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Willow Springs Woods, Cranberry Slough Nature Walk, June 25, 2022

6/30/2022

Willow Springs Woods Saturday June 25
This was another thistle-hunting day, and I'm told they bagged a lot despite the rain that moved in. Missed this one due to another event, tip of the cap to the crew who hung in there.

Cranberry Slough Trailblazers Walk, Saturday June 25
This was led by Katie, one of the Friends of the Forest Preserves volunteers involved in this series of walks. As a former volunteer and intern with FOTFP, she knows the site well. Well enough to pick up the pace a bit as the light rain was on the brink of getting much heavier. She got us back to the parking lot just ahead of that.

She wasn't able to share all her fun facts about Cranberry but plans another walk next month. One I can share now; Katie was part of a crew that hand-wicked a patch of cattails in the drainage that crosses the site; to this day they have not returned. Great job!

Photography Walk Paw Paw Woods Wednesday June 29
This was hosted by Ed and Cece from the Forest Preserves CEP (Community Experiential Programming). The dynamic of such a walk is cool; someone stops to take a picture, someone else stops to see what caught their eye, and the rest of us follow suit. We saw a range of birds, insects and plants along the way, with each person's interest leading us to something different.

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Cranberry Slough June 18, Black Partridge June 19, 2022

6/23/2022

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Cap Sauers Holding Saturday June 18
Saturday morning was a thistle walk, volunteers clipping the flowers from non-native thistles as they walked the blue trail at Cap Sauers. It was a good day for butterflies, with many spotted feeding on the flowers as our group worked. A couple are pictured below.

Thanks to first-time Palos volunteer Francesca, and to Kevin Kuhn, recently retired from Forest Preserves Volunteer Resources. He was a great help to us on many occasions while employed with FPCC, and continued in that vein this weekend, also coming tom Black Partridge Sunday to complete a weekend double!

Nature Walk: McClaughrey Springs Saturday June 18
We had a large group of walkers at McClaughrey for the last of our spring walks with Palos Park Library, on a gorgeous late spring morning. We did a loop of 1.7 mi. pausing to talk from time to time (and to catch our breath at the top of the hill dubbed "Big Bertha".)

We're between spring ephemerals and summer flowers right now, so there weren't a lot of blooms to admire, but we had a good time just the same. A delightful group of people. We'll take a couple months off and resume walks in September.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday June 19
This was another thistle-lopping day with a smaller group of volunteers, and more heat, especially in mid-afternoon. It was also Father's Day - while that may have held our volunteer numbers down, the crowd of picnickers at Tampier Lake was large enough to fill every available parking space. Eventually I found a space and got the kayak on the lake for a spell. Beautiful!

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Cranberry Slough June 11, 2022

6/16/2022

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Cranberry Slough Saturday June 11
This was a cool morning - I wasn't able to come due to another commitment. Now we're fully into summer weed season, with reed canary grass, various thistles, and teasel all showing their (unwelcome) selves around the preserves.

Another favorite summer target is sweet clover; I've seen a lot of the yellow variety flowering lately, and the white should follow close behind. While these plants are a disaster in our natural areas, they are used in agriculture as a cover crop, for hay and pasture, and to enrich soil - it's a legume and fixes nitrogen to the soil.

That means it's not going away, another form of job security for restoration volunteers. ugh

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Pioneer Woods June 4, McClaughrey Springs June 5, 2022

6/9/2022

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Pioneer Woods Saturday June 4
Off we tramped in search of garlic mustard, from the Pioneer lot to Old Country Lane, then north to the trail junction. We found a goodly amount along the way. While we searched for weeds, Joe, Jim, and Carolyn were doing backpack spraying of other weeds.

All the way from Palatine came Cyndi Duda to lend a hand. Hadn't seen her for a spell, good to reconnect.

Swallow Cliff Woods Walk Saturday June 4
This was the first of several walks led by Friends of the Forest Preserves and their Trailblazers program. It was fun; while the location was Swallow Cliff, we started and finished at 40 Acres Woods and passed through a stretch of McClaughrey Springs along the way.

Bruce, the leader, knows the site and surrounding area well and did a super job. Thanks also to Sydney of FOTFP who organized this. Looking forward to the upcoming walks - we'll have one at Cranberry Slough on June 25 and another at Redgate Woods that was rained out last Monday, to be rescheduled.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday June 5
We had a big group of pickers today, going after both garlic mustard and dame's rocket. We found plenty, too. The former was a bit harder to locate since all the flowers have dropped, but the less-strategic dame's rocket still was boldly showing its colors.

Such a great day, with a light breeze, tolerable temperature, and the soothing lushness of woodland greens. Thanks to all who came.

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Paddock Woods May 28, 2022

6/2/2022

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Paddock Woods Saturday May 28
Back to Paddock, near the Yellow Trail's eastern edge, for more garlic mustard. We found more than enough to justify our time there, with the occasional thick patch and much more of it scattered across the work area. We had a good group, ten or more, including first-time Palos volunteers Hal and Alex.

The plants have dropped their flowers now, making them a bit harder to locate, especially the smaller ones. I was impressed with new volunteer Alex, who, after seeing the plants briefly, was able to pick find one, from the trail, and ID it properly. Good eyes!

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Willow Springs Woods, Cranberry Slough Nature Walk, June 25, 2022

Cranberry Slough June 18, Black Partridge June 19, 2022

Cranberry Slough June 11, 2022

Pioneer Woods June 4, McClaughrey Springs June 5, 2022

Paddock Woods May 28, 2022

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