cook County Dept. of Public Health C.O.O. Dr. Terry Mason, and Palos Park mayor John Mahoney, all pictured in the final photo below.

Picture
Incredible lushness of the place
Picture
Taking a break in the shade
Picture
Grand Opening of Swallow Cliff Pavilion, June 25, 2016
0 Comments

Cap Sauers June 18, Black Partridge June 19, 2016

6/23/2016

0 Comments

 
Cap Sauers June 18

We had an enthusiastic group of roving reed canary and garlic mustard pullers, including first-time volunteers, Charles from Park Forest and Bob from Lemont. Working our way west on the trail, we filled a number of trash bags with weeds and hauled them back to the lot.

Some pleasant surprises awaited us, most notably multiple clusters of blooming fire pink and bedstraw. The play of light and shadow was striking.  Our thanks to Bob Schwaan for sharing the photo at bottom right.

Black Partridge June 19

Sunday afternoon was a warm one so we were grateful for the shade of the woodland, and whatever breeze came our way. The two flowers in the panel below, both deemed weeds, are nonetheless quite pretty. Perhaps they're held in higher regard in their home range.



0 Comments

McClaughrey Springs June 11, 2016

6/16/2016

0 Comments

 
One of our last garlic mustard days was a very productive one. The upland at McClaughrey, while hosting a rich variety of natives, also shows more than its share of GM. A small number of pickers emptied multiple bags onto a compost pile that grew and grew over the course of the morning.

Sheri Moor, as relentless a hunter of the weed as I've seen, even admitted to a certain waning of enthusiasm last week. Can't say I blame her; she's been out every weekend since the GM season began. The coming weekend we'll be looking for other invasives in addition to garlic mustard.

The pictures below are a sampling of sights seen during the morning. The final one shows how big jack-in-the-pulpit leaves become after flowering - the plant itself is about 18" tall and the glove is a XXL.

0 Comments

Hidden Pond Woods June 4, 2016

6/9/2016

0 Comments

 
The end of garlic mustard season draws near; the flowers are almost all gone now, making the plants tougher to locate. We still managed to pull multiple bags out of the woods, finding a couple of thickets and a rather sparse population in the rest of the area covered.

After the garlic mustard pulling came the celebration of former steward Roger Keller's life. Wife Cara Keller, daughter Karen and sons Mark and Greg, several grandchildren, and other family members and friends, all turned out to reflect on and honor Roger's memory and his work at Hidden Pond.

Kathy Wurster from FPCC Volunteer Resource Center came; so did Anne MacGlashan, former teacher at Reavis High who brought groups of students to Hidden Pond once a month for 18 years.

We heard a short voice recording of Roger speaking about Hidden Pond; we walked from the parking lot to the prairie; we scattered seed on the prairie. It was a good day, spent in the company of good people.

0 Comments

Spears Woods May 28, 2016

6/2/2016

0 Comments

 
The morning was overcast at the start, enough that some of us packed ponchos. The wet ground was a benefit; it made it easier to get the evil weed out of the ground.

First-timers Denise, Jim, Augustus, Becca, and Becca's two sons Owen and Titus joined us. With 16 volunteers, we were more than a match for the garlic mustard, bagging and dragging a mass of it to the parking lot.

Near the end of the day Kathy found a stunning, bright orange fungus; you might have seen Margaret's photo on Facebook. Beautiful, more evidence that you never know what you'll encounter on a walk in the woods.


Picture
The Team
Picture
The Fungus - sulfur shelf per Diana
0 Comments

    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.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly