THE SCENE
Oak-hickory forest on ridges along creek floodplain and fields

Highlights
The banks of Thorn Creek, hilly topography, blankets of yellow celandines

Stats
195 acres,
2 miles of trails

Behind the scenes
Brownell will benefit from new Cook County efforts to empower volunteers in restoration

Getting there
From I-80/I-94, take Exit 161 (Torrence Ave, Rte 83) south. Follow Torrence to Thornton-Lansing Rd. Turn right/west and travel 3 miles to Hunter St. Turn left/south on Hunter and continue 0.5 miles.

Spring 2004

Hilly paths through oak-hickory forest reveal a forest floor covered with wildflowers in spring

Cook County, Illinois

Imagine yourself one warm spring day relaxing under a gnarled oak tree on a high bank overlooking a lazily meandering creek. A belted kingfisher calls out as it swoops low over the water. Muskrats silently paddle toward the bank. Shorebirds alight on a sandy spit.

Jack-in-the-pulpit. Photo by Tom Biegalski.

Such scenes await you at Brownell Woods, a 195-acre forest preserve property located on the banks of Thorn Creek in the village of Thornton in southeast Cook County. The site's hilly topography provides a refreshing variety of settings. Roughly two miles of informal paths traverse an oak-hickory forest, its floor covered with spring wildflowers — bloodroot and bellwort, Jack-in-the-pulpit and trout lily, blankets of toothwort and violets. The trails pass along high ridges, down steep ravine walls, across a soggy floodplain, and past old farm fields reverting to prairie.

	Rays of sunlight on a path winding through Brownell Woods. Photo by Joe Nowak.

According to Joe and Marlene Nowak, naturalists who have walked the trails at the preserve for years, the low-lying areas become submerged after heavy rainfalls. When the floodwaters recede, some trails are wiped away and tangles of fallen limbs are left behind, virtually guaranteeing that the woods will have a different look each visit. In spring, hikers may encounter woodcocks shooting out of the high grass; happen across a newborn fawn lying motionless in the undergrowth; or spot a great blue heron flying majestically above the treetops, while chorus frogs call from vernal ponds.

But human activity has altered Brownell Woods over the years. Visitors to Brownell may notice hundreds of lesser celandines, a small nonnative buttercup, carpeting the wet bottomlands in a blur of yellow each April. While the Nowaks and others enjoy the spring display, this single species has replaced many others where it grows. Its prevalence, and that of other invasives, calls attention to the many pressures on the native biodiversity of these woods. In response, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County is working on a new initiative, the Preserve Keepers Corps, to organize citizen volunteers to adopt trails, shorelines, wetlands, and other natural areas.

The Nowaks point to the remains of a once-thriving sycamore, some 13 feet in circumference, that was felled by vandals with a chainsaw four years ago. And mountain bikers, they say, have created numerous new paths through the woods in recent years, disrupting plant communities and tearing up the soil. While mountain biking in Brownell Woods is prohibited, the preserve is great for activities such as hiking, birding, nature study, and photography. Numerous forest preserve properties nearby, many of them with pockets of high diversity, make the entire Thorn Creek Division a worthwhile destination.

To volunteer at Brownell Woods, call the Forest Preserve District at (708) 771-1330.

— Ron Trigg