Blog Archives

Cap Sauers November 21, 2015

11/26/2015

Overlooking Bergman Slough

Students from Intrinsic High School, their sponsors from ICO (Inspiring Connections Outdoors), new friends and old, we all had way too much fun.

Snow fell throughout the morning, and all it did was make things prettier. We cleared a good chunk of ground, burned all the brush, and watched the fire burn down, all by 1:00 pm.

Walking in Along Ford Road

Snow Continues to Fall

Intrinsic and ICO Around the Fire

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Hidden Pond November 14, Black Partridge November 15

11/15/2015

At Hidden Pond we continued to remove honeysuckle from the center of the prairie, with Diana chain-sawing and Doug brush-cutting. Mary Busch from the Forest Preserves came and helped run the day.

We also had two students from Oak Lawn High School earning service hours. Thank you Nicole and Anna.

The following day it was different location, same invasive plants. Who let the honeysuckle out? One of our FPCC stewardship aides, Iza Redlinski, came to help.

Thanks to almost-newbies Matt and Kelli, and to Maxwell and Karen, for joining us on this afternoon.

And to steward John Marlin for his walking lecture as we made our way to the work site.

Hidden Pond November 14, 2015

Black Partridge November 15, 2015

Roger Keller June 6, 1936 - November 10, 2015

11/12/2015

Roger at Home on the Prairie

Roger Keller hummed with passion, for Hidden Pond, for restoration throughout Palos, for whatever project he immersed himself in.

It’s tough to enumerate all that Roger did for restoration in Palos. Twenty-five years of volunteering, Hidden Pond steward, founding member and past regional steward of Palos Restoration Project.

Mentoring other stewards and volunteers, working with students and interns. Inspiring them. Roger especially enjoyed working with young volunteers, like the high schools groups he hosted at Hidden Pond. I once heard someone describe him as the “cool old guy” for the effortless way he engaged the students. He’d say “If I sound like a schoolteacher it’s because I’m married to one.”

Creating our first website and blog, planning and executing parties, writing a newsletter.

Speaking about restoration to garden clubs, civic groups, anyone with an interest. The first Sunday in October you’d find him manning a table at the Little Red Schoolhouse Arts and Crafts Fair. In April he was at a volunteer fair at Moraine Valley.

Who can forget the not-so-politically correct mnemonics for plant ID, or the homemade Irish soda bread on his March workday? Or his ever-present humor, with him to the very end.

Still, habitat restoration only scratches the surface of Roger Keller, and my acquaintance with him continually provided new insights.

Family was most important to Roger and Cara and they never turned down a chance to see the grand-kids. Every addition to the family was a source of great joy to them.

While many of his contemporaries shy away from new technologies, Roger embraced digital photography and photo editing, the Internet, and the personal computer. His slide shows were a staple of our spring party.

Roger and Cara loved music. They sang in their church choir, regularly attended Saturday night WFMT folk concerts, and wandered the grounds of the Fox Valley Folk Festival each Labor Day weekend.

They traveled the world, from China to Africa to the Middle East. Hell, he had a heart attack in New Zealand, and after his discharge from the hospital they continued their vacation, hardly skipping a beat.

He read extensively, with a recent interest in early American history. He had a strong interest in politics and volunteered, sometimes out of state, for candidates he supported.

Rode his bike Friday mornings, often 20 miles or more, with a group of friends. Participated regularly in a three-day bike ride from northern Illinois into Wisconsin with his son and grandson, one year wistfully noting he could no longer keep pace with his grandson, an accomplished young cyclist. Like any 75-year-old could.

I first met Roger 10 years ago and marveled at his full-speed-ahead approach to retirement. Told him I’d like to emulate that, doubted I could match his pace.

You feel deprived when someone so robust, so vital, leaves this earth sooner than expected. You feel relieved he was spared the long, tortuous ordeal some must endure.

Mostly, you recognize your great fortune to have shared some time and space with him.

Cranberry November 7, McClaughry November 8

11/8/2015

Fourteen members of Evergreen Park High School Science Club, and their teachers Ms. Augustyn and Ms. Tsoukatos, came to Cranberry Slough on a lovely Saturday morning.

Half the students went to collect seed with Joe, while the other half - after a slow start with the fire (don't ask) - helped cut honeysuckle from the hillside. New volunteer Kristin was a great addition to the cutting crew. We also cut and burned a hawthorn thicket on the slope. Seed collection went well, with Araceli Diaz assisting Joe in this task.

In the picture below, a couple of the EP kids greet their friends as they exit the trail.

Sunday at McClaughry was an equally pretty day. Working near the trail, we saw a stream of trail users pass by on foot, horse, and mountain bike. Louis and Corryn from Chicago Ornithological Society, and Hannah from Moraine Valley, were first-time volunteers in Palos.