Blog Posts - Palos Restoration Project

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.

Spears Woods January 25, Swallow Cliff January 26, 2025

1/30/2025

Spears Woods Saturday January 25
Saturday was a volunteer day as well as an Atrium Landscape tree-thinning day, also augmented by the presence of the FPCC Palos crew, so we had three distinct worksites going and a flurry of activity. Volunteers were positioned in the middle, along the Yellow Trail near Hogwash Slough. Atrium to our south (after they finished some of our volunteers began lighting the log piles, which went up readily - it's all about the fuel). The Forest Preserves crew was to our north.

We cut and burned, primarily honeysuckle and multi-flora rose with some larger logs mixed in with three volunteers chainsawyers on site. A sparkling blue sky and moderating temps made it a delightful day to play in the woods, and play we did.

Swallow Cliff Woods Sunday January 26
Sunday we had another great volunteer group, and were graced once again by the FPCC Palos crew. First-time Palos volunteer came at the invitation of her uncle Dan, another sparkling example of the "family plan"! Volunteers took one thicket of honeysuckle, the crew took a second, and by noon we had a lovely stretch of open woodland along the trail where we've been the last two workdays.

The small amount of snow we've had in January isn't enough for cross-country skiing, though it was adequate to ease pulling a sled load of tools in to the site. Thanks, Tom for doing that!

Paddock Woods January 18 & 19, 2025

1/23/2025

Paddock Woods Saturday & Sunday, January 18 & 19
We doubled at Paddock last weekend. Saturday volunteers cut and burned brush, along with a couple brush piles left from earlier work, while a commercial crew from Atrium Landscape thinned trees at a nearby location. We had a large group helping and accomplished quite a bit.

Sunday a handful of us returned to burn the remaining piles from Atrium's Saturday work. The first day of our recent cold spell and decidedly sub-zero wind chill (something best avoided) was a test. We did quite well again, especially given the fuel we were burning. Simple fact: some green woods, like buckthorn and honeysuckle, burn remarkably well. Others, like maple, basswood, and elm, are moist and difficult to ignite quickly. We had much more of the latter than the former.

Nonetheless, by 1pm all the piles were burning - your roving reporter had to bail before noon due to another commitment. Fine job by all involved over the two-day weekend! Note: nothing motivates fire-starters more than cold fingers and toes.

McMahon January 11, Hidden Pond January 12, 2025

1/16/2025

McMahon Woods & Fen Saturday January 11
Missed this one due to another commitment, heard from several who were present that it was another bare-knuckle brawl with the Asian bittersweet vine besmirching this otherwise lovely site.

Large expanse of prairie in the center of the site? Got that.
Wonderful diversity of native prairie plants? Got that.
Rare fen habitat a little farther west? Ditto.
Innumerable vines ranging from small and thin, best suited to tripping passersby, to mature ones thicker than your forearm that grow up trees and shrubs and tie everything together? Yeah, we got that too.

It's tough eliminating the bittersweet yet volunteers come back time after time, making a big dent in it. Tip of the cap to all of them! On a cold morning they had no trouble keeping warm, feeding copious amounts of bittersweet, honeysuckle, and others onto multiple fires. They were joined by members of the FPCC Resource Management Palos crew whose efforts were also a great help!

Hidden Pond Woods West Sunday January 12
Arrived during a light snowfall to find three members of the Palos RM crew opening the gate. They graciously offered to start a fire while I awaited for our volunteers, and had a good hot blaze going in short order. Thanks, Graciela, Brian, and Dana. While they dealt with hazard trees - leaners, potentially 'widowmakers', volunteers went after brush.

We had a most productive day. For months we'd been nibbling around the edges of a nasty thicket of brush growing alongside the multi-use trail. Sunday we jumped right in, Jim brushcutting, Joe chainsawing, while the rest of us - Meredith, Joy, and Frank hauling and burning while Kathy herbicided - hustled to keep up. We refueled on cookies and oranges at break time, and by noon had 'most everything cut and burned giving a terrific sense of accomplishment.

Cap Sauers Holding, January 4 & 5, 2025

1/9/2025

Cap Sauers Holding, Saturday January 4, Sunday January 5
We went back to back at Cap Sauers, with the first day devoted to brush and small tree removal while the crew from Atrium Landscape worked a good distance away thinning larger trees. We had a large group on Day One which included a couple members of the FPCC Palos crew, and a smaller volunteer group on Day Two. We again had help from the Palos crew on the second day, which was terrific. Commercial fellers can take down larger trees than volunteers are certified for and some of the targets that need to come down are of that size.

These were among the coldest mornings of the season, the wrong time to discover some of your footwarmers are well past their use-by date (my bad!), but the fires and the physicality of the task were plenty adequate to keep me warm. It was a very pretty day to be outdoors, with a sky that grew more clear as the day went on.

Paddock December 26, Pioneer December 28, 2024: Spears January 1 2025

1/2/2025

Paddock Woods Thursday December 26
Boxing Day special was a smaller group which included Matt and Erin from Woods to Wetlands. I came late, in time to load one of at least three fires I saw burning. This was along the Yellow Trail as it turns west towards Kean Avenue, a pretty, hilly stretch of land that borders 119th Street. We'll be back in that general area in the next few weeks for a tree-thinning cleanup - sawyers from Atrium Landscape will thin trees at several sites in Palos (thank you Kathy Bruch!), and we'll come along the next day and burn what they've cut.

Pioneer Woods Saturday December 28
Crooked Creek runs through Pioneer Woods in quite the serpentine fashion, and we worked along one bank cutting and burning honeysuckle, with two sawyers also thinning some small trees. This is a strikingly pretty area, with a high bank on the south side of the creek, which is generally placid but can rage briefly during/after a an intense rainfall.

We've been here on numerous occasions, and the land looks much better for volunteer effort. It's really beautiful when snow-covered and terrific for snowshoe trekking.

Spears Woods Wednesday January 1
I missed this one as Julie and I were doing a tour of some of the old downtown areas along the Burlington line. We also made a brief stop at Wolf Road Prairie, took photos of the Prairie House there, and will return on a less brisk day for exploration, preferably in late summer.

We had a good group at Spears again.

McClaughrey Springs December 21, Swallow Cliff South December 22, 2024

12/26/2024

McClaughrey Springs Woods Saturday December 21
Super group of volunteers showed up Saturday morning, as well as the Thorn Creek Resource Management crew. We cut brush below the moraine just east of la Grange road along a truly scenic stretch of trail Several chainsaws and brushcutters ran throughout the morning, and we had several fires to take the edge off one of our colder mornings of the new season.

Swallow Cliff Woods South Sunday December 22
Sunday's group was smaller but just as ambitious and productive. We removed an impressive amount of honeysuckle from the west side of the Yellow Trail in the south woods, working both sides of a small creek that drains in the direction of Horsetail Lake.

Spears Woods December 14, Black Partriege December 15, 2024

12/19/2024

Spears Woods Saturday December 14
If it's Saturday this must be Spears? A year ago you might insert McMahon in place of Spears, but lately our volunteers have been doing yeoman's work around this wetland at Spears Woods. It continues to open up and the ranks of honeysuckle are visibly shrinking. The forecasted rain didn't begin until late afternoon, giving volunteers plenty of time to push back the wall of brush.

We'll make a return visit on December 29, then may take a few weekends off from Spears as tree-thinning season in Palos kicks off.

Black Partridge Woods Sunday December 15
We got lucky on this one; drizzle was still falling at 7:00 am and the sky remained overcast throughout the morning. Once we got the fire going all was well, and with 11 volunteers plus four members of FPCC's Thorn Creek crew, we had another very productive outing.

We were joined by first-time Palos volunteer Andrew, who came on the 'family plan' with daughter Emily. Love it! Our once-dense thicket is now open in the center, moving east to west into the next pasture. It may be a couple months before we get back to this spot, pending winter road conditions, but just passing by on Bluff Road the progress is readily apparent.

Spears Woods December 7, 2024

12/12/2024

Spears Woods Saturday December 7
This was our only restoration day and your reporter was out of state, will count on a FB post to give an accounting. Our volunteers were back at Spears Woods, again working on brush near the wetland south of Boomerang Slough. From Doug's photos it looked like a good turnout, and the multiple visits we made this fall have the site looking much, much better.

A couple chainsaws (and more mentoring for Nicole!) and a brushcutter, plus an energetic volunteer corps can cut and burn a lot of brush in a single morning, and we keep it up week after week. Great job, volunteers!