Fleming Road Update

With 17 Natural Heritage Corridor Easements under our belt, I guess TLC is serious about helping to preserve the Fleming Road corridor!

After attending the County DOT's fourth Citizen's Advisory Group meeting for Fleming Road on March 3rd. I can summarize the comments from the Village of Bull Valley, Fleming Road Alliance, Environmental Defenders, Boone Creek Watershed Alliance & County Bicycle Advocates in three words:

"You're Not Listening!"

Two alternatives were presented to the group: one that would require the removal of about 120 trees, and another that would result in just 19 trees being taken down. The one that saves more trees would use retaining walls and curbs/gutters in spots to reduce the amount of grading they would do where there are hills adjacent to the road as in the picture.

The members of the CAG have been saying for nearly a year that they would like the County to consider an alternative that keeps the road in the same footprint as it is in today -- 2- 10 1/2 foot lanes and a one foot shoulder (of sorts) on either side of the pavement.

Folks agree that the road needs to be repaired, and that there are a small number of areas where water pools on the road. They just don't understand why $935,000 or so is being spent to study "how" to overhaul the road, when the residents have asked that it be kept much as it is today.

At one point the discussion turned to safety, and the need to make the road more safe. A representative from the County Sheriff's department commented that the incidence of accidents on the road is "amazingly low." One of the CAG members pointed out that a good way to predict the future is to look at the past -- in other words, perhaps Fleming Road has such a low accident rate for the simple reason that it is in the configuration that it is today.

In fact, studies show that wide, flat, straight roads are less safe than roads that are more narrow and have trees and the like nearer to the pavement.

So, if we place safety ahead of speed, then maybe the road agencies could start replicating the design of Fleming Road - windy, hilly, narrow roads with lots of large trees near the pavement?

12-step program for gasoholics?

Well, I don't suppose anyone is surprised that the media talking heads are predicting that gas prices could hit $4 or $5 a gallon by Memorial Day.

Prices have been rising steadily since the unrest started in Egypt a couple of weeks ago, and now that Libya has come un-hinged, the gas companies are not wasting a minute raising prices for the consumer. Come on, they went up 5-cents in the last 24 hours based on rumors that Ghadafi is going to blow up Libya's oil wells.

Even though Libya produces just 2% of the world's oil!

Now, I don't fault the local station owners - they have such a small margin to work with, and they don't call the shots. No, I believe the blame lies primarily with the corporate honchos who seem to book record profits each year, regardless of what happens -- oil surpluses, oil shortages, giant oil spills covering the Gulf.

But the average person really needs to take some responsiblity for the situation. After all, it is America's gas-guzzling lifestyle that makes us so economically vulnerable to the political drama in just a handful of countries and that makes it so easy for a half-dozen or so corporate CEOs to bring the world economy to its knees.

There is an answer. We need to kick the gas habit.

Time for a 12-step program for gasoholics:

- group your errands so you drive less

- shut the car engine off if you are going to be idling for 20 seconds or more - a car gets zero miles to the gallon when idling

- make sure your tires are properly inflated -- you can improve mileage by 15% that way

- drive smarter: go the speed limit, no jack-rabbit starts, no tail-gating or anything else that causes one to drive in a herky-jerky way (you get the picture)

- if you have to have a car, get one that's more fuel efficient than whatever you are driving now

- walk, carpool, take public transportation, use a bicycle -- anything that means turning over the ignition in one's car less frequently -- a lot less

- buy food that is grown locally - food transportation uses a large amount of gasoline, especially when the average item in the grocery store has travelled 3,000 miles to get to that shelf...

- replace the gas lawn mower with an electric or manual model

- go meatless one day a week, and be sure you buy your meat from a local farmer

- turn the thermostat down in winter and up in summer - at least 2 degrees

- pay the neighborhood kid $20 to shovel your driveway instead of starting the snow-blower (okay, the Feb 2 snow was a bit more than the kid could manage...)

.... that's 11 ideas. What do you suggest for number 12?

A Valentine's Day Fable

This morning I heard a Cardinal singing as I took seed out for the birds. This brought to mind a story I was once told about the origins of Valentine's Day, and the day's connection with the red bird Cardinalis caradinalis.

But, first, a little history. While Saint Valentine's Day appears to have been recognized by the Catholic church dating back to the early days of Christianity, with no fewer than three Saints named Valentine linked to the date of February 14th. While the greeting card industry has attempted to link at least one of the Saints to something of a tragic-romantic story that would establish him as the source of this day of eternal love, there is no basis in fact for these claims.

Historians tend to connect the celebration to a Roman pagan holiday of fertility that occurred in mid-February. But, it wasn't until 1382 that Geoffrey Chaucer became first person to link the feast of Saint Valentine's Day with romantic love, when he penned these lines (adapted from the old English):

For this was on Saint Valentine's Day

When every bird come there to choose his mate

A few years ago, a local man told me the story that he had always been told of Valentine's Day, and while I cannot find any support for it on the Internet, it does make sense when I put Chaucer together with the Cardinal's song.

The story is that February 14th was the typical day that male cardinals were heard singing to establish their territories and attract a mate for the season. The bright red of the bird and the cardinal's quest for a mate were translated by some romantic soul into the image of a red heart which stays with us to this day.

Each year since I first heard that story, I have noticed a male cardinal's song in mid-February. I wonder if Chaucer was inspired by that same song some 700+ years ago?

Are oaks like people?

The first TLC easement was accepted in 1991 from Leta & Alice Clark at the corner of Thompson Road & Route 120. The sisters wanted to be sure that their "Wildflower Preserve" was never developed, despite a friend's comment that the corner "would make a perfect spot for a gas station" one day! Actually, legend tells me that the friend's comment is what led the sisters to seek out someone to help them make sure that fate would never befall their lovely corner.

The photo was taken in April 2010 while driving past on Route 120, heading from McHenry to Woodstock. About 10 years ago, IDOT redid the intersection and took some land along Thomspon and 120, which I believe led to the eventual die-off of several oaks that were very near to the roads.

There was an enormous bur oak right at the corner that died in 2009. Some say "fungus" was the cause, but I feel in my heart that the bur oak's fate was sealed as soon as its roots were cut and crushed during the road work a decade ago.

I have started to think of these oak trees as if they were people. It's not that far-fetched, really. Sure, they live 2-3 times longer than most people, but they cannot reproduce until they reach some stage of maturity -- about 20 years old. Each oak is unique, and grows more distinctive as it ages.

As most people age, it isn't usually one thing that kills us, it's some combination of things that add up over the years. Well, why wouldn't it be the same for our oaks?

I would like to think that we can afford these elders a little respect, rather than seeing how much abuse they can take before they succumb?

Memories of snows past...

My younger brother was born January 23, 1967, just before the BIG snow. I was just 4 at the time, but my memories of the giant mounds of snow - everywhere - are quite vivid.

The photo isn't of our house -- I can't find one of those -- but it is from the '67 snow. You have to look closely, but there is a boy standing on the pile of snow on the right side of the photo. (Doesn't that look like fun!)


Dad built a hill of snow at the side of the garage that made a sledding hill extending from the top of the garage on down. I have seen the pictures of my sister and I standing in our snow suits next to the giant hill, perhaps wondering where mom was, and why we were having to eat so many hard boiled eggs... (dad was not much of a cook)

We would have been too young to understand that mom was stuck at the hospital, having been conscripted to work as a nurse's aid since the hospital was short-staffed due to the storm! There was no way for dad to get to Evanston Hospital to bring her and our baby brother home.

I have a clear memory of the 1979 snow because we didn't have to go to school for at least a couple of days, so a friend and I put our snow pants on and went trudging through the town. We visited other friends, stopping in their homes for hot cocoa and cookies, and trying to talk them into joining us on our trek.

Today, the news reports are that a similar storm ("blizzard") is on its way Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Possibly 18 inches in 24 hours, on top of the 6 inches expected tonight. Sounds like a good reason for a snow day - or two!!

Enjoy!!

Why does it snow?

Do you ever wonder why it snows?

With the regular snow events that we've had since early December, I find myself thinking about snow - where it comes from and why it falls...

Well, the simple explanation is that we get snow when moisture falls from the clouds and the air is below freezing, so the water falls in a frozen state.

Actually, it is so cold up in the clouds that all rain starts out as snow, but then it thaws on the way down.

According to a short article on The Weather Predictor website, ice crystals form in clouds, and as they stick to each other, eventually they become heavy enough that they fall.

If the air is warm enough on the way down, the ice crystals (aka snow flakes) turn into rain drops. If the air temperature is just above freezing, the snowflakes partly melt and we get sleet. And if the air is below freezing, then we get snow!

Now, snow takes up a lot more space than rain. In fact, on average, a 10" snow fall, if melted, would yield about an inch of water. So, when we get a couple inches of snow, and traffic gets all messed up -- cars in the ditch, skidding on the slick pavement -- that is an amount of water equivalent to less than a quarter inch of rain.

John Fowles' Tree

In 1979, author John Fowles released his non-fiction book "The Tree." Coming from the author of The French Lieutenant's Woman, this sweet little book must have surprised many.

The writing style is pure Fowles - densely packed with sensuous descriptions of his life in England - but the subject matter is unexpected.

Using his experiences with trees growing up and living in both urban and rural England, he expertly tells a story of the interdependence of humankind, art and nature.

Thirty years ago, he was asking questions that we have yet to answer. How do we heal the disconnect between people and nature? Are doing nature a disservice when we try to explain it using science, rather than appreciating it as we do great art?

Nature is much more than the sum of its parts, just as a Picasso is more than brush strokes on canvas.

What would it say about us if we took all of the works of poetry ever written and gathered them together to destroy them? Fowles felt that this is exactly what we were doing to the natural world. Taking the amazing, complex and original creation that was given to us, and destroying it -- consciously, deliberately, knowingly denying future generations the opportunity to enjoy and experience things that we have had the chance to know.

It's quite barbaric, actually, when one stops to think about it.

He offers no answers, at least nothing explicitly stated. But, as with a Fowles' novel, answers are there on the periphery, at the edge of consciousness. That place that lies between dream and reality, where truth is often found.

For Fowles, the secret to nature lies in the woods. As he explains, woods are quite elusive to the artist, whether she be writer or photographer. The reason is that the complexity of any woodland can never be captured in its entirety - it can only be experienced by the individual.

That seems the crux of the challenge we face in changing the prevailing relationship between humankind and nature: there is not one answer - there are as many answers as there are individuals.