2008 Work Day Log
March 15 , 08 - Eight of us worked the area started by the large work party on 3/1. Cleaned up the missed patched of BT and honeysycle just north of the paved circle. Weather was mid 30s with some sun so almost spring but not muddy yet.
March 1, 08 - A total of 55 people turned up thanks to REI publicity. We met at our usual place with REI folks signing in under a tent and getting T shirts at the end of the work day. We split the new folks into groups under vetrans with herbicide liscenses. Pete, Ron, Dale, and Cyndi were team leaders. One team worked the area east of the paved circle to connect to the area cleared by the contractor last year. One group took the area inside the paved circle and two groups worked to the north. REI furnished snacks and water and Joe Swano of CCFPD came with extra saws and loppers (he left half of them so we are now well stocked again).
Feb 16, 08 - Mostly a repeat of the prior work day. Weather still cold enough to be on the marsh ice. That only an hour to finish up the glossy BT in the marsh turned out to be all morning for Ron to finish while the rest continued to work the area east of the marsh.
Feb 2nd, 08 - Beautiful day to be out in the woods with the temperature near 30 degrees.. It had snowed thursday evening and friday morning about 8" and all of the cross country skiers were out in force. We were back at the Cardinal Flower marsh getting more of the glossy buckthorn and the cold from the prior weeks froze the marsh solid. William burned the brush pile, Mark chainsawed down three large BT trees near the pile, Pete and Ron cut glossy BT and Joe dragged the cuttings back to the burn pile. Still did not get all of the glossy BT but maybe just an hour of work left for another time.
Jan 19th, 08 - The temperature was near 0deg with a wind so we canceled the work day. This was the day for herbicide testing so Pete, Mark and Joe were inside during the cold getting licensed for the cause.
Jan 5th, 08 - Weather was above freezing (the start of a very warm spell) but with the past heavy snow and ice cover the 5 of us ventured out into the 'Cardinal Flower marsh' to get the stand of glossy buckthorn that Pete has long viewed as a significant threat to the health of the marsh and the several high quality plant communities. We managed to get about 50% of the buckthorn and drag it to the eastern high ground for later burning.
2007 Work Day Log
Dec 15th, 07 - Mild and snowy and with the recent snows, the woods was very wintry. A group of 10 including 4 Harper students, worked on buckthorn in the area just past the circle at the start of the main paved trail. One persistent sole managed to get a brush pile to burn so some of what we cut and some from an adjacent pile went up in smoke.
Dec 1st, 07 - 10 workers including 2 from Harper cleared honeysuckle along the western marsh with the help of Mark and his chain saw. Piles burned as cut. (Ron was in Mich)
Nov 17th, 07 - 10 worked to clear BT and multi flora along the stream edge across from area #1. Mark with chain saw worked on larger BT on east side of paved trail.
Nov 3rd, 07 - 10 worked to clear BT and multi flora along the stream edge across from area #1. Mark with chain saw worked on larger BT.
Oct 20th, 07 - Ron, Pete, Mark, Helen, and Joe cut BT along the east side of the ravine and some in the area previously cleared along the service road. What a beautiful day, sunny 70 degrees! Mark showed up with his assigned power saw which made quick work of a BT thicket.
Oct 7th, 07 - Ron, George, Mark, Cyndi, Joe, and Dale started with the BT re sprouts along the service road along the area cleared last year then worked on the area going north along the stream. The BT and multi flora rose made for slow clearing and the weather which was unseasonably warm upper 80's with high humidity did not help!
Sept 15th, 07 - Pete, Joe, and Dale attacked bittersweet and buckthorn on the west side, this time near the hazelnut bush population.
Sept 1st, 07 - 5 of us (Pete, Ron, Dale, Joe, and Mark who showed up late) cleared BT and multi flora starting from the trail (trail from junction G) going north east of the stream and got probably 100 ft in or so before we hit several large BT.. In the past we had worked in from the paved main tail but had not gotten as far back as the stream bank. We were going to work Asian Bittersweet but could not find parking on the west side so we returned to lot #5.. (Not sure why a packed parking lot but someone thought that the mushroom organization was having a field day.)
Aug 18th, 07 - Ron, Mark, Cindy, Brian, George, and Laura cut and herbicided Asian Bittersweet on the far west side also getting several large clumps of Honeysuckle. The mosquitoes were swarming but the spray seemed to keep them in check.
Aug 4th, 07 - Ron, Dale, Pete, and Mark cut and herbicided Asian Bittersweet on the far west side. Dale and Pete worked south toward the marsh outlet and the rest worked along the path.
July 21st, 07 - 3 of us picked Canada thistle in the low area near and north of the service road bridge.
July 7th, 07 - 5 of us picked GM in the main oak restoration area
June 16th, 07 - 4 of us picked GM along the west service road
Saturday June 2nd, 07 - 4 of us picked Garlic Mustard along the ravine and saw numerous 17 year Cicadas.
Saturday May 19th, 07 - Total of 23 people 15 from the local Unitarian Church picked Garlic Mustard along the paved central trail. We actually got almost all the way to the south end. (A couple of us on memorial day finished up the trail in about 20minutes.)
May 5th - 4 of us Picked GM in our main restoration areas along the branch ravine going north.
April 21st - 7 people managed to burn a brush pile as we cut buckthorn and large clusters of multi flora rose. This was our first attempt to burn as we cut and worked out great.
April 7th - 4 of us burned brush piles and scattered seed collected last fall.
March 17th - John Yapelli with a Forest Preserve furnished chainsaw came and 9 other souls followed him around and stacked the spoils of his labor; also burned brush piles by cardinal flower marsh.
March 10th (note our regular work day the 3rd fell on the date for the Wild Things Conference) - Only Ron and Pete but we did get a couple of brush piles burned.
Saturday Feb 17th, 07 - Nice turn out - were joined by a group from the Chicago Orienteering Club. Cut buckthorn in the area along the paved trail. Also managed to burn most of what we cut.
Saturday Feb 3rd, 07 - TOO COLD - Workday canceled due to the continued cold snap of below zero temperatures. Will re-schedule for the next Saturday, Feb 10th.
Saturday Jan 20th, 07 - Nice day and a group of 6 but the old piles were snow covered and wet from light snow all week. Tried to burn several piles along the main trail but succeeded in completing only one.
Saturday Jan 6th, 07 - A great turnout of some 15 people on a nice sunny mild day. We finished burning all the western brush piles. Did not think we would get them done so quickly! Thanks to the great turn out!
2006 Work Day Log
Saturday Dec 30th, 06 - Mark, Pete, and Ron held an impromptu (not on schedule) work day burning more of the western brush piles.
Sunday Dec 17th, 06- Burned brush piles created by the summer interns on the far western prairie by the marsh.
Saturday Dec 2nd, 06 - Mark, Pete, Ron, Cyndi, and Brian, cut Buckthorn along the west side of the main paved path just past the circle. We did not feel like walking through the nearly a foot of new snow to get to previously worked areas. Friday morning saw a major snow storm move through the area which made it impossible to burn brush piles and difficult to see much other than larger buckthorn. Was a beautiful sunny day with the snow outlining all the trees and warmed from a workday start of 15 degrees to near 30 as we were also warmed by the physical activity.
Sunday Nov 19th, 06 - Pete, Ron, Brian, Cyndi, Dale, Frank, spouse, and Laura cut buckthorn near the cardinal flower marsh.
Saturday Nov 11th, 06 - Pete herbicided garlic mustard
Saturday Nov 4th, 06 - Pete, Ron, Mark, Mark's son, Cyndi & Brian from Palatine Prairie, and two Harper college students all cut buckthorn near the cardinal flower marsh. Walking out we were joined by Dale and Dale with Ron proceeded to the marsh at Quentin and Dundee to collect seed, looking principally for solomon seal which were not found.
Sunday Oct 15th, 06 - Pete and Ron cut BT re sprouts in area #. Found a patch of old growth BT we must have missed in years past along with some multi flora rose. Ron must have kneeled in poison ivy as later even through the pants it emerged. (bummer)
Saturday Oct 7th, 06 - Ron, Mark, Frank & spouse, and Laura cut BT re sprouts in area #1. Was a beautiful day so we enjoyed also poking around the area to see what was in seed. Still lots of Asters in bloom.
Saturday Sept 20th, 06 - Special work day supporting National Public Lands Day was canceled as only one signed up.
Sunday Sept 17th, 06 - Pete, Dale, Mark, and Ron cut and herbicided buckthorn re sprouts in area 1 (northwest of trail junction). In the northern and western part of area there is still several patches that were not gotten.
Saturday Sept 2nd, 06 - Nice day and great turnout of 8 of us.(Ron, Pete, Dale, Tom, Laura, Ken, Mark, and Jay (a friend of Mark and newcomer to DG). Worked in the western savanna on the asian bittersweet (got most of it) with two teams (one or two cutting with another herbiciding) while others cut honeysuckle. All in the western savanna.
Sunday August 20th, 06 - Mark and Ron cut and herbicided asian bittersweet (and some honeysuckle) in the western Savanna. Did most of the infected area north of the path.
Saturday August 5th, 06 - Pete, Ron, Laura and Dale swept restoration area 1 and found a few Canadian thistles mostly along the stream. Seed heads were a few weeks past bloom but many were dried up. Found a large patch along the ravine across from area 1 but did not get a chance to sweep further up stream to look for other patches. Pete finished by checking out the western savanna that the interns are helping to clear and reported good progress. Lots of brush piles to burn this next winter.
Sunday July 16, 06 - Ron, Dale and Mark started out pulling white sweet clover in a large patch in the western meadow. As it was a very hot day, we next went up the trail that ends at Hillside and collected shooting star seed. Got about a tablespoon of the small seed (after opening up all the seed pods at home later). July 22, Ron returned with hedge clippers and cut the rest of the first patch only to discover another patch just to the north and yet another patch on the northeast corner of the meadow.
Wednesday July 12, 06 - Ron toured Deer Grove with Joe Walsh (a professor at NWU) who will doing a short article on Deer Grove for Chicago Wilderness (Sept Issue).
Saturday July 1, 06 - Pulled the remainder of the Garlic Mustard along the paved center trail starting from the west side parking lot. As we had 6 students from Harper College, we toured the restoration along the western marsh so that all could see what we are trying to achieve. We then ended picking seed along the trail leading to Hillside Rd. In addition to the students, Ron was joined by Tom Burke, Frank Hassler, and James McGee (new from Schaumburg's Spring Valley Nature Sanctuary)
Sunday June 18, 06- Our regular work day which turned out drizzling rain but we picked crown vetch and garlic mustard along entrance road between last parking on left side and where we meet with parking on right at grove #5. Regulars, Ron, Pete, Dale, and Mark, were joined by a newcomer Frank Hassler.
Saturday June 17, 06 - Pete and Laura surveyed the small sun drops on the western side for POC (plants of concern.)
Sunday June 11th, 06 - Pete met with interns for possible restoration project clearing prairie on west side.
Saturday June 3rd, 06 - Ron, Dale, Pete, and Mark pulled GM along paved road on west side from perimeter trail north. (Watch out for the poison ivy on west side!)
Wednesday May 24th, 06 - Impromptu seed gathering by Dale and Ron inside the ravine fenced area. Blood Root (not ripe), Hepatica, and Pussy Toes were gathered for later seeding. Pulled large plants of garlic mustard in new dirt areas.
Sunday May 21st. 06 - Pete and Ron joined Naturalist from Forest Preserve for a tour of the reed canary grass problem on the western marsh. (A no show for volunteers willing to pull GM.)
Saturday May 6th, 2006 - 4 again for pulling and bagging GM along the stream/ravine. Got further than last time getting almost to the "core" large flat area to the south of the stream. Strategy is to concentrate on the 'satellite areas' in prime species areas to keep them from getting over run. Next work the invasion front adjoining the core infestations. Concentrating then on core areas if time permits. On May 8th Ron picked GM along the western trail branching off the perimeter trail ending at Hillside Road. The shooting star are out and the wild hyacinth are budding. The wild geranium is starting to flower.
Sunday April 23rd, 2006 - There were 4 for pulling Garlic Mustard. We picked and bagged GM along the stream in area #1 and continued up the creek/ravine area. There were lots of spring ephemerals out especially wild phlox and spring beauty.
Saturday April 1st, 2006 - There were 6 for workday. We cleared more of the area between the ravine and the paved trail. Pete and Laura worked on transplanting more Hazelnut bushes. Ron showed up late after a training session for the Citizens for Conservation at the Barrington Library on learning about new invasives.
Sunday March 19th, 2006 - There were only three of us - Dale, Pete, and Tim a volunteer at the Bridge workday. We cut re-sprouts in main area, good to get to some of that despite small turnout.
Saturday March 4th, 2006 - WOW, what a great day for being out. Sunny and mild (near 50 degrees) to say the least. We had 10 people out from our regular volunteers and were joined by 17 kids and adults from The Bridge organization here in Palatine. I hear our visitors had a great time and learned a bit about restoration. We removed buckthorn in the area adjacent to the paved trail near area #1 and managed to make two LARGE brush piles.
Sunday, February 19th, 2006 - Day turned out to be bitterly cold although sunny so we decided to call off the work day! (Still only 4 degrees and windy at the 9AM hour.) Pete called a couple of the regulars and Ron stood by the site in case anyone came which they judicially did not. Pete and Ron attended (1PM - 5PM) a stewards meeting held at the Cook County Volunteer center. A good time to share ideas and hear about upcoming activities of the Forest Preserve.
* Picked up 7 loppers and 7 bow saws in support of a group coming out to our March 4th work day
* Talked about promotion for groups that will have an April 22nd Earth Day event.
* Need ideas for the summer intern program
* We will soon have a Stewardship Program sign at Deer Grove. (place to put notices and brochures)
* Information about a Naturists Certification Program
* Pitch about working with local High Schools
Saturday, February 4th, 2006 - Five adults and 4 boys burned two brush piles at the north west prairie remnant that we cleared last fall. I saw a few marshmallows at one site being toasted as well. Some clearing around one of the piles of buck thorn and honeysuckle kept us busy.
Sunday, January 15th, 2006 - Five of us burned 3 brush piles on the west side along the large marsh. The piles were generated last spring in an area we are clearing mostly of buckthorn and honeysuckle.
Saturday, January 7th, 2006 - Eight of us burned 3 brush piles (and one feeder pile) that were made last fall along the paved path near our original restoration area one. Was a beautiful day, sunny and warm (at least for January). We had a reporter and photographer from the Tribune with us so hopefully we get a good story in the paper!