This week’s presentation at Sagawau Environmental Learning Center was on owls. It was somewhat better attended the slime mold presentation. Despite my history with raptors, including owls, I did learn a few new things. The presenter chose fabulous photos.
After a stop at Pulaski Woods overlooking Camp Bullfrog Lake to watch the sun set, a drink at Imperial Oak accompanied by a pizza from their neighbor, Pizza 750. Then time to check out a few lights in Willow Springs.
Ever since I learned about slime molds at school (elementary? junior high?) and my class went searching for them, I’ve wanted to learn more about and observe them in their different forms. I don’t have much opportunity to see them, and I don’t remember where to look or what to look for. This presentation solved that. Unfortunately, I was distracted from most of it by expected phone calls from the maintenance technician I’d called earlier to fix a plumbing problem, but I got the gist. The best part, however, was getting outside, crossing the stream that runs through Sagawau Canyon, and along with the group looking for and finding slime mold fruiting bodies. I managed to take a non-blurry photo of only one, however.
Afterward, we took the pleasant drive down hilly Wolf Road toward Pulaski and Wolf Road Woods, where a coyote crossed the road in front of us at the top of one of the hills (the first?). I didn’t get a photo and put the phone down. A second one crossed of course. No photo of that one either, nor of the one J spotted before I saw what I thought was the first crossing. It’s always a little magical seeing coyotes. Even without photographic evidence/proof.
(The bathroom sign is from Ashbary Coffee House.)
Starting in 2011 with Ryerson Woods Dam, many of the low dams along the upper Des Plaines River have been removed. They hinder a healthy ecosystem, endanger kayakers, and don’t serve a purpose. There’s more on these dam removals here.
A bigger project has been happening on the Klamath in the Pacific Northwest, where much larger dams have been removed. It appears that chinook salmon are returning.
Enjoy the peaceful tinkling sounds of the flowing river.
I woke up early enough at Camp Bullfrog Lake to take a short walk. This may have been the first time I’ve seen a sunrise there. It was a beautiful one.
We decided to start another campfire, which left almost nothing solid behind. While we were behind the cabin, J spotted a mantis that looked a lot bigger and more solid than those I remember. It proved to be a Chinese mantis. When it felt my movement in the grass, it turned its head toward me. I wondered what it perceived.
Next, it was off to the art fair, where we were too late to sign up for a wagon ride. I didn’t see either of my favorite candle vendors, either. But the flowers, decorations, and festivities got me in the mood for fall, as did the Halloween theme at Ashbary Coffee House. We also visited Sagawau Environmental Learning Center, Maple Lake, and Ashbary Coffee House, where J picked up the food we ate at nearby Willow Springs Woods, observed by a few elusive deer.
I can’t remember how I found it online, but I spotted a “Sante Fe Prairie Nature Preserve” in Hodgkins, Illinois. Here’s how it’s described:
This 10.8 acre prairie is one of the rarest types of Illinois prairie, only two of its kind exist in the state. It was donated by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad in 1997 to the Civic Center Authority which now owns and manages this high quality prairie. More than 225 native plant species have been recorded at the site, many of which only survive in such prairie.
Hodgkins, a hub for United Parcel Service, is industrial (light industrial?), which made the drive surreal, especially with dusk coming on. We passed industry after industry, went over railroad tracks and under overpasses, and generally navigated a post-apocalyptic landscape.
At last we came to a road with the Des Plaines River on one side and a Sante Fe caboose on the other. The prairie is past the caboose. It was hard to see in the growing gloom set against the backdrop of light industry. It will be worth another visit in daylight, which may not feel so eerie.
Sign:
AN ILLINOIS NATURE PRESERVE
SANTA FE PRAIRIE
Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve has been formally dedicated as a sanctuary for native plants and animals. It is maintained in its natural condition so that present and future generations can see the Illinois landscape as it appeared in the past. This living example of our natural heritage is valuable for scientific studies and may provide habitat for rare plants and animals.
A high-quality feature of this preserve is the mesic gravel prairie, which is rated by The Nature Conservancy as globally rare and threatened throughout its range. Surrounding lands have been managed to support natural forest, prairie, and wetlands, all to the benefit of Santa Fe Prairie.
This preserve is owned by the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor Civic Center Authority. Entrance is by permission only. Remain in the mowed areas. Domestic animals prohibited. Please protect and perpetuate the nature preserve by not disturbing or removing anything. All features are protected by law.
Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
More:
Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve contains high quality mesic and dry-mesic gravel prairie recognized by the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory. Gravel prairie is extremely rare in Illinois and the Midwest. Mesic gravel prairie dominated by prairie dropseed, big bluestem, and Indian grass makes up most of the site. There is also dry-mesic gravel prairie that is dominated by big bluestem, Indian grass, prairie dropseed, and porcupine grass. Prairie cord grass, blue joint grass, and multiple sedge species dominate the wet prairie. Characteristic species of the marsh community include bluejoint grass, narrow-leaved cattail, great bulrush, common arrowhead, and winged loosestrife. Approximately 225 native plant species have been recorded from the site.
Somehow I’d found out you can sign up to get on a list for a tour of Thornton Quarry, described in Wikipedia as “one of the largest aggregate quarries in the world, located in Thornton, Illinois just south of Chicago. The quarry is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide, and 450 feet (140 m) deep at its deepest point.”
I’ve long been fascinated by the quarry’s size and how I-294 passes over it. J signed up and was notified months later he’d made the cut — for October 5 at 9 a.m.
I had no idea what to expect, but they assured him there was a bus, and standing and walking weren’t required. It sound like something I could handle — which on this day wouldn’t be much because I forgot to take medications the night before and couldn’t sleep. D’uh.
The tour groups gather at a church, where you register, get coffee and a doughnut, and browse books, shirts, and souvenirs. I saved my shopping for after the tour so I wouldn’t have to carry stuff around.
On the way our guides told us the history of quarries in Thornton, including one that is now the site of a park/playground. After the quarry shut down, it filled with water and became a swimming hole — until a little boy got caught on something and drowned.
I should mention the school bus we were on was highly decorated, mostly with a Halloween theme. We never got to do that to our buses!
At the quarry we got off the bus to check out the overlook. From here you can see the section of the quarry we were going to explore, but not nearly the whole quarry (for one thing, it looks like rock walls remain to subdivide sections). Tiny semi trucks passed over the quarry on I-294. Later when we were closer, they still seemed small.
At the overlook there are several examples of fossils found in the quarry. In the distant past, it had been a coral reef. That’s a fun fact. We’d been told we’d be let out in part of the quarry to look for fossils — and we could keep any we found. That was incentive enough for the tour.
For some reason I’d imagined going into the quarry via stairs or an elevator — which makes no sense. How would you dig out a quarry without machinery? The bus driver drove down a road, albeit a very bumpy one at times. In a few spots I marveled it didn’t tip over.
There are a lot of specifics I can’t recall, like the different machines and their purposes. I know Id’ want to avoid the one called the “crusher,” which we saw in operation.
The quarry is part of the “Deep Tunnel” project, designed to divert flood waters. I’m not sure exactly where the water would go to — presumably away from machinery.
The bus continued down down down down, past more equipment and “ponds” and through a fossil-lined tunnel. A company employee offered information and answered questions along the way.
Finally we arrived at the fossil-collecting area, which thoughtfully had been provided with a portable toilet. What a relief. I’m not sure how long we were there — it felt like at least a half hour, but perhaps a little less. We found some very tiny fossils or what appeared to be fossils. J said one woman found a good-sized rock loaded with them. I’d brought a bag, so we put most of our small rocks in it. It weighed quite a bit by quitting time.
Wildlife does find its way into the quarry, including coyotes and foxes. If I remember correctly, our host said one skinny fox had to be rescued.
Back at the church, we watched a presentation on the history of the quarry and had our final chance to get souvenirs.
The verdict? Next year’s tours are booked, but we’re on the list for whatever becomes available.
At nearby Sweet Woods.
CAMP THORNTON #2605 AND THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS
CAMP MOTTO: “STRING ALONG”
IN THE SPRING OF 1934, CAMP THORNTON OPENED ON THIS SITE AS A HOME TO YOUNG MEN OF THE CIVILIAN, CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC) AT FIRST THE MEN SLEPT IN TENTS IN GRASS AND WEEDS THREE FEET TALL. LATER THEY BUILT THEIR OWN MILITARY STYLE BARRACKS WITH MESS HALLS, WASHROOMS, TOILETS, SHOWERS, OFFICER QUARTERS, LOUNGE, AND PARADE GROUNDS.
THE CCC WAS FORMED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION TO HELP UNEMPLOYED MEN AND THEÍR FAMILIES. THE MEN ENLISTED FOR SIX MONTHS AT A TIME; 18 MONTHS WAS THE MAXIMUM LENGTH OF SERVICE. CCC WORKERS RECEIVED $31.00 PER MONTH, $25 OF WHICH WAS SENT HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES. ARMY AND NAVAL RESERVE OFFICERS GOVERNED THE CORPS. CIVILIAN MEN TAUGHT TRADES INCLUDING CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION, BRICKLAYING, CARPENTRY, MACHINERY OPERATION, AND TREE PLANTING.
BEAUTIFUL FLAGSTONE PICNIC SHELTERS, ROADWAYS, AND BRIDGES BUILT BY THE CCC CAN STILL BE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE COOK COUNTY FOREST PRESERVES AND OTHER LOCAL, STATE, AND NATIONAL PARKS AROUND THE COUNTRY.
CAMP THORNTON EXISTED UNTIL 1942. FROM JUNE 1945 THROUGH APRIL 1946, THE CAMP WAS USED AS A GERMAN P.O.W. CAMP. IT WAS ALSO HOME TO ILLIANA CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL FROM SEPTEMBER 1946 THROUGH DECEMBER 1947. THE SOUTH SUBURBAN COUNCIL OF GIRL SCOUTS BEGAN USING THE FACILITIES AS A CAMP BEGINNING IN 1951. THE LAST PORTIONS OF THE CAMP WERE DEMOLISHED IN 1989. FOUNDATIONS CAN STILL BE SEEN SOUTH OF THIS MARKER.
SPONSORED BY
THE VILLAGE OF THORNTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
MAY 2010
Next, Camp Bullfrog Lake.
On the way to a casual day at some of the Palos Preserves, J and I inadvertently stumbled into a vintage car event. I missed rolling my window all the way down, but you get the idea, at least from the passenger side.
It’s beginning to look like fall in the Forest Preserves of Cook County.
Followed by dinner at Blind Faith Cafe, of course.
First on the weekend agenda — a bonfire at Camp Shabbona Woods. The last bonfire J and I had been to there was on December 16, 2023, when the Forest Preserve folks had managed to keep both campfire and bonfire going despite a steady and sometimes hard rain.
This time the weather was nearly ideal, and more people showed up. There’s nothing like hot dogs and s’mores over a campfire while nearby it looks like the gates of hell are opening.
As evening closed in, J went on a short group hike. While he was gone I spotted some flying creatures I was sure were bats. When the group returned, they also reported seeing bats. Fires, hot dogs, s’mores, and bats. What more could I ask for?
After a cookout at the Chellberg Farm picnic shelters, J and I headed over to the farmhouse to hear Save the Tunes. I always love a late afternoon walk through these woods with the sun glowing through the leaves and onto the path, and the mostly dry creek bed to the side.
And on that note, so ends a summer weekend.
There’d been a storm that had knocked out all the panels in the fence that separates the garden area of the Flamingo from the back area of the Park Shore. I’d taken advantage to walk over to look, and found out the Park Shore has quite a lovely backyard. Either I didn’t have my phone or hadn’t thought to take a photo. By the next morning, the panels had been restored. I managed to get an awkwardly framed photo through the gap between the fence and the framework. I love the circular bench and the fountain. It looks like a peaceful oasis. I wonder if it gets less noise than we do, with the building shielding it from the street. Less noise is good.
Today, the plan was to go to Sagawau Environmental Learning Center to see hummingbirds. I couldn’t get any good photos of them, so I started looking at the pollinators visiting the flowers — from bald-faced hornets to sweat bees. There may even have been a fritillary, but if so I missed getting a photo. I love fritillaries. They’re flashy.
Sagawau closes at 4 p.m., so stopped at Saganashkee Slough, which is vaguely reminiscent of a Minnesota lake, and Joe’s Pond, which once had a pair of trumpeter swans. Then we visited Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, where they’ve installed a signpost with distances. It even includes Niagara Falls (560 miles) and the Boundary Waters (also 560 miles). Now I want to go to both. After a stop at Maple Lake, it was time for Ashbary Coffee House and then dinner at Capri Lounge & Grill. Mmmm.
If you had come to North America from Europe, especially Great Britain, in the 1500 to 1700s, you had to have been overwhelmed by some of the differences between home and here, especially in landscape and species. The British coped by giving some American animals the same or similar names as more familiar ones, even when the animal was clearly different. The European robin lent its name to the American robin. The European hedgehog was transformed into the groundhog (aka woodchuck).
The.2024 emergence of Brood XIII and Brood XIX in Illinois makes me wonder about those who moved here from Europe or even the eastern cities. With only the annual dog day cicada for reference, what would you think when one May day you found numerous holes in the ground, insect-shaped husks clinging to branches everywhere, and red bug eyes staring at you by the thousands, millions, maybe billions? And then you are deafened by their calls until they die off en masse several weeks later? They don’t appear again the next year, or the next, or the year after that — not for another 13 or 17 years. Nothing would have prepared you for them.
I recall the last emergence only vaguely, although I don’t think I saw any cicadas. I may have heard them a couple times, mostly while dining outside. I assumed they occur in western New York, but a U.S. Forest Service map shows they occur in a small area east of my hometown,
This time, however, I was able to see them in a few places — first at Black Partridge Woods, finally at Bremen Grove, with Riverside, Morton Arboretum, and Chicago Botanic Garden in between.
I love them and am going to miss them. If I live that long, I’ll be just shy of 79 when Brood XIII next appears.
When you think about a frail nymph burrowing underground, eating for 17 years, emerging, shedding its exoskeleton, drying out its wings (sometimes imperfectly), finding mates, laying eggs that hatch into nymphs that burrow underground to emerge and repeat the cycle in 17 years — it’s nature at its weirdest. Only through sheer numbers do they survive. As the Field Museum said, “Here for a good time, not for a long time.”
I hope the numbers are on their side in 17 years, with not too many paved over. Broods can go extinct, and I’d hate to see (or not see) that happen in 17 years.
Long live Brood XIII and Brood XIX.
