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Cranberry Slough August 22, 2020

8/26/2020

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Cranberry Slough, Saturday August 22
We were at the south end of Cranberry, across 107th Street from the Model Airplane Flying Field at Morrill Meadow, clipping and picking weeds. Shortly after we arrived, Doug Bosco noticed the abundance of woodland brome growing nearby. He gathered more seed from those plants, in an hour or so, than half a dozen of us were able to gather at Cap Sauers the preceding week. It was the mother-lode.

This area was brush-mowed by contractors last year. Before their work, sections were all but impassable due to the thickness of the non-native brush. Now  many natives are showing up, including bottlebrush grass, wingstem and boneset. The latter two are pollinator magnets. Weeds we removed included teasel and bull thistle (lots of that), and Joe was busy with his backpack sprayer as he so often is.

This illustrates the complementary roles that different players have in restoring an ecosystem. Volunteers don't have the mechanized equipment, or the time and numbers, to clear large areas of brush quickly. Grant writers get the funding, FPCC hires contractors to do that work, and the follow-up then falls to volunteer crews like ours, or to the Conservation Corps.

Interested parties can help us by volunteering with Palos Restoration Project, or by donating to Friends of the Forest Preserves to help fund their crews or the Forest Preserve Foundation, the not-for-profit supporting Forest Preserves of Cook County.

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Cap Sauers Holding August 15, 2020

8/19/2020

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Cap Sauers Holding, Saturday August 15
Saturday was devoted to collecting native seed, mostly woodland grasses like bottlebrush and woodland brome. We ranged over a large stretch on the west side of the site, allowing us to see more plants, and a greater variety, than we would on a typical brush-cutting day when we're confined to a smaller area.

This is one of the beauties of seed collecting. Another is that you get up close and personal with the good stuff, the plants we're trying to save, rather than arm-wrestling the troublesome species we're always trying to remove. It's serious fun.

I also had the good fortune to get to Ted Stone this week for more seed hunting; we did a spell in the woodland, then moved to the prairie under a beautiful blanket of clouds. The youngest one present was four months shy of her second birthday. Good times...

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Paddock Woods August 8, 2020

8/10/2020

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Paddock Woods Saturday August 8
We found ourselves near the intersection of Route 83 and Kean Avenue, clipping flowers from numerous teasel plants growing in disturbed areas near the road. Because this is what they do. And that is what we do.

Teasel: the stems are prickly, the leaves are prickly, the flowers are extremely prickly. What's not to like about this plant? Like cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum), the leaves join together around the central stem and hold rainwater. Allegedly, bugs trapped in the rainwater decay and feed nitrogen and phosphorus to the plant, though it is uncertain whether this qualifies as carnivory under scientific guidelines.

In one study, British researchers grew teasel plants and placed maggots into the leaf cup, then measured the effect of this extra nourishment on seed set and biomass. Because this is what researchers do.
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0017935

As we clipped and bagged the teasel and thistle flowers, we encountered numerous pollinators and a goodly number of native plants in their midst. Getting rid of the invasive ones will help these natives hold and expand their ground and benefit native wildlife as well.


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McMahon Woods & Fen August 1, 2020

8/5/2020

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Saturday August 1,
Our last time at McMahon pulling white sweet clover, though the plants still present insist they'd welcome us back again. Many had gone to seed, making it important to get them into bagged without shaking it loose. Thank you Cyndi Duda for bringing your collapsible yard waste containers which expedited that process.

Our prairies are continuing to offer new treats, prairie blazing star (Liatris pychnostachya) and the early blooming goldenrods among them. Vibrant color warning!

We have several sites in Palos where these prairie plants can be viewed, some requiring a substantial hike in, others closer to the road. Contact us for more information; restorepalos@gmail.com or janaugust@sbcglobal.net or hit the 'Contact' button on the banner above.

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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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