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Seven
New Members
On
December 2, Chicago Wilderness welcomed seven new members.
Chicago Audubon Society, with more than 5,000 members,
focuses on the protection of the environment, especially
birds and their habitat. The Division of Nature Preserves
of the Indiana
Department of Natural Resources identifies, protects,
and manages nature preserves to maintain viable examples
of all Indiana natural communities and endangered, threatened,
and rare species. The Illinois Audubon Society, with
five chapters in the Chicago area, protects natural areas,
birds, other wildlife, and their habitat. Iron Oaks Environmental
Learning Center in Olympia Fields, IL, manages and restores
natural areas and provides education and recreation programs
that focus on conserving natural resources.
The
Kane-DuPage Soil and Water Conservation District provides
technical information to the public on methods of soil and
water conservation and participates in natural resource
inventories, streambank stabilization, wetland restoration,
and other activities promoting sustainable use of natural
resources. The National Audubon Society — Chicago
Wilderness Program, an initiative set up by the national
organization with seven chapters in the Chicago region,
seeks to conserve and restore natural ecosystems for the
benefit of birds, wildlife, and humanity. Northwest Indiana
Forum Foundation works for a sustainable northwest Indiana
by stimulating private-sector economic growth and supporting
many collaborative environmental and natural resource efforts.
Information about Chicago Wilderness organizations is available
from the Chicagoland Environmental Network (708) 485-0263
x 369.
Lyman
Woods: Less, and More
For
many years the Pierce Downers
Heritage Alliance has encouraged the DuPage County Forest
Preserve District as they have gradually acquired 128 acres
of Lyman Woods, a high quality oak woodland in Downers Grove.
In August 1997, Town & Country Homes offered to sell a 4.7
acre parcel of forest adjacent to the preserve. Consensus
to buy the property could not be reached before a "no-cut"
agreement expired on August 30, 1998. Two days later, county
commissioners finally voted to delay action on the proposed
acquisition. The next day, Town & Country Homes began cutting
down trees, clearing the site for a two-story corporate
office to house its headquarters.Commissioners
voted on October 20 to condemn and then purchase the property.
Once
inventoried with 166 mature trees, the parcel still had
approximately 45 standing trees when it became part of Lyman
Woods Forest Preserve on December 1, 1999. The loss included
as many as 80 two-hundred-year-old oaks. Citizen advocate
Gordon Goodman said, "It's unfortunate that it took
so long to acquire this parcel," but he's glad it's
finally added to the preserve. According to Forest Preserve
officials, "We did not stop the bulldozer, but fortunately
the soil structure, which is a vital component to the life
zone at Lyman Woods, remained intact." The property
will be revegetated and possibly developed for an environmental
interpretive center.
Navigating
November
"Birds
often stay along a usual migration path, but this past November
you could look up and see them anywhere," said Richard
Biss, manager of the Chicago Audubon Society's Rare Bird
Alert. Jim Landing, conservation representative of the Illinois
Audubon Society's Fort Dearborn Chapter, did just that on
November 12 and saw more than 700 sandhill cranes passing
over his home in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. "My
groceries dropped and I gawked, probably making all the
neighbors start toward their phones," he said. "Although
I have frequently seen sandhills migrating, I have never
seen them just above my home roof."
Biss
notes that more sandhill cranes than usual — 12,000
total — were reported migrating past Chicago this fall.
This region usually sees a good fall migration, but day
after day of strong west winds caused a spectacular movement
this past fall. November 10th saw 50 mph winds with gusts
up to 80 mph. On November 11, 6,000 ducks (190 flocks) flew
over Lake Villa, IL — a place which Biss is quick to
note is "an inland location, not a migration point."
On November 11, Eric Walters of the Illinois Ornithological
Society and teenage birder Josh Engel watched as 7,000 water
birds flew over Northwestern University's Evanston, IL,
campus. Walters described seeing 877 snow geese, 1,660 northern
shovelers, 269 Franklin's gulls, 3-5 peregrine falcons (one
seen snaring a red-winged blackbird, another chasing off
a harrier, another harassing an owl); "and 2 very cold
Homo sapiens."
Walters
believes the snow goose and northern shoveler numbers set
lakefront records. Walters also notes that "the early
arrival of passerines (perching birds) set all-time records
in northeast Illinois." And the endangered whooping
crane made a surprise visit too (see page 28). West winds
and cold fronts may also have contributed to last fall's
prolonged migration. "We had a lot of cold fronts we
didn't have in the spring," said Jim Landing. "As
birders say, birds follow fronts. Three or four good cold
front passages in a two-month migration season certainly
increases the number of birds in our area." —
Alison Carney Brown
Rebending
the Nippersink
Better
fishing for smallmouth and largemouth bass and northern
pike. Better canoeing along a natural meandering stream
instead of in a ditch. Healthier streamside wetlands and
wildlife habitat. Clear pools for silt-intolerant fish and
mussel species, some of them a state list of threatened
species. Reduced erosion and better flood control. These
are some of the advantages of restoring the Nippersink Creek
canal to its natural streambed, as described by Dr. Wayne
Schennum, Natural Resources Manager for McHenry County Conservation
District.
The
Nippersink Creek Dechannelization Project will restore 1.6
miles of streambed within Glacial Park Conservation Area,
a Chicago Wilderness site noted for its spectacular landforms,
extensive wetlands, and large concentrations of waterfowl.
The US Army Corps of Engineers is currently conducting hydrological
modeling and engineering to determine the extent of work
required to restore this valuable waterway. — Gerald
D. Tang
Polivka
Rare
Birds, Rare Men
Would
you believe 240 species of birds on one small island in
a city park? In Chicago's Jackson Park, in the Paul Douglas
Sanctuary, "the best place within 100 miles of Chicago
to see the largest variety of birds in one small area,"
Doug Anderson will launch his 25th season of bird walks
in honor of conservationist and former Senator Paul Douglas.
Rare birds here have included last fall's sighting of "the
Virginia's warbler (see photo), never before seen in Illinois,"
said Anderson, known among birders as "the conscience
of Jackson Park." To join this historic bird walk,
meet at 8 a.m., March 26th (the Senator's birthday), on
the Clarence Darrow bridge behind the Museum of Science
and Industry. — Gregg Baker
Tracking
Natural History on the Heritage Trail
On
September 20, 1998, the Heritage Trail opened at The
Morton Arboretum. This new trail introduces travelers
to the site's historical occupants: glaciers, Potawatomi
Indians, early settlers and farmers, and finally us. At
each of nine stations along the trail, visitors can stop
to "read" the natural and cultural history of
each place from the landforms, vegetation, and wildlife
present. Slightly more than a mile in length, the trail
leads visitors through a white oak woodland, a marsh at
the woodland's edge, a valley or floodplain savanna, over
a gravel hill or kame (now occupied by a bur oak), across
an old sawmill road, through a future prairie, and finally
up to Big Rock, an erratic boulder deposited by the last
glacier. For additional information, contact Visitor Services
at (630) 719-2465. — Eugene Bender
The
Beetles!
Ever
since the first Asian longhorned beetle sighting in the
Chicagoland area in July 1998, controlling the spread of
the tree-killing insect has been a top priority for both
government officials and regular folk. The Openlands Project,
working with Chicago's Bureau of Forestry, the US Department
of Agriculture, and the Chicago Park District, sponsored
three volunteer training sessions since last September that
taught approximately 40 volunteers how to identify signs
of infestation.
Twenty
of these folk have "adopted" parks that lie within
Chicago's quarantined zone, which is nearly 19 square miles,
or five percent of Chicago's total area. The other volunteers
are serving at-large. By the second workshop, the value
of those extra eyes in the field was clear. David Wachtel,
an ecologist and birder, spotted beetle exit holes in an
ash tree, a tree species not previously suspected to be
a host for the pest. This revelation means that fully 70
percent of urban street trees that are planted on a routine
basis are potential hosts for the beetle. The Cook County
Forest Preserve District has a plan to inspect and monitor
over 95 sites, according to Chief Forester Richard Newhard.
"Currently, though, we have no reported case of the
beetle — thank God."
Fact
sheets are available from Openlands at (312) 427-4256 or
via e-mail at openlands@aol.com
and Cook County Forest Preserve District at (708) 771-1180.
A grant of $550,000 from the USDA Forest Service will help
replace hundreds of damaged trees that will be removed this
winter to fight the infestation in Chicago's Ravenswood
community, along with infested trees in southwest suburban
Summit and unincorporated DuPage County. Urban Forester
Gina Childs says replacement varieties such as oak, basswood
and hackberry will be less popular with the polka-dotted
beetles. — Julie Schuster
Goose
Gossip
What's
with all these Canada Geese? Back in the days when prairies
and woodlands were dominant features of the region, the
geese weren't much of a factor. But now, drawn by conditions
similar to their favorite northern Canada habitat —
short green grass and few predators — these geese are
reproducing in the region in ever greater numbers. Too much
of anything is not a good thing, and in this case it is
a clear indicator of an environmental imbalance. As wild
predation is unlikely due to the large human population
nearby, the answer to restoring the ecological balance seems
to lie with us.
In
mid-November, the DuPage Environmental Commission and the
Office of the County Board Chair held a Canada Goose Habitat
Control Conference to discuss ways to make the landscape
less attractive to geese. Suggestions included breaking
up open lawn with trees and shrubs and planting tall grasses
around detention ponds. For more information and to order
a free copy of "Canada Geese in DuPage County: A Natural
Approach to Goose Mitigation," call (630) 682-7285.
— Andrea Friederici Ross
The
following deserve thanks for their help with the Winter
1999 issue's news: John Cieciel, David B. Johnson, Richard
O'Hara, Donna Peterson, Judy Pollock, Mark Sheehy.
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