dune and swale

Powderhorn, Chicago IL • April 2025

| aea

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!

…

…

We saw lots of evidence of beavers!

and other wildlife — like this osprey on a nest on a human-constructed osprey tower!

Sand Ridge, Calumet City, IL • April 2023

| aea

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.

Powderhorn North, Chicago IL • March 2020

| aea

Walk south from the southern end of Wolf Lake, past the roads that peek into residential pockets, past what was overgrown vacant lots — it’s all being rewilded, connecting Wolf Lake to Powderhorn Lake (fig 1). It expands the local wetland complex, but in a different direction than the historical baseline. Why? Because Powderhorn Lake is human-constructed, so there was never a connection between these bodies of water before.

Fig 1. red box denotes green infrastructure enhancement between Wolf Lake and Powderhorn Lake

We started in the greenspace north of Powderhorn Lake (though quite brown this time of year).

We came out from the buckthorn and Phragmites to a railroad track on the north side of Powderhorn Lake.

The dune and swale that you see on the map, looking like a ridged swamp, to the west of Powderhorn Lake- that dune and swale is still there! This is a long finger of oak savanna heading to the southeast.