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Clowns in the Preserves?

10/31/2016

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Reports of creepy clowns have filled  the news in recent months. From South Carolina to Florida, Ohio to Wisconsin, people are spotting clowns, often lurking at roadsides or in wooded areas.
 
At times, they say, the clowns behave in a menacing manner. At times the clowns appear to have weapons. While police have not confirmed most of these reports, they have not vanished either.
 
Those of us who frequent the forest preserves might wonder if clowns have infiltrated our natural areas. As a frequent visitor to local preserves, I took it upon myself to study the news reports for our area.

While the internet offered up numerous reports like those noted above, I could find nothing specific to the forest preserves in Palos.
 
No one has reported seeing an individual in baggy pants and floppy shoes jogging along one of the many trails in our area. I found no accounts of a man in white face paint, with a big red nose and bright orange wig, lurking in a picnic grove.
 
I saw not a single story describing large numbers of clowns, in full clown regalia, exiting one side of a Volkswagen in a steady stream.
 
All this was reassuring but I was not satisfied. After all, how easy might it be for someone with a blinking nose, and a bright polka-dotted suit, to blend in with all the other visitors to the preserves?
 
This ‘clown’ might carry binoculars and pretend to be a birder, or hold a leash with a fake dog at the end. I decided to continue my investigation.
 
Each of the past few days I’ve visited a different preserve. I brought a camera to document anything I should find. I walked the trails; I parked at the groves and sat, binoculars raised, scanning the tree line.
 
I saw nothing, nothing at all, until this morning. First I heard a rustling noise, which could easily have been a squirrel or a bird. The woods are replete with such sounds.

Then I spotted a flash of colors, colors that aren’t usually seen in nature. A bunch of balloons, perhaps? I shinnied up a nearby tree, set the camera to max zoom, and started snapping.
 
At this point I’ll let the pictures tell the story.


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Spears Woods October 22, Paddock October 26, 2016

10/25/2016

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Spears Woods October 22, 2016

Back to Spears, but this time we came with reinforcements; 15-20 students from Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's TEENS program. This program engages young people in the natural sciences, giving them valuable exposure to field work and scientific investigation.

They're pretty hardy kids, too; over half a mile walk in, toting tools, water, supplies, and lunch, just to get to the work site. They did fine work once they arrived, working above a ravine where the Friends of the Forest Preserve crew has concentrated efforts this year. It's looking good over there, as you can see from the expansive clearing  in the photo below right. Understory plants should do well next year with increased sunlight reaching the ground.

Paddock Woods October 26

The morning forecast said 40% chance of rain for the time we planned to work. Could've been 40% chance of flood of biblical proportions, as the rain was quite impressive. We DID manage to get a fire going, and to cut and burn for a decent spell, before the intensifying rain and a rumble of thunder hastened our exit.

Momma said always see the glass as half-full; we had no concern over embers from our fading fire escaping in those soggy conditions.

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October 14 - 20, 2016

10/16/2016

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So much happening in Palos the past seven days, it's hard to know where to begin.

Last Thursday Diana Krug hosted 45 Curie High students at McClaughrey Springs. They split into groups,  taking water samples, measuring stream flow, and cutting and burning honeysuckle, including some large stacks of brush left from from a previous workday. They did great!
 
Saturday Margaret had a big turnout at Cap Sauers, working both sides of the creek, extending an area we cleared several months back. We had several new volunteers joining us, as well as those familiar faces that are the mainstay of our efforts week after week.

While we worked at Cap, Diana and Jackie Grom were back at McClaughrey, this time with a group from Shedd Aquarium who are regular visitors to the site.

Sunday was a Black Partridge kind of day, clearing more brush from an area close to the old home site.

And Wednesday was another visit to Paddock Woods, where we resumed work near the creek at the southeast corner of the preserve. This is where we plan to focus our efforts, and is home to the largest concentration of winged euonymus (burning bush) I've seen in Palos. The good news: it truly does burn.



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Meet Spears Woods October 8, Paddock Woods October 12, 2016

10/11/2016

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Meet Spears Woods October 8

Saturday was an active, fun day; some of us were part of the walking tours, while others went to the work site and began cutting and burning honeysuckle. The two groups who walked collected seed along the way, stopping at various points of interest within the preserve.

When our second walking group arrived at the work site, we were amazed by how large an area was cleared.

Thanks to all our guests who came to see Spears Woods and stayed to help make it better. We hope you enjoyed the morning and return on another day. Thanks to the volunteers who worked so hard clearing both sides of the ravine that was the morning's target.

We also send our gratitude to Brenda, Tyrone, and Ebony from Friends of the Forest Preserves who managed wave upon wave of scouts over at Pioneer Woods while we were at Spears! The clear area in the picture below, right was completely brushed in when they began at 8 am.

Paddock Woods October 12

Another case of workday rainus interruptus, though we did get in a good 90 minutes of roam-and-cut before calling it a day. We ran across some seriously BIG honeysuckles out there; glad Doug has sharp saws in his tool kit.

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September 29 - October 5, 2016

10/6/2016

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Despite losing two sessions to rain it was an encouraging, productive week.

Sunday October 2, McClaughrey Springs and Cap Sauers Holding

Weather still played a role on Sunday, despite skies that were clearing throughout the morning. This time it was the wind, more specifically, the lack of it. To burn brush piles, we need a minimum wind of 5 mph for smoke dispersal. We did not have it, so volunteers cut and stacked honeysuckle for burning at a later date.

Diana had a great turnout for her morning at McClaughrey and was thrilled with the work they did. Three of the volunteers who worked with her, first-timers, then moved on to Cap Sauers in the afternoon.

At Cap Sauers, those three joined four students from Whitney Young HS making seven of the ten volunteers present on a restoration day for the first time. We hope they enjoyed it and tell their friends about their day!

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Moraine Valley Staff Volunteer Day - Paddock Woods & Spears Woods October 4, 2016

For several years we have been fortunate to host restoration days as part of Moraine Valley Community College's staff volunteer day. One group of MVCC staff came to Spears Woods with Joe Neumann and Douglas Chien, another to Paddock Woods with Diana Krug and Teri Radke.

The Moraine Valley crews always dive right in and this year was no different. We removed honeysuckle from quite a sizeable patch at Paddock and had two serious brush piles burning. I'm told the work at Spears went equally well.

Our thanks to the college for their program of giving back to the community, and to those individuals who chose habitat restoration as their form of service.

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Moraine Valley Community College staff volunteer day, Paddock Woods 10-4-2016
Paddock Woods 10-5-2016

We returned for our regular Paddock Wednesday, working adjacent to the area cleared a day earlier and extending it north along the trail.

Thanks to first-timers Jessica and Kirsten, to Brenda, Tyrone, and Gloria from Friends of the Forest Preserves. Thanks to Doug Chien for organizing these days, to Wednesday regulars Bob and Jim, to almost-newbie Charee and Palos veteran Doug B. for participating.
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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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