Northeast Chapter Past Events

2018 Events

Saturday, May 5th – Trout Park Spring Wildflower Hike

Saturday, February 17th – Indian Boundary Prairies Volunteer Day

2017 Events

Saturday, September 30th – Hinsdale Prairie Workday #2
We are glad to help out Kathleen Thomas from Friends of the Hinsdale Prairie again to help pull/cut and bag some invasive species.

Saturday, September 24th – Hinsdale Prairie Workday
We were glad to help Kathleen Thomas from Friends of the Hinsdale Prairie to pull/cut and bag white clover, teasel, and giant ragweed. We also helped to pick up some garbage along the edges of the site. To our surprise we found a nice patch of prairie gentian.

Saturday, September 2nd – Montrose Beach Dunes Wildflower Walk
Leslie Borns, a site steward from Montrose Beach Dunes, gave us a tour of the site and the beautiful and unique plants that are found on-site. We also learned about the natural creation of the rare panne and dune ecosystem that these special plants call home. Some plant highlights include: yellow-green sedge, grass-of-parnassus, great blue lobelia, cardinal flower, spotted beebalm, and sea rocket.

Saturday, August 26th – Indian Boundary Prairies Field Trip
Mary and Gary from The Nature Conservancy gave us another tour of the Indian Boundary Prairies where we saw the last show of the summer prairie wildflowers in Gensburg Markham Prairie. Some plants that we encountered were prairie dock, beeblossom, royal fern, blazing stars, phlox, and false aster.

Saturday, August 19th – Illinois Beach State Park Field Trip
Will Overbeck talked about the dune and swale system along the lakeshore and the unique wildflowers that we encountered. Some plants that we encountered were false foxglove, ladies tresses orchids, mountain mint, sand reed, marram grass, bearberry, seaside spurge, and kalm’s lobelia.

Sunday, July 16th – Mary Harroun’s Rain Garden Tour
Mary Harroun from Mundelein gave us a tour of her unique rain garden where she has restored and enhanced her backyard woodland with natives and set up several natural and artificial barricades to capture rain water and prevent it from running downslope into the lake behind her home.

Sunday, June 25th – Hinsdale Prairie Tour and Plant Inventory Trip
Kathleen Thomas, from The Friends of Hinsdale Prairie, briefly talked about the history of the prairie and then field trip attendees got into groups to generate an informal inventory of the prairie and to search for rare, threatened species.

Sunday, June 11th – Sagawau Canyon Field Trip
Tour guide Laurie Ward led a hike in Sagawau Canyon where we learned about the history, geology, and flora of the site. Sagawau Canyon is unique in that it is the only area in Cook County with exposed limestone bedrock and hosts rare plants such a bulblet fern, purple cliff brake, walking fern, hairy rock cress, and ninebark.

Sunday, May 21st – Indian Boundary Prairies Field Trip
Mary and Gary from The Nature Conservancy gave us a tour of the Indian Boundary Prairies with an emphasis on Markham Prairie. Before starting the wildflower walk, they showed us their small native seed production garden and Dr. Betz’s insect collection housed in the headquarters. Mary and Gary then showed us around Markham Prairie where they talked about the history and the rich diversity of spring blooming prairie wildflowers.

Saturday, May 6th – Bliss Woods Field Trip
Patt Chess, an ecologist from the Forest Preserves of Kane County, gave us a tour of Bliss Woods and the unique flora that lives there. We also visited the last remnant of the Kaneville Esker where two distinct woodland habitats exist on either side. We had a little raffle for attendees for the book: A Field Guide To Wildflowers by Peterson/McKenny.

Saturday, April 29th – Ryerson Conservation Area Field Trip
Sarah Richardson, a botany professor from DePaul University, led a fun day of hiking and talked about the history and spring wildflowers of the Ryerson Conservation Area. Some plant highlights include: woodland phlox, marsh marigold, large-flowered trillium, sharp-lobed hepatica, dutchman’s breeches, and carrion flower.

2014 Events

Friday, August 1st–Sunday, August 3 – Annual Meeting in the Kankakee Sands Region
Field trips to floristically diverse nature preserves including Braidwood Dunes and Savanna, Pembroke Savanna, Wilmington Shrub Prairie, and Momence Wetlands.

Saturday, June 28th – A Tour of Dundee Township-Owned Natural Areas, Kane County
Over the past decade Dundee Township has purchased and restored 860 acres of land. Their projects run from restoration of prairie remnant on a Nature Preserve to reclamation of a gravel pit. The tour started with our remnant prairie at the Dixie Briggs Fromm Nature Preserve where they have expanded the dry hill prairie remnant and stabilized a small creek bisecting the land. The FQI is 77.5 with 267 native species. The 150 acre site is home to over 20 species rated with a coefficient of conservatism of 10. The streambank stabilization has turned an urban wash out into an attractive meander which is able to withstand the frequent high volume rain events that characterize urban streams. The second part of our trip was to an old agricultural field which has been restored into a nice dry mesic prairie beside a hundred acre woodland. The Township removed drain tiles and site stewards June and Steve Keibler continue to remove exotic invaders and spread seed from local prairie remnants. The final leg of the tour was at the Jelke Creek Bird Sanctuary. The bird sanctuary is a former gravel pit which has been re-contoured to allow for maximum rainwater infiltration through a series of vegetated bio-swales and ponds over a 260 acre parcel. The site was planted in prairie grasses and forbes in the fall of 2009 and boasts a thriving native plant and bird population

Saturday, May 17th – Thatcher Woods, Cook County
We visited Thatcher Woods, led by steward Victor Guarino through an open woodland with a diverse understory of spring flora.

Saturday, April 26th – Grainger Woods, Lake County
Steward Kathy Garness gave us a wonderful tour of Grainger Woods, a high quality flatwoods community that had many beautiful early spring species in bloom.

2013 Events

Saturday, October 20th – McGinnis Slough, Cook County
Lou Mule led this tour of the true watershed divide between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi watersheds. We explored headwater streams, checked out the late season plant communities and migrating birds, and discussed restoration challenges at the urban interface. Meeting place: McGinnis Slough parking lot at 139th and LaGrange Rd (US 45).

Sunday, September 15th – Powderhorn Prairie, Cook County
Northeast chapter members explored exemplary sand prairie and savanna at Powderhorn Prairie in southeast Cook County, led by Dennis Nyberg. Meeting place: 14000 Brainard Avenue, Burnham, IL.

Sunday, August 18th – Sand Ridge Savanna and Green Lake Savanna, Cook County
On August 18th, NE chapter members were given a tour of Sand Ridge Savanna and Green Lake Savanna, two wonderful examples of dune and swale topography and flora, which are unique in northeast Illinois. The sites are undergoing management and restoration as part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and are currently making great strides toward becoming even richer and more diverse. Forest Preserve District of Cook County ecologists Chip O’Leary and Dan Spencer were kind enough to volunteer their time to lead the trip.

Sunday, July 21st – Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve, Lake County
Members explored Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve, led by NE chapter member Floyd Catchpole and NE chapter secretary Rachel Goad. The diverse flora of the ravines, restored prairie, steep lake bluffs, and beaches at this site is managed by the Lake County Forest Preserve District, which has done an impressive job of remediating damaging hydrological flow through the site.

Saturday, July 20th – Illinois Beach State Park, Lake County
On July 20th, members met at Illinois Beach State Park. Owned and managed by IDNR, this site has the distinction of being Illinois’ first nature preserve. NE chapter member Karen Lustig gave an excellent tour of the south unit’s diverse dune and swale flora.

Sunday, June 16th – McKinley Woods, Will County
On June 16th, NE chapter members explored McKinley Woods, guided by intrepid trip leader and NE Chapter member Floyd Catchpole. Recent canopy thinning work has allowed a rich understory flora to develop at this site as historical light levels have returned. The ravine slopes along the Des Plaines River presented a rare bit of topographic relief during the tour. As part of the Forest Preserve District of Will County, McKinley Woods will continue to provide habitat to some of the rarer flora as restoration and management work continues.

Sunday, May 19th – Waterfall Glen Preserve, DuPage County
On May 19th, NE Chapter member Scott Kobal gave a tour of Waterfall Glen Preserve, one of the gems of the DuPage County Forest Preserve District. Society members were delighted by the fern flora on the rock outcroppings in the preserve and were treated to an in depth review of the site’s flora and management history. This impressive tour covered only a small area of the larger preserve, and NE Chapter members are eager to see more on a future trip.

Sunday, April 14th – Hickory Creek, Will County
Northeast Chapter Treasurer Jason Zylka and site steward Phyllis Schulte led NE chapter members on a hike to Hickory Creek, a Will County Forest Preserve, in search of the newsletters namesake, the Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa). Members were successful in this quest, and also enjoyed a diversity of other spring ephemerals beginning to bloom.