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!
It’s that time of year again – spring ephemerals at Sand Ridge. They never get old.
upland woodland friends, sprouting from under the oak leaves.
here’s the hummocks that enable the fen orchid
this little wetland is on sandy soil in a swale among the aspens.
a younger grove is undergoing restoration and in a decade or so, may harbor high quality orchids and sedges like this one.
Early in the year yields many trips to the Sand Ridge complex in Calumet City – for wetlands with the year’s earliest flowers, skunk cabbage, and sandy woodland openings with the beginnings of spring ephemerals.
February 28
April 4
April 11
Black Partridge Woods has beautiful spring ephemerals and real nice topography –geology makes these ravines possible!
Fields of wood betony are just finishing flowering; bumble bees still want them!
Headed out to pull some garlic mustard and then a take mossy retreat.
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. 
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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.
I promise we left all most of the seeds behind before we got in the car.
Calumet Region Adventure Club 