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McMahon December 23 & 27, Cap Sauers December 26, 2023

12/28/2023

McMahon Woods & Fen, Saturday December 23 & Wednesday December 26, 2023
I missed the latter of these two days, so information on that will come from George Christensen who attended. On Saturday we worked above a wetland near the model airplane field.

One group of volunteers, led by Carolyn, hand-cut and burned brush toward the top of a hill. This group included first-time Palos volunteers Sarah and Wing - much thanks to them for joining us!. The rest of us, including two chainsaws and a brushcutter, worked farther down the slope.

As is usually the case, we contended with numerous vines as well as a blessing of multi-flora rose. As is usually the case, we persisted and left the spot looking much better than when we walked in.

Cap Sauers Holding Tuesday December 26
This was rescheduled from December 16th, a rainout. While it was another misty morning volunteers were able to start a fire and burn brush without much trouble. From her comments on FB Margaret seemed pleased with the outcome of the day.

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Black Partridge Woods December 17, 2023

12/21/2023

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The rain got us Saturday, washing our our scheduled restoration day at Cap Sauers Holding (rescheduled to Tuesday December 26) leaving us the next two dates (below) without weather hiccups.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday December 17
On a morning when rain continued to fall along the I-80 corridor, we were fortunate that nothing more than occasional drizzle reached as far north as Lemont. And doubly fortunate to have a great group of volunteers show up on such an overcast morning.

Old friends and new, they included first-time Palos volunteers Alex and David, with David accompanied by daughter Ingrid whom we hadn't seen for quite a while. Back in the pasture on the south of Bluff Road, we got a fire burning and loaded it for almost three hours. By the end of the shift we had almost punched through the last row of honeysuckle near the road, something we'll surely complete next time.

Prescribed Burn Update:
Forest Preserve crews were able to burn several sites last week, including Spears Woods around Boomerang Slough, the prairie at Bergman Slough, and a big stretch along the Yellow Trail at Swallow Cliff South. This MAY be the end of fall burn season, which we thought was over a couple weeks ago.

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McMahon December 9 & 13, Hidden Pond December 10, 2023

12/14/2023

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McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday December 9 & Wednesday December 13
Two stops at McMahon this week, a place that has challenges enough to occupy our time for quite a while. I missed Saturday, believe the work site was relatively close to the mowed area and the "dune" where much effort has been focused.

On Wednesday we ventured much farther out, along the edge of the prairie not too far from the fen. We had a hybrid group, with several of our regular volunteers, four from Conservation Corps' Palos crew, and one or two (including Erin) from Woods to Wetlands.

Our major target was buckthorn and much was cut and burned, with several chainsaws keeping the haulers hopping throughout. Beautiful blue skies and a bright sun took the edge off the early morning chill and two big fires raged all morning.

Hidden Pond Woods Sunday December 10
Thanks to Kris DaPra from FPCC for leading this one. Our volunteer group was outstanding, including Joe Connolly on chainsaw, and Diana Krug on brushcutter. We had two fires going and made substantial progress in cutting and burning brush along the multi-use trail that parallels La Grange Road.

Its been a couple years or more since we started clearing in this area, first working along the prairie's edge near Roger Keller's memorial bench before moving farther up the hill. It's coming along well as we've moved quite a distance north over that period, and exciting to think where we'll be by next spring, given cooperation from the weather over the next few months.

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McMahon Woods December 2, McClaughrey Springs December 3. 2023

12/6/2023

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McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday December 2
The common theme on this weekend was reluctant fire-starting. Saturday was the better of the two days; a brisk wind and no active rainfall during work hours both were beneficial. Still, all the fuel, including big, downed trees that were cut and stacked into Joe's favored log piles, was damp from recent rainfall.

On a good day these big stacks would produce roaring fires. On this day we never saw the big, dancing licks of flame that we'd normally expect. Still, good effort by the volunteers got a mass of fuel loaded, and if Joe has to spend the afternoon babysitting the fires, that's what he's going to do. Count on it all being burned by day's end.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday December 3
Sunday was worse, as noted above. The wind was barely at our minimum five mph with frequent drizzle and 94% humidity. What we lacked was dry wood for kindling, and were were totally reliant on newspaper to get things going. This was epic! Every brief flicker of flame quickly faded, over and over, as we couldn't get enough of the wet fuel dried to make a sustained fire.

Four new volunteers, thank you Jason, Owen, Caleb, and Adelyn, joined us and witnessed our abysmal struggle with the fire. Embarrassing because they're all Scouts. We commandeered a "Volunteers in Action" sign to fan the fire and eventually used most of the available newspaper, all to very incremental effect.

Still, they persisted. Joy, Charlie, and Diana stayed well past scheduled quitting time and eventually managed to get everything burned.

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McMahon December 23 & 27, Cap Sauers December 26, 2023

Black Partridge Woods December 17, 2023

McMahon December 9 & 13, Hidden Pond December 10, 2023

McMahon Woods December 2, McClaughrey Springs December 3. 2023

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