Sunday, November 29, 2009

Giving Thanks

As the month of November comes to a close, and before the ever-busy month of December begins, I wanted to take a moment to express my thanks for 2009.

Thanks to the Board Members of TLC for being such excellent stewards of the vision that started this organization twenty years ago! In 1989, the idea of a local land trust working with private landowner to preserve those precious places in McHenry County that would otherwise fall through the cracks was just that - an idea! Over the last twenty years, the board of directors has ensured the vision and mission are clear, and the work moves forward! Thank you!!

Thanks to the awesome women I work with every day: Linda Balek, Cheryl Perrone and Jackie Eberle (shown here on a vernal pool outing with easement donor Susan Tauck). They are so much more than "employees"! Each one of them finds ways to go above and beyond her job description every day to make The Land Conservancy more than the "sum of their parts," and to do what each can to build an organization that embodies the mission and vision. THANK YOU!

Thanks to the growing number of conservation easement donors for choosing to preserve their land - forever - by permanently restricting future development. These individuals want to make sure that generations yet unborn will have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty and bounty that the land provides! Ninety percent of the land TLC has preserved was protected by these private conservation agreements! Their choices will have a lasting impact on the landscape of McHenry County. We are grateful to each of them for choosing to work with TLC to preserve their land!

Thanks to the many volunteers who work to help restore the land, complete mailings, file documents, and run events. TLC is a small organization in some ways, but the combined effort of our volunteers makes us mighty indeed! The scope and scale of work that volunteers make possible cannot be understated! TLC's volunteers ROCK!

Thanks to TLC's members and supporters. In these times of economic uncertainty, we are so fortunate to have steady supporters who make this work possible. Their (your!) support means that nearly 1,800 acres of McHenry County land have been permanently preserved forever. Remember, TLC does not collect tax dollars to pay our bills or to buy land! We work closely with private landowners to help them preserve their land - forever. And member support makes that possible.

There are many more thanks to give, for there are many individuals and organizations who do what they can to make this work succeed! Thank you all.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Driving (me) Insane

Did you ever think about the amount of space in our communities that is devoted to parking? A lot. Next time you go to the store, note the size of the parking lot. Guaranteed, it is huge.

Americans are obsessed with our cars. We drive to work. Drive to the store for a gallon of milk. Drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Drive to the pizza place to pick up a pie for dinner. Drive, Drive, Drive.

In McHenry County, the average person has a commute of greater than half an hour each way, each day, and the vast majority of those people drive. They drive alone in their cars to and from their jobs five days a week.

My husband and I are very average in that way. His commute is about 35 minutes each way, and mine is about 25. I manage to carpool once in a while with a co-worker, but not nearly as often as I should.

All this driving has consequences to the environment, generating carbon dioxide and other exhaust chemicals that contribute to air pollution. The reliance on the car has impacts on our health too. We don't walk as much as we should -- when was the last time you walked to the store? the library? to visit a friend? Are you carrying a few extra pounds? Do you drive to the gym for a work out?

But the rest of the world is very different.

My friend Kathy Bergan Schmidt sent me this article from the Milwaukee newspaper. The author lives in Spain, where he and his family DO NOT OWN A CAR. Get this, they walk. Walk to the store. Walk to the movies. Walk to visit friends. Their property taxes are also a fraction of what ours are.

I bring this up because the McHenry County board is reviewing a new land use plan for the county, and the draft that was given them by their planning commission proposes that tens of thousands of new residents move to areas that are currently farmland, and are far removed from jobs, schools and shopping. This type of development is commonly known as sprawl.

Studies by American Farmland Trust and others have shown that sprawl is expensive for communities. It is more expensive to provide services like school buses, fire protection, road maintenance, etc. to all those scattered homes. So, taxes increase to cover the costs -- taxes increase for everyone, not just the folks who live in sprawlville.

And the crazy thing is that there are rumors that some board members think that even more sprawl should be permitted.

Let's think about this:
more sprawl = more cars on the road
more sprawl = less walking, more driving
more sprawl = higher property taxes
Any questions?

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Seed Shraring Success!


Halloween 2009 included a trick or treat of sorts for adults this year - seed sharing in Alden Township!

The table full of bags is an adult version of candy bowls - each bag containing seed from a different plant species, and all organized by habitat type. Instead of choosing between Snickers, Kit Kats, or Starburst, the seed sharers were grabbing handfuls of Monarda fistulosa, Zizia aurea and Rudbeckia triloba. I wish I had a good photo of one of the adults with a look of glee on her face while finding that species that she had been looking to add to her restoration!

Thanks to Orrin & Patricia Bangert for opening their garage to the seed sharers as a base of operations, and thanks to the Bangerts, Randy & Karen Stowe, Rich & Renee Dankert, Colleen & Lou Moeller and Kay & Dick Pfundt for opening their properties to the thirty or so seed sharers who came out Halloween morning to collect native seed from these mature restorations to either enhance or expand their own restoration projects.

This is the third year that TLC and the WPPC have teamed up with the Alden Township seed group to share their natural abundance with restorationists across McHenry County. Seed Sharing was initially the idea of George Johnson, former Alden Township resident who had a big influence on the spread of prairie and wetland restoration in the township.

The photo at right shows George (on the left) talking with Lou Moeller (on the right with a cup of coffee). Lou & his wife Colleen purchased the Johnson's house when George and his wife Marilyn moved to Madison Wisconsin a couple of years ago.

One of the most exciting things about Seed Sharing is seeing the restoration bug pass not just to new landowners each year, but to a new generation of landowners!








Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Mulch Right


We had several very large branches removed from a couple of the old trees on our lot, and decided to keep the mulch for use around some of our trees.

This situation presents the opportunity for me to offer a short lesson in correct mulching.

Frankly, mulching ones trees properly is critical to the health of your trees -- or, perhaps I should say that incorrect mulching can kill trees.

Leaving the grass growing right up against the tree is problematic for many reasons, including:
- you risk mower damage to the trunk,
- if you fertilize or use herbicides on your lawn, you kill the beneficial soil organisms that the tree needs to take up nutrients from the soil, and
- you compact the root zone through continued traffic with a lawnmower.

Here are a few tips on mulching well:

1. NO MULCH VOLCANOES. Never, ever pile the mulch up in a hill around the trunk of the tree. This all-to-common mistake promotes root growth into the mulch, which weakens the tree. It also invites insects and rodents to feed on the smothered bark.

2. To keep weeds from growing up through the mulch, lay down several layers of newspapers in the area where the mulch will be placed. 6-10 layers of newspaper will smother the grass and weeds, but still allow water to soak into the ground, and permit the soil to breathe. The newspaper will break down over a year or so, and you will be left with a rich humus (organic soil) under the layer of mulch.




3. Pull grass and weeds out from the area next to the trunk before mulching. This step will save you work later, because sure enough, the first place weeds seem to show up is right next to the trunk -- unless you clear them out prior to laying down the newspaper and mulch.



4. The mulch should create a bowl of sorts -- thickest in the area furthest from the trunk. Think of the bowl as a way to ensure that water won't runn-off away from the tree, but will soak into the ground nearest to the trunk.

5. The mulched area should be at least three feet around the tree for oaks and hickories to protect the densest section of roots from compaction and disturbance. I have to admit that because of time, the mulch circle shown here extends only about 2 feet from the trunk.


After getting a good ring of protective mulch around the tree, then it is time for installing native plants under the rest of the tree's canopy! But that's a lesson for another day !!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Art of the Land - September 26th!

There is so much to write about, but for now I just want to share a couple of thoughts about TLC's fall benefit - Art of the Land!

Logistics: Starline Gallery, 306 Front Street, Harvard, 6-10pm

Cost: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Visit www.conservemc.org to make your reservation before Saturday! Admission includes appetizers from Duke's Ale House in Crystal Lake, assorted desserts (after 8pm), wine, Starbucks coffee, Great Art, Great Music, a Silent Auction, results of the Photo Contest and lots of really awesome people!!

Dress: Whatever is most comfortable for you! I'm going formal just because I NEVER get to do that!!

Photo Contest Results: This is one of the many photos that were submitted by local amateur photographers - taken at TLC's 60 acre Dutch Creek Conservation Easement in Johnsburg. Thirty one photos will be on display, and taken at 29 of the nearly 50 properties TLC has protected across McHenry County. The winning photographs will be announced, and everyone will have a chance to VOTE for their personal favorites in the people's choice contest!!

Great Art! There will be art work from 16 talented local & regional artists -- all with a land-related theme! Most of the artwork will be for sale, with 40% of proceeds benefitting TLC's land preservation mission! Artwork ranges from large installation pieces to ceramic mushrooms, traditional oil paintings, fabric art, and so much more!

The silent auction includes items ranging from a Terry Evans photograph to a starter raingarden, orignial quilts, ceramic gnome, bird bath, and so much more! The silent auction closes at 8pm, so be sure to arrive before then so you have a chance to bid!

Glazz -- Woodstock's Latin Jazz group -- will be performing - a short set around 7:30pm, and a longer program after 8!!

If you want to take the Metra Train, there are a couple of options -- take the earlier train (4:51 from Crystal Lake) and arrive at 5:20 in Harvard, then get a bite to eat -- there are several bars with decent food all within a short walk from the train station - Bopps on Front Street, for instance. There is also a Mexican restaurant I am quite fond of called La Trinidad about 3 blocks south of the train station on Ayer Street. The Gallery is 3 blocks west of the train station at 306 Front Street!

The later train (leaves Crystal Lake at 6:51) arrives in Harvard at 7:20. The just 3 blocks west on Front Street to the Gallery!

Heading home, there is a 9:35 train from Harvard that will take folks to Woodstock, Crystal Lake & beyond! The train is just $5 on weekends for unlimited rides! Plus, it is a beautiful ride, especially between Woodstock & Harvard! It gives folks a good idea of what this "land preservation" thing is all about!!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Disc Golf versus a Wetland

I read - with a groan - another rant in the newspaper from someone about those "special interest" people in McHenry trying to stop progress because it would mean kids throwing frisbees in their backyards.

I thought: Can't we all learn to get along? Isn't this world big enough for the frisbee-golfers too?

After a call from one of the anti-disc golf neighbors, I realized it wasn't just a case of some folks wanting to keep other folks out of their backyards. The proposed disc golf site is located on a wetland listed on the County's natural area inventory.

There are only about 170 such natural features remaining in the entire county. These natural areas took millenia to evolve, yet the only take hours to destroy through thoughtlessness -- or malice. There are lady slipper orchids growing out there. These flowers are typically only found in natural areas that have survived the onslaught of human beings.

The soil at the park is wet, mucky, not suitable for building anything, and certainly not appropriate for a bunch of people to be running around in, tossing hard discs into metal cages.

When most parks develop amenities in wet areas, things like boardwalks are built to allow people to move across the wetlands without damaging them. Think of Volo Bog or the Bog at Glacial Park near Ringwood. The wetland isn't usually planned for intensive use best suited to a mowed lawn.

Now I will rephrase my early question: "Can't we learn to get along with nature?"

People have destroyed or dramatically altered at least 99% of the landscape somoehow to the detriment of the natural communities that were once here. There are so few remnants of these unique combinations of plants, animals, soils and insects remaining, and yet we still find ways to trample on what little is left.

Call me a savage, but I think nature deserves some places to play too.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Life without the Internet


It was a long three weeks in some ways.

TLC moved our office about 500 feet on July 25th from a pole building at the back of a plant nursery to a 100 year old farmhouse at the new Hennen Conservation Area to serve as care-takers of this City of Woodstock park. We'll open and close the gate every day, monitor the trails, pick up trash, and provide a presence to help ensure vandalism does not become a problem.

And the 500 foot move meant we were about 300 feet out of the DSL service area for our former Internet provider. Thus began our three week journey to find an alternative to DSL...

In the meantime, being disconnected from the world of Internet and e-mail meant that we had plenty of time to organize all of the records that were moved from the old office, and ample time to work on organizing the Hennen Conservation Area for a public opening later this month. (August 30th from 2-3:30pm!!)

Thank you to the crew of summer interns who worked through heat and rain to put in a trail system (over 2 miles) and to begin removing invasive species that were crowding the handful of giant oaks they discovered while exploring the property (like the 52 inch diameter one pictured above).

Our new location at Hennen will give TLC lots of opportunities to actually run programs to help connect people with the great outdoors and with the work that TLC does to preserve and care for the land. For example, we'll work with City staff to plan "back to nature" programs to help connect Woodstock residents with the great outdoors -- a special opportunity presented by this site.

Hennen Conservation Area is a 25 acre parcel that was donated to the City by Phyllis & Tony Hennen - long time residents who retired to Minnesota three years ago. The Hennen's were known to many in the community through their daughters Tonya and Tara, and through their involvement in the "Stop the Stacks" battle against a proposed peaker plant in their back yard.

So, I guess the bottom line for me is that three weeks without the Internet was a very small price to pay for the priviledge of getting to work here every day -- actually the three weeks was a gift. Just like the Hennen Conservation Area will be a precious gift for area residents forever!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Road Madness

Promoting bicycle riding as an alternative to cars seems a good thing, right? The fewer cars we have on the roads, the less wear and tear on the roads, and the less need for widening them in the future.

There is a great informational video from the McHenry County Bicycle Advocates about the need to include bicycle lanes when planning to expand local road like Rakow Road!

If you have driven on Rakow, you know that it is a major east-west route in one of the most congested parts of the county, allowing people to drive from Randall Road to Route 31 as an alternative to Route 14.

Currently, Rakow can also be used for bicycle commuting because there is a sizable shoulder. However, plans to widen the road would mean that the shoulder would be eliminated, and bicycle commuting would be effectively eliminated as well.

The last reason I heard for this change was "cost." It costs more to include a bicycle lane, both in terms of design and pavement installation, because it means there is additional pavement to allow for both bicycles and cars to use the road safely.

Now, what if there were some highway funds that could be moved from a different project in the county and used for this one?

I know just the project: the proposed Alden Road widening project in Hartland and Alden Townships. The County Highway Department wants to add 8 foot shoulders the length of Alden Road because of safety concerns, and that will cost millions of dollars.

Alden Road does not have a lot of traffic - I've driven it several different times of day and days of the week recently just to see, and I can say that traffic is sparse. The impact of the widening would be huge, however. Landowners along the road have flagged trees and structures that would be affected by the increased shoulders -- it looks like at least 100 trees, a barn and portions of a couple of houses would be destroyed to add a wider shoulder to this rural road.

Alden Road also does not really provide an important travel alternative in this largely rural portion of the county, as Rakow does in a congested area. Nor does Alden Road make sense as a commuter bicycle route, as Rakow does... In terms of priorities, where would those road construction dollars best be spent?

So, here's a thought: why not reduce the speed limit on Alden Road to 45 miles per hour to improve safety, skip the expensive engineering and widening, and shift the Alden Road funds to the bicycle lane on Rakow Road? It would save lots of trees, a couple of houses and a barn, and would ensure that commuters can opt for riding their bicycles instead of driving their cars in a densely developed area of the county.

The MCBA website has more information, including a petition asking the county to include a bicycle lane on Rakow Road. Also, the Alden Road Alliance webiste has more information on the proposed Alden Road project.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Cure for Affluenza?


I don't often venture into the realm of economics, but after hearing Gus Speth, Dean of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University, I had to reconsider my aversion to the Dismal Science.

I heard Dean Speth in an interview with Kai Ryssdal on NPR's Marketplace today while I was driving home from an early dinner out with my husband, Tom.

The interview blew me away! Speth was talking about how perhaps the current economic crisis might just prompt a reordering of priorities in our "shop til you drop" society. One of the tenets of modern economic theory is that the only way to grow an economy is to consume. So how would our economy grow without all the consumption of stuff it depended upon until the crash?

To quote Speth: "Depends on what you consume, doesn't it? There are lots of things in our society that we need to grow. We need to grow health care, we need to grow education, we need to grow infrastructure, we need to grow an entirely new energy system. But what we probably don't need to grow is the volume of our stuff. We now have . . . the square-footage of the self-storage industry in the United States would now cover all of San Francisco and the entire island of Manhattan combined."

Think about that - it isn't that we stop all consumption*, it's a matter of changing where those consumer dollars are spent. We don't need to build & buy more stuff - we need to build better stuff and better systems that serve the needs of all our residents in the long run.

Speth cited studies about personal happiness that have found -- consistently -- that more stuff does not make us more happy - in fact, the more materialistic people are, the LESS happy they become. Quoting Speth: "In our country, in the United Kingdom, in Japan, GDP per capita has gone up and up and up but the level of life satisfaction has been stable. And what really makes people happy is warm, close, personal relationships. And giving, rather than getting."

Think about the things that make you happy. Quality, not quantity. Not more friends, but closer friends. Deciding to help someone else, not waiting to see what he can do for you.

But won't we be in trouble if we don't get back to the way things were a couple of years ago? Speth's answer, with my highlights:

"Well, we might not grow as fast. And I personally think that there are diminishing returns to growth. There are diminishing returns to affluence. And when you get a country that's as rich as ours, it really becomes a matter of spending what we have wisely. And all of my adult life I've heard people say, "You know, we need to keep growing or we'll face the distribution issue in our society. And we kept growing and distribution of income and resources and assets got worse. So, I think it's time to worry about some of these other things, and not so much about just growing the aggregate economy. And gives us the time to do things in life that really matter. We're rich enough for that now."

I heard that and I wanted to cry. I believe him - it isn't like we are a poor country -- even during a deep recession, many people are still driving alone in their SUVs, paying nearly $3 a gallon for gas.

Perhaps the reason the interview struck me so profoundly, is because Tom & I had just attended a brief Rally in front of State Rep Jack Franks' office, trying to raise awareness of the need to figure out how to fund services for our society's most vulnerable - people with mental illness and developmental disabilities.

That is the target group today -- yesterday it was natural resources -- tomorrow it might be health care, or clean air... Everything is up for grabs.




*For a primer on the deadend of our "build, buy, toss" consumerism, take a gander at Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff. It's a 20 minute animation that walks you through American consumerism. And the bottom line is this: we have had an unsustainable system that values style over substance and quantity over quality. Where obsolescence is built into consumer products --meaning that things are DESIGNED to break, and to cost more to repair than to replace, SO there is a built in incentive to throw things away and buy new things.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Does your water taste salty?

In McHenry County, virtually all of the water people use in our day to day lives comes from the ground - groundwater.

An important thing to remember about groundwater is that once pollutants make their way into the water that is underground, it is very difficult and expensive to remove.

A "contaminant" of growing concern in local groundwater supplies is chloride - an element that is being introduced to the groundwater through septic systems that are connected to homes with water softeners and also road salt.

The salt that is commonly used in water softeners to remove hardness from household water is Sodium Chloride (NaCl). The water "softening" process results in the release of high levels of sodium and chloride ions into the septic system where they quickly pass into the drain field and down into the groundwater.

The standard for chloride in drinking water is 250 milligrams per liter (mg/L). This is the level at which the water will taste salty to most people. Less chloride than that and people tend not to notice it.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), standards for chloride in drinking water are merely guidelines since chloride does not pose a health risk - at least not at levels low enough that we cannot taste it.

We've all heard advice to limit salt intake to help stay healthy, right? It's linked to high blood pressure and thereby an increased risk of heart disease. For humans, the primary source of salt (sodium chloride: NaCl) is the diet.

But, there are members of our community who "taste" chloride at a level of less than 100 mg/L, and whose well-being is profoundly affected in even these small amounts. The level of sodium found in McHenry County groundwater (in the Boone Creek watershed) is already 80 mg/L AND RISING!

A study documenting the dramatic increases in chloride levels in even rural areas of the northeastern US provides a lot of good information about the ecological impact of increasing salinity. The impacts include:

- altered natural community composition (many plants and animals cannot tolerate the higher chloride levels, so are replaced by those that can)

- changes in plant and animal reproduction and mortality (some plants and animals stop reproducing, and others die)

- changes in the structure of microbial communities.

This last one may seem trivial, but those microbes are critical to the soil food web that so much of life depends upon. Consider that oak growing in your yard - if the water table becomes salty, the beneficial fungi and microbes that the trees roots depend upon to feed the tree can die, and then the tree won't be far behind.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Rainbarrels (and Composters) R Us!

Thursday May 14th was the day for unloading rainbarrels & composters from trucks (over 200), and now Friday the 15th & Saturday the 16th are rainbarrel pick up!

So, we are pretty much all rainbarrels right now! 55-60 gallon barrels don't weigh a lot, but they are large, and stacked three high in the back of the building, they probably take up 500 square feet!

I asked one of the drivers where they get the barrels, and he said that all sorts of things are shipped in them from all over the world: pickles, banana peppers, olives, chocolate-covered cherries (??!!), etc. The barrels are made of really sturdy, food-grade plastic, but are not reused for shipping, so are a potentially huge waste stream. But, with a few simple additions, they make a great rainbarrel or composter.

The rainbarrels are fitted with a lid that has a screen covering one or more holes. This allows water to flow from a downspout into the barrel, but keeps mosquitoes from laying their eggs in the water. There is a spigot near the bottom, and a couple of small openings higher up where one can use a hose to connect multiple barrels together -- that way, when one barrel fills up, water starts to fill the next barrel.

The barrels used for composters have a solid lid, and a wooden stand with a bar through the middle of the barrel. This allows one to spin the barrel and mix the compost. The barrels also have a vent tube that allows air to get into the center of the barrel. (Air is one of the keys to making good compost.)

I bought one of the composters this year, and will be sure to let you know how it works. I can aleady vouch for the rainbarrels - I've had two for two years, and they are wonderful!
We plan to sell these every year - it is a fun way to raise awareness of the need for people to conserve water, and to recycle their food and yard waste.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Memorial Tree Planting Approaches


On May 23rd, TLC will have its second annual Memorial Oak Planting! This is a program we started in 2008 to provide local residents with a unique way to create a living memorial.

There are two options available:

- for $50 per tree, TLC will plant a tree for you to commemorate a special occasion (like a birthday or anniversary) or remember a loved one. TLC will send a certificate to the person of your choice to memorialize the planting.

- for $35 a tree, individuals can come and plant an oak themselves. (Each additional tree planted is just $20, so two trees would be $55 if you plant them yourself.) Planting times are at 9:30am and 11am for those who wish to plant their own tree. Call the TLC office 815-337-9502 to reserve your time.

As I am writing this, I think we have 40 trees ordered! That is going to be a nice oak grove one day! We will erect a sign to commemorate the planting.

We are very excited about the location of the planting: it will be at one of our newest easements, the 25 acre Hennen Conservation Area on Dean Street in Woodstock. The site where the trees will be planted is currently lawn, but will be restored to savanna over time as a demonstration of how people with oaks can convert their lawns to savanna if they have oaks.

The Hennen property is in the process of becoming a public park, so the grove of 2009 Memorial oaks is ensured of a good home for the next 100+ years!

Visit http://www.conservemc.org/ to place your order.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Update from Yonder Prairie

Thanks to site steward Scott Kuykendall for sending along a couple of photos from Sunday's Work Party at Yonder Prairie.

To the left is a Sandhill crane that he noticed at the site while he was taking photos as a baseline to help document the changes that we are going to see over the coming years. He noticed something move, looked up from the camera, and there he was - a male sandhill, probably looking for a mate!

Scott also saw a lot of marsh marigold blooming. These plants are such a happy member of our local wet natural areas. They come and go before most other wetland plants reveal their identities. They are a sure sign that there are more intersting species to be found at the site!

In addition to the singing of chorus frogs, Scott also heard the "descending whinny" of the Sora - a bird also known as the Sora Crake or the Sora Rail. This is a hard bird to spot, but I found a picture on the Net to give folks an idea of what they look like. These birds are found in wet areas, and research indicates that they prefer natural wetlands to restored (recreated) habitat. We'll be sure to keep an eye (and ear) out for them at Yonder to see if they are breeding there!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Lots of good news for local oaks

Project Quercus is all about preserving and regenerating the oak woods of the county. And, as we have been saying for a couple of years, the only way we are going to have oaks as a significant part of the local landscape 100 years from now is if individuals, local governments and local businesses all step up to do what they can.

Just this week, we had two perfect examples of how the community can step up -- and, frankly, how some in the community want to step up and help.

On Earth Day, April 22nd, Infinity Day Spa in Crystal Lake, and Ohana Farms near Marengo teamed up with TLC to plant 20 white oak saplings at Ryders Woods Conservation Area in Woodstock. That's Robin Tessmann from Infinity - the awesome spa owner who closed her business for a few hours so her staff could come out to plant the trees. They did it as a promotion for their customers, so each tree was dedicated to someone. Ohana donated the 2-year old, bare-root trees, TLC brought the shovels, buckets and flags, and the City of Woodstock supplied the mulch. There are a lot of big, old white oaks in the park, but no young trees, so it will be nice to see some young 'uns growing there too! The NW Herald did an article about it but forgot to mention TLC...

The second example also happened on Earth Day, when OWC (Other World Computing) made a donation to TLC to support the planting of 20 oaks at Westwood Conservation Area on Saturday May 16th! Thanks to OWC employee Kayleen Ivers for asking TLC about this, and for working with us to make it happen.

There is a nice story about it on OWC's blog which is read by their customers across the country: http://blog.macsales.com/. OWC built a new office and warehouse last year, meeting all of the environmental and energy efficiency standards necessary to achieve LEED Platinum certification through the US Green Building Council. That's a really big deal in the construction world.
Their heating and cooling is geothermal, they are planning to install a wind turbine system to generate electricity, the building is super insulated, the grounds include native plantings, AND they are making investments in the community where they are located to support sustainability here too.

TLC is happy to be a part of these local businesses' efforts to "green" the community!!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Burn Baby, Burn!

Ecological Fire Management of natural areas is so cool.

Take a natural area - prairie, wetland or woodland - and every year or two light it on fire. The fire knocks back invasive plants like buckthorn and garlic mustard, giving the deep rooted natives a fighting chance!

The picture makes fire look a little scary, with flames roaring higher than a person, but the truth is that when doing this, TLC is very careful. It is said that a really good ecological burn is slow and boring, and we strive to make sure our burns are the slowest and most boring!

First we make sure there are fire breaks surrounding the area we want to burn - this can be done by raking or mowing vegetation to get rid of stuff that will burn easily. The fire breaks provide a safe place for the crew to move in, and help ensure that the fire will stop at the edges of the site.

Then, starting at the portion of the fire break that is located such that the wind is blowing into our faces, we light a backfire -- this means lighting a fire a foot or so away from the fire break, and letting the wind push the fire to the fire break, resulting in a burned line that effectively expands the fire break. Because we are working against the wind at this point, we don't have to worry about the fire taking off across the site.

Once a really good blackline is burned in, we light the head fire. This is where the wind is at our backs, and the fire roars quickly across the site, dying out when it runs out of fuel at the blackline! Here is a picture of a head fire - you can see the flames leaving a charred landscape in their wake!

All through the burn, we make sure that crew members are positioned at strategic locations to catch any fire that starts up where it isn't supposed to be! Crew members are armed with flappers to smother the fire, rakes to get rid of fuel (grass and leaves), and waterpacks to extinguish the fire if needed.
Historically, fire roared across the landscape regularly, either started by lightning or lit by native people who used it to drive game. The plants that thrived in this landscape are therefore well adapted to fire -- the bur oaks have a thick, corky bark that withstands fire, and the native grasses and flowers have exceptionally deep roots that mean the plants will grow back!
The 2009 Spring burn season is drawing to a close now -- birds are starting to build nests, and grasses are starting to green up. We'd rather not burn down someone's house, not even a sparrow's!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Vernal Pools are Teeming with Life!

That's a crayfish, and last Friday, we saw several tiny, immature crayfish in vernal pools up in Alden Township. They were so tiny that the claws were about the width of a strand of hair! The entire critter was perhaps a quarter of an inch long, looking like some random bug larva, but under a magnifying glass, it became clear that these little guys were teeny-tiny crayfish!

A project to gather information about our local vernal pools has been organized by George Johnson, formerly of Alden Township but now living in Madison Wisconsin. One of the things that George had always hoped to accomplish when he lived in McHenry County, was to raise awareness of the presence and importance of these local temporary, spring ponds.

These seasonally wet areas are uncommon in the Chicago region, in large part because they are places that are filled in by homeowners and developers who do not see the benefits of having a wet, mucky spot in the yard each spring and perhaps into the summer.

The spring ponds are fairly common in Alden Township for a couple of reasons: 1. the area is still sparsely developed, and 2. historically, much of the area was used for livestock grazing instead of row crop farming. This meant that the seasonally wet spots survived, along with a lot of critters that are not often seen in the "suburbs."

Friday April 3rd was the inaugural day of McHenry County vernal pool monitoring. During their pool sampling, volunteers saw a large number of fairy shrimp (ranging in color from pink to red to blue to yellow, and everything in between), a wide variety of midges, scuds, and other tiny aquatic life that plays an important role in the overall food chain.

It was a cold day -- 43 degrees in the sun. The water was cold too -- 45 degrees. Yet, when we gazed into our dipping nets as we pulled them from the pools, tiny little eyes looked back at us! I had no idea there was so much activity on a cold day in cold water!

Unfortunately, there were also lots of mosquito larvae. These are another link in the web of life, providing a food source for dragonflies, frogs, fish, birds and other species that feed on water organisms, but I still don't like them. The skeeter larvae spend most of their time at the surface of the water breathing through a tube in their abdomen, as shown in the picture.

The eggs from which the larvae hatched were probably laid in the damp ground last summer or fall, and remained in an embryonic form until conditions were right for them to develop into larvae. The larval stage lasts a week or two, then turns into a pupa for a couple of days -- just long enough for it to become a fully-formed adult mosquito, ready to start feeding...

Now, don't blame the vernal pool for the mosquito larvae. These guys will develop in any little wet spot, regardless of the habitat. Lawns, bird baths, potholes in the road, etc. If it holds water for even a few days, it can be a source of skeeters!

One of the beautiful things about these vernal pools is that they are literally teeming with life of all shapes and sizes. There are microscopic things being eaten by tiny critters, which in turn are eaten by somewhat larger things, etc, etc. In that chain are tadpoles, young frogs and salamanders that eat mosquito larvae.
My wish is that there will be a large number of frog and salamander babies in all of our local vernal pools to eat those larvae before they become adults!


Friday, April 3, 2009

Low Impact Development

Recently, I listened to a webinar (a seminar on the Internet) about Low Impact Development (LID for short). It was put on by JFNew and the Delta Institute. JFNew is a native landscaping company, and the Delta Institute is a group that works towards creating a sustainable Great Lakes Region.

So, what is LID? It is all about working with the natural features and qualities of the land to manage stormwater in a non-structural way.

The stormwater management paradigm has long been to build systems to collect and transport away all of the rainwater that falls in a given area. Storm sewers, concrete lined swales, even traditional lawns, are essentially ways to keep water moving away from wherever it fell.

LID means capturing and using or infitrating water closer to where it lands through green infrastructure systems that are actually disconnected.

Try to picture this yard:

1. Rain hits the home's roof, and runs into the gutters, then through the downspout. At the end of the downspout is a rain barrel that collects the first 60 gallons of water for later use watering plants in the garden.

2. Once the rain barrel is full, water then flows out into the yard, where it encounters native plants that absorb some of the water, and slow the flow of the water (unlike a turf lawn that tends to move water quickly).

3. Eventually, some of the water reaches a rain garden - an area of native plants whose deep roots help absorb the water into the ground, and whose leaves help transpire water back into the atmosphere.

4. The yard also has several large trees whose leaves and branches intercept hundreds of gallons of water each time it rains, keeping that water from becoming run-off.

In this scenario, no water ever needs to reach the street and the public stormsewer system.

LID means doing this on a larger scale, and even though it saves money (today and in the future), it is still a very misunderstood, and little used method of handling rain water.

Why? A couple of reasons:

1. It isn't what most public works or consulting engineers learned in school. It is new, and perhaps seen as untested. Let's face it, stormsewers have been around for a long, long time. Builders, engineers, even the average person on the street, have a pretty good idea of how they work.

2. LID involves green stuff, not concrete. How can living things perform as well as -- or better than -- the concrete things we build? I think there is a suspicion of natural systems, because they are harder to quantify and predict. Fortunately, that is changing!

3. Our culture likes control. LID means turning over control of the rainwater to natural systems - to trees and rain gardens. LID means trusting living, growing green things to do their jobs. Yep, they will do what they are made to do whether we tell them to or not!

4. Local ordinances make it harder. Since LID is newer, many local governments do not yet have standards in place to facilitate these systems. Developers often have to fight for the right to use less -- or no -- stormwater piping!

It is time to embrace our natural systems, and to help them do what they are meant to do! It is a peculiar hubris that leads people to believe that they can design something that will operate better than the systems that Mother Earth provided! Call me a savage, but that seems very naive!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Amphibians Under Threat

The April 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine has an article about the dramatic, worldwide decline of amphibians (frogs and salamanders) due to a fungus that has been spreading rapidly over the last couple of decades.

The fungus, chytridiomycosis, targets the protein keratin which increases in frogs as they mature. So, a pond with the fungus may be teeming with tadpoles, but have no adult frogs. (And once those frogs mature, they will die too, and then the source of future tadpoles is gone...)

Even areas that are remote from civilization, like lakes high up in the Sierra mountains, have seen devastating die offs of frogs as the fungus has reached those seemingly isolated spots. The following quote seems to sum up the problem:

" 'Today's amphibians have taken not just a one-two punch, but a one-two-three-four punch. It's death by a thousand cuts,' says University of California, Berkeley, biol­ogist David Wake. Habitat destruc­tion, the introduction of exotic species, commercial exploitation, and water pollution are working in concert to decimate the world's amphibians."

Add to these other items the spread of the chytrid fungus, and the population of frogs and salamanders across the planet are in trouble. Hundreds of species have already gone extinct. Many other species are now found only in captivity, where scientists hope they can keep them around through breeding programs, and then reintroduce them to the wild once (if?) the situation with the fungus is resolved.

"Why care about frogs? 'I could give you a thousand reasons,' says herpetologist Luis Coloma. Because their skin acts not only as a protective barrier but also as a lung and a kidney, they can provide an early warning of pollutants. Their insect prey carries human pathogens, so frogs are an ally against disease. They serve as food for snakes, birds, even humans, playing a key role in both freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. 'There are places where the biomass of amphibians was once higher than all other vertebrates combined,' says David Wake. 'How can you take that out of the ecosystem without changing it in a major way? There will be ecological consequences that we haven't yet grasped.' "
It all goes back to Aldo Leopold's rule about intelligent tinkering: be sure you keep all the parts.

For a quick slide show of frogs from around the world, click here!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Have you Hugged Your Salamander Today?

Meet the Tiger Salamander Ambystoma tigrinum, one of the few salamader species found in McHenry County. Our local Tigers can be as large as 14 inches, but are more likely to be 6-8 inches long. You are most likely to find one of these guys in a moist woodland under leaf litter - they tend to be very private, probably to avoid predators!

There are about 500 species of salamader worldwide, with the largest type found in China, and weighing in at 140 pounds and nearly 6 feet long!
In Illinois, the largest salamander is called a Hellbender, and can be two and a half feet long. They are found in fast moving streams in the southern part of the state, so don't expect to see one in McHenry County!

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina is considered the salamander capital of the World, boasting 30 different species ranging from the inch and a half long pygmy salamander to the 30 inch hellbender!

Salamanders are amphibians, meaning they spend part of their life on the land and part in the water. They are most closely related to frogs and toads, although they may visually resemble lizards (or snakes with little feet). Their skin must be kept moist or they dry up and die.

Many, but not all, salamanders breathe through their skin, making them highly susceptible to pollutants like pesticides or other chemicals, as these things are absorbed directly through the skin and into the organs.

Salamanders fill an important niche in the overall food chain. They are carnivores, meaning they eat other animals like insects, eggs, small fish, and even small rodents or young frogs. In turn, they are eaten by raccoons, possums, large birds like herons and hawks, snakes, turtles and other medium-sized carnivores.

Following the first big rain in the spring, when temporary pools of water flood, salamanders emerge from hibernation, and head out in search of something to eat and a place where they can meet salamanders of the opposite gender! This drive to reproduce often results in so-called "breeding events" in the temporary pools, where several salamanders gather to lay and fertilize eggs. (Kind of a salamander orgy.)

However, because the salamander is a small, reclusive critter, any given salamander is unlikely to have the opportunity to breed more than once in its lifeime! So, if you happen to chance upon a salamander breeding event in your local vernal pool one spring, just look away, and let them enjoy the party -- it might be the only party any of them ever attend!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Fight for the right to bike in Crytal Lake!

There is a petition circulating by a group called McHenry County Bicyle Advocates, seeking support for a campaign to ensure that bicycle lanes are provided along Rakow Road in Crystal Lake when that road is widened. Adding a multi-use trail along the side of the road may only increase project costs by 2-3%. Total project costs are estimated at $30 million.

With gas prices expected to go up again, and the economy expected to drag for a while longer, more people are choosing to use bicycles - and even their feet - for getting around. And Rakow Road shouldn't be a nice short-cut just for cars.

TLC member Eberhard Veit is President of MCBA, and he is putting a lot of energy into this campaign.

You can find more information at their website: http://www.mcbicycleadvocates.org/, and you can contact Eberhard by email at eberhard.veit@eisenmann.com to find out where you can sign a petition, or how you can get a blank petition to help collect signatures.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Trees and Stormwater

Davey Tree Expert Company has a calculator on their website where individuals can calculate the annual dollar value of all the benefits the trees on their property provide -- to them and to the community at large!

For example, the 39 inch bur oak provides nearly $400 worth of benefits annually, including more than $195 in stormwater management by eliminating over 7,000 gallons of stormwater runoff every year! Without that tree, all of that rain water would flow rapidly to the street, helping to overwhelm the stormsewers.

Now, when I add up the stormwater caught by all of my trees: three bur oaks, one white oak, a cottonwood, two maples, two pears, and two honey locusts, the stormwater savings alone of these trees amounts to nearly $2000 a year, or 65,000 gallons of stormwater that is intercepted rather than running off into the stormsewers!

According to the Center for Urban Forest Research, trees act as mini-reservoirs, controlling runoff at the source. Trees reduce runoff by:

- Intercepting and holding rain on leaves, branches and bark
- Increasing infiltration and storage of rainwater through the tree's root system
- Reducing soil erosion by slowing rainfall before it strikes the soil

And you know what, the trees cost us virtually nothing. Sure, we rake the leaves in the fall (which is good exercise, by the way), and pick up branches after a windstorm, but the annual cost is minimal.

This kind of information makes me think that more communities could invest in promoting city trees as part of their stormwater management program rather than (or in addition to) expanding their stormsewer systems. I would guess that it is much less expensive to manage 7,000 gallons of water with a mature tree than by building more stormsewers.

According to American Forests: As communities grow, trees are removed to make way for impervious surfaces such as parking lots, roads and buildings. Our studies show that impervious surfaces have increased by 20% over the past 2 decades in urban areas. Constructed stormwater facilities are created to compensate for the tree loss. These facilities are expensive to build and maintain. The cost has been calculated to be in excess of $100 billion nationally.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Do you have time to help TLC?

Volunteers are the heart of any nonprofit organization, and TLC is no exception!

A whole diversity of TLC volunteers attend our regular Work Parties, cutting brush, burning prairies and wetlands, collecting seed, etc. They are awesome, and their combined efforts each year are equivalent to a half-time staff person.

Some volunteers are licensed herbicide applicators, a skill that requires taking a special class and passing a test. Some bring their own chainsaws, fuel and extra blades to help cut buckthorn and other brush and trees. But they all bring their hearts and energy to the work, doing what they can to restore the Earth.

Our board members are all volunteers, and they do much more than just attend a monthly board meeting! They serve on committees, attend conferences to learn more about conservation and nonprofit management, help out with land stewardship, and basically anything else that they can do to be helpful. The picture to the right is of board members Steve Wenzel and Randy Schietzelt visiting a property one weekend to see whether it was appropriate for TLC to accept as a donation.

TLC's Oak Keeper volunteers are making important contributions to understanding the 15,000 acres of privately owned oak woodlands in McHenry County. In their first year of monitoring private woods, the Oak Keepers have already "discovered" the first two documented occurrences of natural swamp white oak trees in the county - ever. That is really cool, and it was all because of the Oak Keepers project and the work of the TLC Oak Keeper volunteers.
There are many opportunities to make your own contribution as a TLC volunteer. Whether you have a couple of hours a month or a couple of hours a day, there is an opportunity waiting for you at TLC! Give us a call today!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

February is bird-feeding month!

I knew that February was African-American History Month, but only just learned that it is also "Bird Feeding Month," promoted by the National Bird-Feeding Society! (birdfeeding.org) The designation was made by Illinois Congressman John Porter in 1994, and has grown in popularity ever since.

February was selected because it is the hardest month for most wild birds, particularly in northern climates like ours. The weather is typically harsh, and food is scarce. The point of having a month devoted to raising awareness of the importance - and enjoyment - of bird feeding.

So, why feed birds?

Keep in mind that a typical backyard bird doesn't weigh as much as two nickels. They spend most of their waking hours searching for food - without the help of "hands" and "fingers". They may consume 20% of their body weight overnight just keeping warm enough to survive. Providing them with an easy to access source of nutritious food makes a big difference to these little guys!

Providing wild birds with food, water and shelter supplements their natural diet and helps them survive. A Wisconsin study showed that chickadees with access to feeders made it through a severe winter better than those without.

And feeding backyard birds is fun. It is exciting to look out and see a dozen or more birds - of different sizes and colors - hopping from bush to feeder and back again.

Here is a collection of advice and tid-bits I pulled off the Internet:

- Keep feeders full, so the birds have a dependable supply of food during cold weather.

- Keep feeders free of snow and ice.

- Offer suet, which is pure fat, a great source of energy for those backyard birds whose summer diet was mostly insects, like woodpeckers, as well as chickadees and nuthatches.

- Stamp down the snow underneath the feeders to help the ground feeding birds, such as juncos, cardinals, blue jays and doves.

- People shouldn't be discouraged if they put up a new feeder and the birds don't flock to it immediately. Because birds find food by sight, it can take a while for them to locate a fresh source. Try putting a piece of aluminum foil on the ground near the feeder, where sunlight can be reflected and catch their eye.

And bird feeding is good for one's health!

Watching wild birds relieves stress and helps one start the day on a positive note. Bringing birds into the backyard, particularly during gloomy northern winters, adds a welcome flash of color, dash of motion and splash of sound. Wild bird feeding is the principal connection many people have with wildlife, considering the continued trend toward moving out of rural and into urban areas.

So, if you aren't already a bird-feeder, now is the time to start! Advice from the experts is to start with a tube feeder, as pictured here. It will attract a diversity of birds. The Cornell University website has a wealth of information about birds and bird-feeding.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

TLC's 2009 Annual Meeting a Celebration of People & the Land they Love!

About 130 people gathered at the Bull Valley Golf Club for The Land Conservancy's 2009 Annual Meeting Sunday January 25th. The audience re-elected Sandra Scheinfeld and John Sterling, and elected new board member Jim May (not pictured here!)

Two individuals were presented with the Living with Trees Award for 2008: Dale Shriver for his tireless management of nearly 80 acres of remnant oak woods that he owns, and Robert Roe for his tireless efforts to restore the fen and oak woods at Dutch Creek - all on land that is protected by a conservation easement in his subdivision, Dutch Creek Estates.

The stories of five easement donors were shared with the audience:

- Dale Shriver & Judy Rogers for their 53 1/2 acre easement on the oak woods that MCCD didn't want to buy - but they wanted to be sure it was protected. The woods, which have been there since at least 1837 when the first public land survey was done for the county, have been sustainably managed for many years. At some point in the past, the white oaks were harvested to make bowling pins! So if you find any wooden bowling pins at an antique mall, just think - they might have beem made from Marengo oaks!

- Marty & Lynn Sobczak (who were unable to attend) for the 3 acre easement they dedicated on land that adjoins MCCD property on two sides, and contains the last natural lily pond along Nippersink Creek.

- Randy & Karen Stowe and Orrin & Patricia Bangert for dedicating conservation easements on land they own adjacent to the MCCD High Point Conservation Area. Their willingness to pledge that they would donate conservation easements on their land if MCCD purchased the adjacent natural area that contains the highest glaciated point in the State!

- Phyllis & Tony Hennen (who were unable to attend), for choosing to dedicate their 25 acres south of Woodstock as a conservation easement, and donate the land to the City of Woodstock as a public natural area. Attorney Jane Collins accepted their plaque for them. Ms. Collins was instrumental in the "Stop the Stacks" Peaker Plant battle that the Hennens fought for years, even turning down a very high offer from the peaker plant company, choosing not to sell out their home. Today, their choice means that not only is there no peaker plant south of Woodstock, but there will be a public park for all future residents, forever.

Numerous green, organic, local and homemade items were available in a silent auction. Where else can you get an organic turkey, organic onions, and organic honey in addition to a hand woven-silk shawl and hand carved wooden bowls.

Personally, I'm thrilled that I had the winning bid for the Farmer John Gift Bag that includes the movie "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," a copy of the Farmer John Cookbook, two Angelic Organics t-shirts, 2 pounds of organic coffee, two jars of organic honey, a pound of worm castings to use as a soil amendment, plus a delicious collection of handmade milk soaps!

Batavia author Gina Olszowski delighted the audience with her story based on her self-published book. Gina is the youthful 25 year-old author of Coming Soon to a Town Near You: Voices of Urban Sprawl. The book combines black & white photos with excerpts of interviews with residents and public officials to tell the story of urban sprawl and the effects it has on communities.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to it being an inspiring day!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

You can help track climate change!

This is the year of change, isn't it? The whole presidential campaign was about change -- President Obama's Campaign theme was "Change We Can Believe In." The theme for his election is "Restoring America's Promise," which implies that we have lost our promise, and need to make some changes to earn it back...

While there are still a few folks debating the causes of climate change, it is pretty clear that our weather patterns are changing.
Here's an example that any gardener can relate to: Portions of the Chicago region have edged up from Hardiness Zone 5b to Zone 6 according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

“The USDA map just doesn’t seem right anymore,” said Woody Nelson, vice president of communications for the foundation. [Yes, that is his actual name - Woody - and he works for the Arbor Day Foundation!] “So we took it upon ourselvesto do our own map.” For an updated take on which plants are hardy in your region, look at the foundation’s map online.

The map puts the Chicago area in Zone 6 with an average low of 0 to -10 degrees. The area is in Zone 5 on the USDA map. The foundation used data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the same source the USDA map uses, but the data are more recent, collected from 1990 to 2004. The foundation’s map, like the USDA’s, is a compilation of average low temperatures because the lack of cold hardiness is the most profound barrier to plant success. Plants simply can’t adapt to regions where they are unable to survive the winter.The changes were startling. Many areas jumped one or two zones higher. “The climate has changed,” Nelson said. “It has warmed.”

It turns out that we can all help contribute real world information that will help scientists understand the implications of any changes that may be happening. The citizen tracking effort is called Project Budburst, and it is sponsored by organizations ranging from the US Forest Service to the Chicago Botanic Garden. You can join with thousands of gardeners across the country in tracking when the plants in your yard leaf and flower each year.
If you are at all like me, you delight in noticing those early blooms and sprouts - whether they are chives, crocuses or dandelions! Now, you can sign up to share that information with a national network, and be part of a pretty cool "citizen scientist" project that has practical applications for folks everywhere!