There was a burn here recently, like many other local haunts. Deep in the woods, near the fairy ponds, singed mounds of grass look like modern photosynthetic stromatolites (with plant, not cyanobacteria!). It was a good burn season, or so went the public lands stewardship chatter.
Powderhorn encompasses a vast tract of land, owned and managed by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, on the far southeast side of Chicago. It’s a stocked lake with fishers all year round, an award-winning remnant dune and swale habitat,
a to-be-acquired industrial lot with rail tankers, a railroad track lined with Phragmites, and disused land in a residential district made into an urban sponge that captures rainwater and drains it in to the lake. Altogether, it makes a really nice urban greenspace
that works with the land and hydrology and habitats, and enhances what they already are (minus some invasive species and plus some light mowing). Check out this terrific Storymap about the most recent restoration project!
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We saw lots of evidence of beavers!
and other wildlife — like this osprey on a nest on a human-constructed osprey tower!
I had to start with the coolest thing we saw on our foray: woodcock eggs! We flushed their parents out of the brush from like 100 yards away. Questionable parenting.
St. Michael’s Church.
Some tiny buddies.
Moss is a critical early successional component of the ecosystem, accumulating organic matter than other species can eventually grow in.
A deer path through the sumac forest. Always follow the deer path.
Gothic Calumet.
I promise we left all most of the seeds behind before we got in the car.
Fairy ponds are dry right now, but it’s full on gentian season in the oak openings!
Jack in the Pulpit is unmistakeable in the late spring.
Rather than early spring ephemerals, who bask in full sun underneath the leafless trees, plants active in the late spring enjoy the more dappled light that comes through as the tree canopy is leafing out.
in a romance with dune and swale
Shirley Heinze property and part of the most incredible dune and swale complex remaining in NW Indiana.
Calumet Region Adventure Club 