Blog Posts - Palos Restoration Project

McMahon Woods April 5, McClaughrey Springs April 6, 2025

4/10/2025

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday April 5
Had to miss this one but I'm told we had a good crew that made major inroads on one of the true tangled messes that typify our time at McMahon. Much of the agony is due to the bittersweet vine that grows everywhere and ties everything together. Thanks to first-time Palos volunteer Matthew who joined us; he's seen some of the toughest foes Palos has, so it should all be downhill from here.

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday April 6
This was the first Sunday in recent memory with no weather concerns coming in. Wind was ample for fire-starting, no threat of rain, and we even enjoyed some sunshine. It was also one of the shortest walks in to a work site - we parked in the McClaughrey Springs lot and worked right there. We had two students from Oak Lawn HS, two from McCauley (plus a mom!), and two brush piles.

While areas near parking lots and roads are typically degraded, we found more than a sprinkling of native plants mixed in with all the honeysuckles. That was one big plus; another is that the view from the parking lot across Mill Creek is much better now, much more open.

Paddock March 29, Swallow Cliff South March 30, 2025

4/3/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday March 29
A light drizzle slowed the starting of our fires but went away eventually, and we had two fires in this return visit to Paddock. A pair of chainsaws, a brush-cutter, and a good group of volunteers, including first-time Palos volunteers Maggie and Sam, created lots of cut brush to add to those fires. We're so close right now to spring wildflowers, you feel like you're sitting in the audience waiting for the stage curtain to open.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday March 30
For the second week in a row rain threatened to shut us down. I arrived early, at 7:30 and was soon joined by Dan and Joe, getting a good fire going well before 9:00, and the rain, expected by 10, chose to stay away until well into the afternoon.

That allowed us to not only accomplish our first goal, burning a lot of honeysuckle cut one week prior, but to tackle a patch of smaller brush (thank you Julie for bringing the brushcutter!) which in turn opened a view of a small wetland we didn't even know was there until clearing the brush in front of it.

When you start the day not knowing if anything will get done, have a terrific group of volunteers show up despite the forecasts, and get so much accomplished, you feel truly blessed with good fortune!

Paddock Woods March 22, Swallow Cliff March 23, 2025

3/26/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday March 22
We had a large group of volunteers, including three brush-cutters and three chainsaws, working in the low area northwest of the parking lot. Tree thinning, lots of honeysuckle, and a few others were targeted, and we had at least three fires by my count.

Congratulations to chain sawyer Nicole D. for finishing her mentoring sessions, she's now a certified Feller 1 in the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Much thanks also to Kevin G. for acting as mentor - it's a detailed process developed by FPCC that emphasizes the safe use of this powerful tool.

Swallow Cliff South Sunday March 23
Sunday morning dawned with a threat of rain that kept getting pushed later into the day; we had a great group, including first-time Palos volunteers Tristan, as we pushed farther in from the Yellow Trail in the South woods. Jim with the brush-cutter, Joe with the chainsaw, the rest of us hand-cutting and hauling and burning as we creep our way deeper into the woodland.

One pleasant surprise: when we got past a line of brush along a drainage we entered an area of open woodland, relatively free of brush. This has to be staff or contract work as volunteers are new to this area. We will return on Sunday, March 30, which will likely be our last Swallow Cliff cut-and-burn day of the season.

Black Partridge Woods March 16, 2025

3/19/2025

Our crazy windy Saturday led to cancellation of our restoration day at Cap Sauers, as well as most sites in the county.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday March 23
We had no guarantee this one would come off either, with snow forecast throughout the day. It began around 8:00 am as I was driving to the site, but not so much that we couldn't get a fire started (go Andy!).

We didn't have a big crowd, but our numbers were doubled by five volunteers from Friends of Pilcher Park Nature Preserve in Joliet. The snowfall doused their plan to do a prescribed burn so they joined us instead. Huge thanks to Teal, Allison, Michael, Matas, and Justin, all from that group and making their first appearance at a Palos restoration site. Thanks also to Maddie Peacher, Volunteer Program Coordinator with FPCC, making her rounds of all the county preserves under volunteer management.

We cut brush on the dairy farm (south) side of Bluff Road, with most of the damage done by lopper and bowsaw. The snow added a nice ambience, lasting long enough to coat the stalks, leaves, and seed heads of last year's plants.

Spears Woods March 8, Hidden Pond March 9, 2025

3/10/2025

Spears Woods Saturday March 8
Missed this one and cobbled some information from Jim D. and Doug's FB post. It was a small group, working a little bit south of the parking lot along the Yellow Trail. Brush cutting until the brush cutter crashed (Sorry, Doug!) and some chainsaw tree thinning throughout the morning.

Wherever you went this weekend, sandhill cranes could be heard overhead. I saw a picture this morning of an estimated 50,000 along the Platte River in Nebraska and saw some Tuesday flying low enough to get a couple pictures where their shapes are at least discernible when expanded..

Hidden Pond West Sunday March 9
We'll call this one Masters of the Bowsaw and lopper, as we went without any power tools, somewhat unusual these days in Palos though not too many years ago ALL the invasive removal was done with hands tools. We did really well, too, a credit to the energy of our volunteer team. This included first-time Palos volunteers Mike and Arthur, Sarah who made her Palos debut just two weeks ago, and parent-student couples Rebecca/Charlie and Melanie/Kelsey.

Spears Woods March 1, McClaughrey Springs March 2, 2025

3/5/2025

Spears Woods Saturday March 1
Many volunteers attended the Wild Things nature conference in Rosemont Saturday - more on that below - but we still had a good group out at Spears to continue the assault on honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, and other delights. Carolyn led this one in Joe's absence, and this account and a couple pictures below came from Doug Bosco's FB post.

McClaughrey Springs Sunday March 2
Sunday was a clean-up day from last month's tree-thinning, with several piles of cut timber awaiting us. We also had four members of the Thorn Creek Resource Management crew helpinng, running brushcutters to eliminate the plethora of small walnut saplings that shade and stymie all the native grasses and forbs in this meadow.

With falling humidity levels projected for the afternoon we stopped loading early to give the fires a chance to burn down. This was a wise call on the part of the RM crew - maybe some readers heard about the 10 acre wildfire in McHenry County, caused by a brushpile stirred by strong winds.

Spears Woods February 22, Swallow Cliff February 23, 2025

2/27/2025

Spears Woods Saturday February 22
We had a large group of volunteers at Spears Saturday. joined by Maddie Peacher, new FPCC Stewardship Program Coordinator, working at the north end near 87th Street. Got off to a slow start, but once a fire was started we got going and cleared a big swath of brush, with far too much multi-flora rose, near the trail loop.

Meanwhile, chainsawyers from Atrium Landscape worked on the other side of the trail in their last tree-thinning day of the season. After they departed some volunteers moved to that side and began lighting more brush piles, and a couple late arrivals stayed with them throughout the afternoon.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday February 23
The trails and landscape held a thin snow cover Sunday morning as we cleared honeysuckle and buckthorn west of the trail loop. Our small group, which included first-time Palos volunteer Sarah (thank you!), was augmented by four members of FPCC's Palos Resource Management crew and Regional Ecologist Kristin Pink, who graciously marked numerous native shrubs scattered around the area to protect them from errant loppers and bowsaws.

We had a single, at times unruly brush pile which kept a handful of us on site until almost 2:00 pm. An added treat was hearing a brush mower, run by a contract crew from Stantec, obliterating a large stretch of brush little more than a quarter-mile away. Another great example of teamwork in action, with contractors, Forest Preserves staff, and volunteers all working toward a common goal.

Pioneer Woods February 15, Black Partridge February 16, 2025

2/20/2025

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.

Pioneer Woods February 8, Hidden Pond February 9, 2025

2/13/2025

Pioneer Woods Saturday February 8,
Missed this one due to another commitment, told it was another big log burning party, par for the course in February. We had work left over from our Atrium Day as well as any new brush in the area and several good-sized fires that burned late into the afternoon. Always somewhere to get warm on a winter restoration day! We also were graced with the presence of the RM Palos crew.

Hidden Pond Sunday February 9, 2025
This was another smallish group of volunteers, yet we accomplished quite a bit. We targeted a spot along the multi-use trail that looked like it would be finished pretty quickly - by mid-morning we weren't sure we'd be able to burn everything we cut. I believe at least three of us said "I didn't think there was so much there" or something to that effect.

By noon we had it all on the fire, credit to the terrific team we had. That included first-time Palos volunteer Sarah and Eric, Danny, and Graciela from Palos Resource Management.

Paddock Woods February 1, McClaughrey Springs February 2, 2025

2/6/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday February 1
We met at the Palos Park South lot and continued to burn brush piles along the Yellow Trail. Some of it was brush we cut during the morning, but more was downed trees and brush from our last weekend at the site.

We had a very good turnout which again included members of the RM Palos crew. It also was good to see Rebecca and Charlie, past volunteers at Swallow Cliff during garlic mustard season. Much of the wood we burred was wet species like maple or basswood, making the fires slow to start. Eventually, though, you get enough of a hot core to sustain and burn whatever you add to the pile. Patience...

McClaughrey Springs Sunday February 2
We had a smaller group Sunday, which again included two member of the Palos crew (Amanda and Brian). That meant more piles to burn than volunteers, so everybody got their own fire, along with the chance to float to others when their first was going well.

Again, we were dealing with a lot of moist green wood which is slow to ignite. It makes you grateful for the days when your focus is buckthorn and honeysuckle, two woody shrubs that burn with little trouble. Can't say we appreciate those woodies, just their burning properties.