Major Taylor Trail-Whistler Woods clean-up workday on Sat. 8/29

 Join us for a clean-up day at Whistler Woods and the south end of the Major Taylor Trail. Dress for yard work. Bring work gloves if you've got 'em.

Info/registration at this link: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/late-summer-trail-cleanup

Major Taylor Trail/Whistler Woods clean-up day on Sat. 8/29

 Join us for a clean-up day at Whistler Woods and the south end of the Major Taylor Trail. Dress for yard work. Bring work gloves if you've got 'em.

Info/registration at this link: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/late-summer-trail-cleanup

seed swap at Dan Ryan Woods on 3/28

 

spring forest preserve events

Good spring events at Dan Ryan Woods and other S side and S suburban forest preserves this spring.

 

Dan Ryan Woods workday on Sat. 9/13

Please join us Saturday for our monthly volunteer day at Dan Ryan Woods. We'll meet at the 91st Street parking lot near Hermitage at 10:00 a.m. We will be seed collecting, so please be sure to wear close-toed shoes and long pants. You might also want to bring a water bottle.

Please reach out to Benjamin with any questions at 773-398-1178.

bird walk at Dan Ryan Woods on 4/30

 Come to the Visitors Center at Dan Ryan Woods (NE corner of 87th and Western) to join in a bird watching walk from 7-8 am on Wed. 4/30.

There will be a limited supply of binoculars available. Refreshments after the walk.

For more info, click here. 

bird walk at Dan Ryan Woods on Wed. 4/23

 Come to the Visitors Center at Dan Ryan Woods (NE corner of 87th and Western) to join in a bird watching walk from 7-8 am on Wed. 4/23.

There will be a limited supply of binoculars available. Refreshments after the walk.

For more info, click here. 

bird walk at Dan Ryan Woods on Wed. 4/16

Come to the Visitors Center at Dan Ryan Woods (NE corner of 87th and Western) to join in a bird watching walk from 7-8 am on Wed. 4/16.

There will be a limited supply of binoculars available. Refreshments after the walk.

For more info, click here. 

Major Taylor Trail celebration ride on Sat. 9/7

Our annual Major Taylor celebration ride is happening on Sat. 9/7 at Dan Ryan Woods Grove 16 (north side of 83rd St., just east of Western). Ride distances are 16 miles and 30 miles.

If money is tight, you can use discount code MTTKC to ride for free. If you can afford to donate, all donations to our 501(C)(3) help us with putting on events and working for trail improvements. 

For information and event registration, click here.

Dan Ryan Woods habitat restoration workday on Sat. 8/10

There's a habitat restoration workday this Saturday 8/10 from 10 am to 1 pm at Dan Ryan Woods. No experience is required.

If you'd like to help out, bring your own work gloves if you have them. If not, gloves will be available for use during the workday. 

Meet up at the 91st St. parking lot (map link). For more info/to register, click here.

trail clean-up workday in Dan Ryan Woods on 5/11

Friends of the Forest Preserves is having its monthly workday in Dan Ryan Woods on Sat. 5/11 from 10 am to 1 pm. Dress for yard work and wear boots or shoes that can handle some mud. If you have work gloves you like, bringing those is a good thing. 

Here's more info from Friends of the Forest Preserves:

Our trails need a your help, so please join us this Saturday at 10 a.m. for our annual trail cleanup day. We'll meet in the parking lot at 91st and Hermitage.

Please bring a rake, a bow rake is best (I had to look that one up earlier this week), to help clear wet leaves and other debris off the trail. Taking the organic material off the trail helps it be less muddy by allowing the bare earth to dry out faster.

If you have any questions, please call Benjamin at 773-398-1178.

forest preserve volunteering

 It's a great way to help with habitat restoration efforts and meet some great people. No previous experience needed. 

 

BIA bird watching walk this Sat. 5/13

 

native plant sale

 

Whistler Woods bird watching walk on Sat. 3/18

Want to get out in nature with a group of folks and do some bird watching? Head down to Whistler Woods this Saturday 3/18 at 10 am. Sign up link and more info below. 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/major-taylor-trail-clean-up-day-2023-tickets-559520048527

Click on map to go to Google maps.

Bird walk at Whistler Woods Sat. 3/11

Major Taylor Trail Keepers ride on Sat. 8/20

  Have you signed up yet? This ride offers multiple distances and funds raised will be used for maintenance of the mural on the Little Calumet River bridge, restoration of the mural at 111th St., and other improvement projects.

It offers multiple distance options, with a start location at Whistler Woods in Riverdale.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

MTTKC is a 501C3, so donations you make are tax deductible.

Major Taylor Trail Keepers ride on Sat. 8/20

 Have you signed up yet? This ride offers multiple distances and funds raised will be used for maintenance of the mural on the Little Calumet River bridge, restoration of the mural at 111th St., and other improvement projects.

It offers multiple distance options, with a start location at Whistler Woods in Riverdale.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

MTTKC is a 501C3, so donations you make are tax deductible.

Save the Pike House

 

For more info: savethepikehouse.org

BAPA contact

Ridge Historical Society contact

buckthorn and why it should be removed from our yards

Plenty of people have buckthorn in their yards and have no idea that it is an invasive species that causes problems. I'm guessing that many people think that it's pretty foliage when it starts growing there.  This attractive foliage was a big factor in the original importation of this terrible invasive.

If you look closely, you'll see berries - the way that buckthorn can spread so far from where it grows. Birds eat the berries and poop out the seeds anywhere and everywhere. Each year I have to remove some from my yard that undoubtedly got started that way.

 

The image below shows the size of the whole buckthorn tree shown above.  Someone has let this grow to a substantial size in their front yard, providing lots of seeds to spread this invasive nightmare far and wide.

I sometimes volunteer at habitat restoration workdays in local forest preserves. Removal of buckthorn is one of the top habitat restoration priorities throughout the Cook County Forest Preserve system. The photo below shows an area that was quite dense with buckthorn before a workday at Dan Ryan Woods this spring. We cleared a LOT of it so that the native species shown here could thrive.

The photo below shows another area of Dan Ryan Woods where buckthorn has NOT been cleared. It does not allow sunlight and air circulation and outcompetes native understory plants for water. With such intense competition, it's nearly impossible for fallen acorns to germinate and become new oak trees - critically important in what have historically been oak savanna ecosystems. Buckthorn emits chemicals that kill or stunt many native plant AND animal species. Left unchecked, this could eventually become a monoculture of buckthorn.

At many locations in our neighborhoods, buckthorn shows up weed tree fences and hedges. That's my name for borders made up of an assortment of invasive and aggressive species like buckthorn and mulberry.   Here's an example that's been mostly neglected for years (invasives growing through a chain link fence) and allowed to grow aggressively to the point where it was taking over the sidewalk.

This page is a helpful resource on identifying 2 common types of buckthorn and reasons why it's such a huge problem for our forests and native plants. Here's another good resource.

Here are some tips on how to get rid of buckthorn. It tends to resprout after cutting, so it may take more than one attempt.  If you use Roundup, be careful to use it only on the cut stump so that you don't kill other plants around it.  It's much less of a headache if you can remove it when it's small.

Eradicating buckthorn wherever possible is important for the health of our forests, wetlands, waterways and other ecosystems. Take a look around your property. If you find buckthorn, please do our local forests a favor and do your best to eliminate this pest.