Blog Posts - Palos Restoration Project

McMahon Woods July 3, 2021

7/7/2021

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday July 3
After a couple false starts - the first time we got lost at the beginning of the day - we arrived at a big patch of black mustard targeted for removal. They were as large as advertised, some likely 10 ft. or taller. At least they pulled without much struggle, and our group removed the ENTIRE patch before noon. Ann spotted and pulled a patch of mugwort, which gave her a measure pleasure.

What a group it was too! We had 15 volunteers total, very impressive for a holiday weekend. That included first-time Palos volunteers Aneel and Malcolm, the latter of whom proving his path-finding skills on the way out. Much thanks for sharing part of your weekend with Palos Restoration Project.

Spears Woods June 26, 2021

6/30/2021

Spears Woods Saturday June 26
Our sole weekend restoration effort and we managed to get rained on just once, briefly, in the course of three hours. Thank you, first time Palos volunteer Angela, and second-timer Darien, for coming out in these questionable conditions.

We pulled and bagged garlic mustard for most of the morning, and finished by dead-heading Canada thistle, all within a short distance of the parking lot.

Fungus Time
Recent moisture is spurring the growth of mushrooms, which were in short supply through much of spring. Check the 'elegant stinkhorn' below; I truly did not know what this was until I looked it up. Most cool.

Positive Graffiti
Understanding that I don't endorse graffiti, it still was somewhat refreshing, on a recent nature walk, to encounter graffiti with a positive message. Some of it might've been poached from Hallmark Cards, but it was still better than the norm. One quote came from Eleanor Roosevelt, with the following from Edith Wharton:
"Set wide the window, let me drink the day".

June 24th, 2021

6/24/2021

Cap Sauers Moraines Saturday June 19
Your correspondent was absent due to a family event, but was able to piece together the story of a reed canary grass hunt at Cap. Thanks to first-time Palos volunteers Paul and Aidan for joining our group for the morning.

It was a warm day, an old-fashioned hunt wherein we clipped and bagged the flowering heads of the plant. I talked a bit about reed canary in a recent blog post, and suspect it is equally as tenacious as it was then.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday June 20
This day was equally warm, and though we were in a very shaded section of woodland, we also had no detectable breeze. So, yes, it was a Cinnabon day (warm & sticky).

We had three first-time Palos volunteers; thank you Darien, Eric, and Lucas for great help and interesting conversation. We found and bagged a lot of garlic mustard and butterweed, some of the latter growing in the muddy center of the creek bed.

When I left Black Partridge I went for a short kayak spin on Tampier Lake. Raindrops soon after I got in the water, with some impressive clouds overhead, ensured that it was a short spin. We've had day after day of fascinating cloud formations recentlyn and I never tire of them. Several pictures below are testimony to this.

Willow Springs Woods/Katydid June 12, 2021

6/17/2021

Willow Springs/Katydid Slough Saturday June 12
This was our sole session of the weekend, and one that I missed due to another commitment. It was also quite the sunny, steamy morning; credit to all who attended. I included one picture below, from Doug Bosco's FB post of that day. Our smallish crew went out to remove the flowering heads of reed canary grass, a hugely troublesome invasive plant that is very adaptable.

From a USDA publication, my italics to indicate the variety of habitats where this grass is found: "Reed canary grass can grow on dry soils in upland habitats and in the partial shade of oak woodlands, but does best on fertile, moist organic soils in full sun. This species can invade most types of wetlands, including marshes, wet prairies, sedge meadows, fens, stream banks, ditches and seasonally wet areas; it also grows in disturbed areas such as bergs and spoil-piles."

Holy cripes, it grows most everywhere! Did I mention adaptable?. Here's more on RCG (Reed canary grass)

Nature Walk With a Librarian, Thursday June 17
This was the third of our Spring walks, and we had a great, fun group of 14. It was a dream morning, sunny but we were shaded, not too warm. We walked the loop trail at the south woods, over bone-dry trails, and stopped to read - this was a true surprise - positive, inspirational graffiti at the stone CCC shelter on the south side of the loop. I plan to go back and retrieve/share some of this graffiti.

Spears Woods June 5, McClaughrey Springs June 6, 2021

6/10/2021

Spears Woods Saturday June 5
Saturday we walked south from the Spears lot, pulling garlic mustard and butterweed along the way. You can readily see the changes in seasons, as both those weeds are dropping flowers and going to seed, the invasive thistles (Canada and bull primarily) are growing bigger and preparing to flower. Ha! Guaranteed we'll have something to do next time out.

That's why we kid about 'job security for volunteers'. It truly is a thing...

McClaughrey Springs Woods Sunday June 6
I only was able to make the final hour of this one, a weed walk through the woodlands west of Mill Creek. There was still some garlic mustard to be had, and a considerable amount of Dame's rocket and butterweed as well.

We were working along a little drainage, and each time you were tempted to think "got it all", you needed only look left, right, or farther down the way to be disabused of that notion. See 'job security for volunteers' in the entry above.

Pioneer Woods May 29, 2021

6/3/2021

Pioneer Woods Saturday May 29
We had another good group, a dozen volunteers or more, including first-time Palos volunteers David and Maribel. The day was focused primarily on butterweed which was growing in several large clusters adjacent to the woodland. This stuff is persistent and spreads quickly; what remains to be seen if whether our pulling prevents further spread.

We're in full summer mode now, going after weeds whether by pulling or dead-heading. There's quite an assortment out there - I saw thistles, teasel, and wild parsnip on a recent prairie walk. That's ok, will keep me out of the gin mills and their modern equivalent, the weed shops.

Paddock Woods May 22, Swallow Cliff South May 23, 2021

5/27/2021

Paddock Woods Saturday May 22
We pulled garlic mustard and butterweed inside the trail loop at Paddock, in a spot that is wet in normal years. This is far from a normal year and the ground was uniformly hard and dry. It's quite impressive that so many plants, native and not, are able to grow with such a paucity of moisture.

Butterwwed (Packera glabella) is interesting. It's native to southern Illinois, has moved into the central part of the state and now is appearing in our area. It seems quite opportunistic, quickly forming large patches in disturbed areas. Though said to favor wet to moist ground, this spring's crop is faring despite the current drought. Butterweed may well, with climate change, become part of our normal flora in years to come.

We had three first-time Palos volunteers; thank you Brigida, Julia, and Rhonda for your terrific help.

Swallow Cliff South Sunday May 23
Another Sunday, another garlic mustard hunt. This one went well. We started at our work site of 2018-2020, worked around to the marshy area behind it, and finished in the area where we cleared brush earlier this spring.

Our picking team included five first-time Palos volunteers; Andrea, Mallory, Daniel, Kylin, and Sylvia. All are members of November Project Chicago, fitness enthusiasts who meet for their group workouts at 6:00 am on Friday mornings. That start time is way beyond commendable in my book. They quickly developed an eye for garlic mustard, spotting plants from trail-side with veteran savvy.

Cap Sauers May 15, Black Partridge May 16, 2021

5/20/2021

Cap Sauers Saturday May 15
Margaret had an eager crew of volunteers that she turned loose on garlic mustard at Cap, to good effect. So much for the alleged scarcity of garlic mustard in our area. As the rain intensified, they shut down early, but not before gathering copious quantities of the weed.

Nature Walk With a Librarian, McClaughrey Springs Woods, Saturday May 15,
We had another great turnout, 12 walkers, on an overcast morning that saw the first raindrops fall as we took our initial steps. All were great sports, working up that steep hill that looms over Mill Creek and tolerating the light rain that thankfully stayed light most of the way.

We saw a few early spring flowers, like Jack in the Pulpit, still hanging on, recent bloomers like wild hyacinth, and an abundance of wild geranium, delightful in its varying shades of lilac and pink. Stunning! Our final spring walk will come on Thursday June 17, 10:00 am, at Swallow Cliff Woods South. Join us if you can.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday May 16
Another garlic mustard hunt, which didn't get really productive until we worked our way east across the upland, landing in a mix of GM, dames rocket, and bramble. We left the bramble, but it sure complicated getting all the dames rocket.

Special thanks to first-time Palos volunteer Chad, accompanying his son Gus who was a newbie just a week earlier. Also great to see Carrie and Devin back at Black Partridge.

McClaughrey Springs Woods May 8, 2021

5/12/2021

McClaughrey Springs Saturday May 8
Saturday was a Chicago River Day, sponsored by Friends of the Chicago River, the organization "working to improve the health of the Chicago River system for the benefit of people, plants, and wildlife". They've partnered with Palos Restoration Project at McClaughrey Springs, obtaining a grant to fund restoration of a bluff area overgrown with maples that crowd out the oaks once populating it. They also provide support and publicity for our restoration days at McClaughrey. We appreciate all they do to advance restoration in Palos!

On Saturday we continued to cut honeysuckle near Mill Creek, in what is likely our last cut-and-burn session 'til fall. We made good progress, knocking down a wall of brush that divided two sections previously cleared by volunteers. Thanks to everyone who participated, with a special shout-out to first-time Palos volunteers Brianna, Andrew, Genesis, Mary and Gus.

Sunday at Hidden Pond
Sunday illustrated the pluses and minuses of waiting to the bitter end to cancel a session due to weather. We've learned the opposite lesson, canceling the night before and seeing a projected storm system miss us by 50-100 miles. This time we knew we'd see some rain and hoped it would subside by 9:00 am.

Nope, the rain continued, coupled with a stiff, cold wind. Mary and I gave it one shot, walking a couple hundred yards and pulling garlic mustard along the way. An exercise in futility; we were quickly soaked and chilled and beat a path back to our vehicles. Biggest regret; having to tell the three volunteers at the meeting place that we were canceling. Thank you Marissa, Neal, and John for showing up - you're obviously tougher than us.

Spears Woods May 1, McClaughrey Springs May 2, 2021

5/6/2021

Spears Woods Saturday May 1
We had a terrific group - 20 volunteers - on a day when high winds and low humidity forced Joe to deviate from his planned cut-and-burn project. He decided on a weed hunt which worked out very well. Carolyn led us to a spot on the north end, bisected by a small creek, that was rife with butterweed and garlic mustard. Along the way we also were able to view a variety of native plants in various stages of growth.

We also viewed a pair of distressing sights; one couple mushroom hunting and two large piles of sod fly-dumped along Old Country Lane. Joe and three others later moved the sod out of the ditch (to the unfettered delight of an equestrian) and reported the dumping to FPCC.

We were blessed with several first-time Palos volunteers; Eileen, Merissa, Ram, Ivy and Greg. Greg is the fourth member of his family to join us on a restoration day. Three of his children, Piotr, Rafal, and Patty have worked with us over the years, and this was dad's first appearance. Super family!

McClaughrey Springs Sunday May 2
Back to cutting and burning on Sunday, with winds ample to keep the fires going but well within safe limits. We had two chainsaws and two brushcutters running, and eventually two herbiciders as well. We cut and burned a mess o' honeysuckle. Huge thanks to first-time Palos volunteer Phil, and to the entire group, for working so well and getting so much accomplished.

Garlic Mustard
Last week I speculated on the limited appearance of garlic mustard in our area. Well, it's starting to show it's nasty little self now. Not in the numbers of the bad years, but it's still too soon to tell if what we're seeing now is this year's crop or just the beginning.