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.
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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