The bright blue sky and faded green of a warm early winter day. This place is wholly constructed now, atop swampy former wetland surrounding Lake Calumet – is there any remnant soil from that ecosystem? Or are all sediments so polluted it is unrecognizable beneath Phragmites and slag and a dune + swale landscape made from construction debris.
I didn’t remember that we had visited here in May before, but check out May 2017 to see what we found here a few years ago!
A gorgeously warm November afternoon yielded a golden IRM, with the last of the asters and goldenrod setting seed.
I started on the trail going north, through the wet prairie-
-and then kept going.
At the old Wisconsin Steel/Acme Coke site I found a new slag for the typology- charcoal briquet slag?! It was all quite dark black (some were also really lightweight), even if the raking sun bleached out some of the photos below. Or maybe this is just some coking byproduct.
It was really quiet and isolated in a sea of Aristida and a few interspersed cottonwoods and willows. I’m quite surprised I didn’t see any deer or other animals about. In fact, I was only surrounded by birds birds birds (mostly dark eyed juncos), in the the many standing dead trees – and a big crabapple – once back at Indian Ridge Marsh.
I’ve spent many months at Marian Byrnes Park- mostly doing research and botanizing. It’s where my favorite slag wetland is, a secret garden hidden behind a lovely woodland stroll. Just a few years ago, this park was pretty overgrown and inaccessible. Now it’s such a gem, with great shaded walking trails in a narrow savanna-esque strip, right off of 103rd.
Out on the slag, we see a human-modified ecosystem, just like the woodland (which of course is a highly managed park) but it’s such an unfamiliar landscape. You see remnants of its recent past as a flydumping mecca and plants that looks like weeds on concrete.
But with little human intervention for several decades in the management of this ecosystem, one could argue it’s more “natural” than the familiar tall trees and open understory along the path.
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.
Would you believe there are orchids and rare sedges on this slag wetland at Big Marsh?
I present to you the strappy leaves of Spiranthes cernua. 
…
This might be one of my most favorite photos at Big Marsh. I spent 10s of hours at this site during the summer of 2018 and literally never saw a bird in this tree! The site always seemed quiet in animal life, but rich in plant life.
When it’s just hanging out with itself (slag poured onto slag), the potential toxic stuff, heavy metals, etc. — it’s not going anywhere. But when ATVs ride up and down a slag heap, or when exposed slag leaches into Indian Creek, it can become a health hazard.
Vegetation can help with this!
Did I mention it’s a Superfund site?
Calumet Region Adventure Club 