Pioneer Woods Saturday February 15
Missed this one due to an Adler Planetarium visit offered to volunteer dark sky monitors and had a great time. We got to see the Far Horizons lab, where researchers conduct high altitude balloon missions, currently monitoring light pollution in the Chicago area. Fascinating program, all the more so because they involve large numbers of students, likely creating the next generation of researchers.
Meanwhile, our stalwart volunteers were back at Pioneer, burning logs that often are not that eager to burn. We've spent several days there this winter and removed enough brush and scrub trees to bring a lot of light to the forest floor.
Black Partridge Woods Sunday February 16
Speaking of logs that don't want to burn: We were dealing with stacks made the previous day by sawyers from Atrium Landscape, working in two spots perhaps a football field apart. They had a different mix of trees and fires in the first area started readily, offering hope we'd finish all the work in one day, despite a small group of six or seven volunteers.
Brush piles at our second location, down the slope nearer the creek, didn't go so well. The smaller branches burned readily but didn't generate enough heat to get the bigger pieces going, needing constant tending and re-kindling. Wind shifts made it worse which will force a return visit in march to finish the cleanup.
Missed this one due to an Adler Planetarium visit offered to volunteer dark sky monitors and had a great time. We got to see the Far Horizons lab, where researchers conduct high altitude balloon missions, currently monitoring light pollution in the Chicago area. Fascinating program, all the more so because they involve large numbers of students, likely creating the next generation of researchers.
Meanwhile, our stalwart volunteers were back at Pioneer, burning logs that often are not that eager to burn. We've spent several days there this winter and removed enough brush and scrub trees to bring a lot of light to the forest floor.
Black Partridge Woods Sunday February 16
Speaking of logs that don't want to burn: We were dealing with stacks made the previous day by sawyers from Atrium Landscape, working in two spots perhaps a football field apart. They had a different mix of trees and fires in the first area started readily, offering hope we'd finish all the work in one day, despite a small group of six or seven volunteers.
Brush piles at our second location, down the slope nearer the creek, didn't go so well. The smaller branches burned readily but didn't generate enough heat to get the bigger pieces going, needing constant tending and re-kindling. Wind shifts made it worse which will force a return visit in march to finish the cleanup.
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