When high water levels trapped many Des Plaines residents in their homes, Fisheries staff Steve Silic, Jim Phillips and Dan Fiorenza piloted boats to rescue residents from the flooding homes. The trio worked with the Des Plaines Fire and Police Departments in their response to 911 calls, systematically checking on residents up and down the flooded streets. Silic, Phillips and Fiorenza were on duty 30 hours straight.

The Forest Preserve District police also took action during the flood. While officers Roberto Gonzalez and Bruce Lind were assisting in evacuating flood victims, they received an emergency call and rushed to the Des Plaines River in Northwestern Woods, where a capsized kayaker was hanging from a tree branch in the frigid river to keep from drowning. Officers Gonzalez and Lind maneuvered their watercraft through the swift current, pulled the man into the safety of their boat and returned him to the shore for emergency medical care.

Along Salt Creek, the Resource Management and Landscape Maintenance Department worked just as hard to save Forest Preserve property. Spending more than 14 hours stacking sandbags around the area, they prevented floodwater from damaging valuable equipment in the Salt Creek Resource Management Headquarters and the Resident Watchman’s house.

Congratulations to the following Forest Preserve District staff:

Fisheries: Steve Silic, Jim Phillips, Dan Fiorenza

Resource Crew:  Kevin Neary, Ken Evans, Dara Leitza, Lindsay Ivanyi, Matt Hokanson, Matt Skoflanc, Tom Longo, James Van Sommeren, Mary Love

Trail Crew North: Bill Ransom and Joe Hansen

Landscape Maintenance: Kevin Mason and Guiseppi “Joe” Bonanno

Police

Fisheries

The post FOREST PRESERVE DISTRICT STAFF PROVIDE HELPING HAND DURING APRIL FLOODS appeared first on Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

The Patriotic Employer Award is presented after ESGR receives a nomination from a Guardsmen or Reservist. Forest Preserve Police Officer Jorge Arreola, who nominated Commander Albrecht for recognition, is a member of the U.S. Navy Reserve. “Commander Albrecht has always been supportive of my Reserve Duty.  I know that without his support I would not be able to perform the duties that are needed to accomplish my units’ mission,” Arreola said.

The award was presented by Michael Holub of the Illinois Committee of ESGR with thanks for the continued support of the men and women in uniform, who play a critical role in our security at home and around the world.

“Supportive employers are critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nation’s National Guard and Reserve units.   The Cook County Forest Preserve District Police Department now joins thousands of employers who have demonstrated their support of service in the National Guard and Reserve through full compliance with the statutory requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act law,” said Holub.

The post Forest Preserve District Police Officer Jorge Arreola and Deputy Commander Mike Albrecht with Michael Holub of the Illinois Committee of ESGR appeared first on Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

One of the few forest preserves within city limits on the south side of Chicago, Dan Ryan Woods sits atop Blue Island, an ancient geological feature and one of the highest points in the city. Originally purchased in 1937, this preserve has grown into a fine place for a peaceful stroll, bike ride, picnic or birding adventure.

In the south section of Dan Ryan, a series of stone aqueducts wind peacefully downhill through the site’s oak woodlands. Primarily built as drainage structures and erosion control features, they were constructed from limestone flagstone, adding a unique aesthetic feature to the site.  Even today, when rain falls the channels fill with water from the surrounding area.  The water travels through the aqueducts to the lower eastern area of the preserve where it pools and percolates back into the ground.

To find the aqueducts, walk north into the woods from the parking lot at 89th and Western. A second aqueduct system is located north of 87^th street, running alongside the stairs from the top of the hill to the recently renovated historic pavilion.

Along the east edge of Dan Ryan Woods, the Major Taylor Trail provides a scenic route for bikers. The trail continues six miles south, crossing the Calumet River and connecting to Whistler Woods. The District actively manages Dan Ryan’s wetlands and oak woodlands. Volunteers can help with this effort through Friends of the Forest Preserves. Look up workdays here.

The post Try This! appeared first on Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Site steward Libby Hill and apprentice steward Jancy Jerome know they’re helping to look after a unique parcel of land.

At 7.5 acres (tiny in comparison to other Forest Preserve District holdings, many of which are hundreds of acres), Perkins Woods is an outlier, one of the District’s smallest parcels, and the most isolated from other District holdings. It’s also the only preserve named after one of the District’s founders, Dwight Perkins, who once lived nearby. And yet Perkins Woods is a real surviving remnant of Evanston’s Big Woods, a swamp morainic woodland that once stretched west all the way to Harms Woods in Glenview.
 

“My husband and I moved here as a young couple with a two-month-old because the woods were here,” says Hill. “My husband taught at Northwestern, so we drove around Evanston, and said ‘What’s this woods here?’ It was something natural. I like the natural world, and it had these beautiful big old trees. I wanted my children to grow up in a place that’s at least semi-wild. This was Evanston, of course, but here was this wild place right next to the school they’d be going to. It was irresistible.”

“In 1992 when I first saw garlic mustard there and knew what it was, it was all along Colfax Street,” says Hill. She called then Superintendent of Conservation, Chet Ryndak, to ask what she should do about this invasive plant, which crowds out native species. “He suggested I become the steward,” she says.

Thus on May 3, 1992, was born the Garlic Mustard Pull and Neighborhood Block Party. This Saturday, May 4, Hill and Jerome, along with the new Perkins Woods Steering Committee, will host the 21^st Annual Pull. “Garlic mustard is definitely down to a manageable level,” says Hill. “We used to get bags and bags of it, and now it’s maybe one bag. We used to do this for two full days, we had so much garlic mustard. Then we got control of garlic mustard, but winter creeper and Scilla have in places replaced where the garlic mustard had been. So now we’re dealing with them.”

Despite challenges, which also include being on constant lookout for trash and illegal dumping and the looming loss of ash trees to the emerald ash borer, Hill and Jerome have helped preserve the rich woodland that initially drew them. “You can walk in the middle of it when the leaves are out, and all of civilization seems to melt away,” says Hill. “It’s got a beautiful spring understory of beautiful flowers and is also a wonderful place for migrating birds.”

Their Garlic Mustard Pull is part educational outreach for the future, too. “The occupants of every house bordering the preserve except for one have all changed since that time,” says Hill. “We have to keep educating the neighbors. I always let them know what’s going on in the woods.”

To join the stewards at Perkins Woods this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, contact Libby Hill at libbyhill@comcast.net or (847) 475-2096. Check out volunteer opportunities District-wide at fpdcc.com/volunteer. And speaking of garlic mustard, May is Illinois Invasive Species Awareness Month. See all that’s happening statewide in May!

The post VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT appeared first on Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

In April’s Did You Know? segment, we shared how Beaubien Woods got its name. But did you know that you can learn the origins of hundreds of other forest preserve names in Origins of Names and Histories of Places, a fascinating publication from 1964-65 by FPDCC Conservation Editor Roberts Mann? You can download the entire scanned document online from the Forest Preserve District archives, housed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Thanks to Mary Wilson for asking us about this on our Facebook page.

The post DID YOU KNOW? appeared first on Forest Preserve District of Cook County.