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McMahon Woods July 22, 2023

7/27/2023

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McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday July 22
Had to pass on this one due to minor hand injury that wouldn't have meshed well with the day's task, pulling invasive white sweet clover. I instead went to Beaubien Woods to collect seed (below), so this account comes from Doug Bosco's FB post and photos.

As is the case in summer, two or three volunteers with herbicide licenses did backpack spraying while the others focused on weed pulling. The Sweet clover continues to be a major nemesis at McMahon, having established itself years ago and supported by a seed bank that keeps on giving. As long as this is the case, volunteers will return here to pull, drag, and compost as much as is possible.


Beaubien Woods Road Trip
That's an exaggeration, Beaubien is maybe 12-13 miles from Palos Heights. Catherine Hu, the steward there, works for Field Museum which has managed restoration at Beaubien for many years. I was only good for light duty, like stripping ripe seeds from native plants. Some volunteers collected brome and crested sedge seed while others clipped the tops from invasive reed canary. After an hour we moved to the prairie in search of black-eyed Susan.

The prairie lies in sight of the Bishop Ford expressway and just a few stone throws from the Calumet River, on old Doty Ave. which now is a frontage road. Friends of mine would drag race along those frontage roads a long time ago, while I stayed home and knitted because what they did wasn't legal. The prairie is quite nice.
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Cap Sauers July 15, Black Partridge July 16, 2023

7/20/2023

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Cap Sauers Satruday July 15
Margaret canceled due to rain that ended shortly before the scheduled starting time, and wet ground conditions that persisted. She went to the meeting place, per usual practice, in case anyone who didn't see the email or FB post showed up.

Two volunteers came, one so eager to work Margaret eventually succumbed and located some weeds they could remove in a spot that wasn't waterlogged. Two regulars showed up to scout the area, and they wound up with a small, impromptu workday.

Black Partridge Sunday July 16
When I arrived steward John Marlin informed me we we canceling, as the Air Quality Index (AQI) was above the 150 threshold. Unlike the preceding day, nobody tried to talk us out of it, as the volunteers who signed up online did not show.

John wanted to check on some plants so we took a short walk through the upland, which might have gone longer if not for the insanely hungry mosquitoes we encountered along the way. No bites (I was doused with repellent) but they hovered so close it was a relief we weren't staying the full three hours.

Black Partridge looked great and we saw some nice native plants along the way. Walking with John is always informative due to his voluminous knowledge of his site and the plants inhabiting it.

Michigan Lily
I thought I'd missed out on Michigan lily this season, as I'd checked a couple spots I sometimes see it with no success. Last week I stumbled across some, quite by accident, as I was walking along the prairie and saw some invasive white sweet clover near its edge. After pulling that, and another small patch or two, I saw a few Culver's root and went to take a picture. Near them sat one small Michigan lily, which I would have missed had I not been in close proximity. It's a pretty flower, glad I was there to see it.

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McMahon Woods July 8, 2023

7/13/2023

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McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday July 8
Your correspondent missed this one and will rely on Doug Bosco's FB post, and pictures, as well as memories of past July Saturdays on the McMahon prairie.

The main target was white sweet clover (Melilotus alba) a tenacious foe that can usually be uprooted (thank jah for some rain recently) but sometimes has to be clipped, usually the bigger stems. Doug reported the sweetclover population was down this year (perhaps drought-related?), but, since it's a biennial, the presence of first-year plants guarantees we'll be back next year.

I've pulled a few of these from Cherry Hill prairie this year, and another volunteer found and removed some at Sundown prairie, this being quite the ubiquitous plant.
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McMahon Woods July 1, 2023

7/6/2023

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McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday July 1
We met at Morrill Meadow on a warm, damp morning, and walked through a rather tough landscape, with vines, fallen trees, and the occasional throny shrub, along Crooked Creek north of 107th Street. We were a small group, maybe six volunteers, along with four who stayed by the model airplane field to spray weeds.

Our targets were Canada thistle, which was beheaded, and later, when we ran out of thistle in that immediate area, a tall yellow mustard which we uprooted. I had to duck out 30 minutes early due to another commitment, but the traipse back to the lot made me feel I'd put in a full morning's work just the same. The work area has potential, but an abundance of opportunistic invasives stand in the way of realizing that potential.

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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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