Wild Parsnip: It can hurt you!

If you have it, you know it!

If you aren't sure, read carefully, because you want to be very careful around this plant!

Wild parsnip is phototoxic, meaning that the combination of the plant's oil and sunlight will cause severe burns. A friend gave us a picture of a burn he received from sunlit-contact with this nasty invasive. I won't post it here, but trust me, you don't want it!

I was at a conference a couple of years ago, and asked several experienced land managers about parsnip - before giving me their management advice, each one would role up his or her shirt sleeve and point out scars earned during parsnip management work to be sure I knew how dangerous the plant was.

Despite the plant's toxicity, it can be controlled. Use the plant's life-history to your favor. It is a biennial, meaning that during its first year of growth it focuses on putting energy into its root system, and in the second year (or sometimes the third), it sends up a stem and blooms to set seed and create the next generation of plants.

With this in mind, it is NOT effecive to herbicide the plant in year two, because the herbicide is designed to be delivered to the root when the plant feeds the root, and in year two, the plant is focused on producing seed, not feeding the root! That means the herbicide can't do its job. However, in the first year, herbicide works great because the plant is focused on putting food into the root, so if you are able to identify first year plants, spray away (using glyphosate, aka Roundup).

Here is a summary of the best advice I obtained about non-chemical control of the plant:
1. Wear long sleeves, long pants & gloves to be sure the plant does not touch your skin. After you finish any contact with the plant, thoroughly wash your clothes - including the gloves - take a shower just to be sure, and wash any tools that came in contact with the plant so you don't pick up the oil later. Another suggestion is to wear a miner's helmet with a light and cut the parsnip in the dark - the person who suggested this was quite serious!

2. If there are just a few plants, pull them out by the roots before they set seed. Destroy the plants by burning them. DO NOT leave the plants lying where you pull them.

3. If you have an infestation that is too large to hand pull, then try this approach: after the plants flower, but before they set seed, cut the seed heads off and gather the cut tops together to burn them. NOTE: the plants are likely to flower again and will set seed, BUT, the flowers will be smaller, there will be fewer seeds, and many of the seeds are likely to be sterile. In four or five years, this approach should result in a dramatically reduced number of plants. At that point, the remaining ones can be pulled.

4. If you decide to mow the parsnip (because of size or resources), use a pull-behind tractor type mower, not a push mower, and definitely not a rotary cutter or weed whip! Those are much more likely to scatter the oil around where you or someone nearby can be harmed! Mowing should be timed carefully to occur when the plant has finished blooming but has not set seed. Late July is usually a good time for this -- you want to get the plants cut before they turn brown, because once they turn brown, they have set seed. The area mowed should then be checked in a few weeks for resprouts, and if necessary mowed again.

5. One good piece of news is that sites with a well-established prairie planting are not likely to be invaded by parsnip, and, if an area is enhanced by adding native seed, the parsnip is likely to fade on its own over time.

6. Prescribed fire does not really help control the plant, BUT, it will make it easier to identify the first year plants in the spring since they will be some of the earliest plants to come up. I'd like to thank my friend Vern LaGesse from Springfield for talking me through the ins and outs of parsnip management, and for reminding me to check the INPC vegetation management website because they have pulled a lot of good resources together to help individuals with managing weeds on their property.

Some parsnip facts FYI:

Life history: Wild parsnip typically lives for two years. The first year, as a spindly rosette of leaves, it keeps fairly low to the ground while the plant's carrot-like taproot develops. It may live two or more years this way until conditions are right for flowering. The second year, a hollow, grooved flower stalk rises 2-5 feet high, first holding clusters of yellow flowers and later dozens of flat, oval seeds.

Leaves: Pinnately compound, with a main stem and 5 to 15 leaflets.
Flowers: Yellow, in flat-topped umbrella-like clusters at the top of the plant.
Season: Wild parsnip rosettes are among the first plants to become green in spring, and its flowers turn a prominent yellow in midsummer. After flowering and going to seed, plants die and turn brown in fall, but first year rosettes remain green until frost.
Habitat: Roadsides, abandoned fields, unmowed pastures, edges of woods, prairie restorations.

If you want to see it, good places to spot the plant in first and second year growth are along Route 14 between Woodstock and Harvard, and along 176 by Lippold Park in Crystal Lake. It looks a little like yellow Queen Anne's Lace (or a tall, tough Golden Alexander). Look, but don't touch!

Weeds Are Us

Well, that's what Michael Pollan, author of Botany of Desire, says. He makes a compelling case.

He points out that plants we call weeds are those plants that tend to do well in areas that have been disturbed by humans - farm fields, urban areas, any suburban lawn, for example...

Add to that the fact that people have moved plants around the planet for pretty much as long as humans have been moving themselves, and one can see that weeds and people are inextricably linked.

In some cases, we have even planted the future noxious weeds ourselves. This is the case with both multiflora rose and reed canary grass, which were promoted for planting by the federal government as recently as the 1960s! Today, there is not a natural area manager around who does not curse those plants on a regular basis.

Multiflora rose, with its thorns and long, twining vines, has ripped clothes, snagged skin, and made many walks through the woods unpleasant for decades now. Cutting it and treating the cut stalks with herbicide is about the only way to get rid of it. And that is tedious, unpleasant work!

Reed canary grass (rcg), which was recommended to farmers as a forage plant for low-lying areas, has now moved on to invade nearly any wetland area. Too many wetlands that were dominated by native plants just a decade ago are now dominated by reed canary grass. Rodeo (R) is an herbicide that will kill the grass, but because rcg produces so many seeds, it can take years just to exhaust the seed bank. And, if the area has any water draining into it, there is always the likelihood that seed will flow in from infested areas upstream.

It's daunting, isn't it?

So, what can one person do?

Well, the best thing to do it to plant only native species. Red Buffalo Nursery in Hebron has a nice feature on its website that allows one to get a list of native plants that fit certain criteria (amount of sun, soil conditions, and type of plant -- grass, forb, etc)

The second best thing to do is plant only species that are not invasive. The Chicago Botanic Garden has a nice feature available to help people choose plants that are not invasive - weedy - for most every situation.

Making different choices about what we plant will help stop the increase in invasive plants crowding out our local natural areas.

If you'd like to do more, you can volunteer to help at a restoration work day!

Oaky D'Oak, we're planting Oaks!

For Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 30), TLC is planting oaks with people throughout McHenry County. These little trees will be Mighty Oaks one day, but it could be 20 years before we're sitting under their shade!

So, what's up with that? What's the point of planting a tree if it is going to take that long to turn into a "real" tree?

Well, for those readers who have been checking out this blog for the last couple of years, you already know the answer, but let's review - for old time's sake!

McHenry County was once 40% covered in oak-hickory woods and savannas. Today, nearly 90% of those woods have been lost. Many were cleared in the earliest days of settlement for farming or building homes, barns & fences, or even to provide fuel to heat homes. In fact, during the first 40 years following settlement, 50% of the oaks were cut down. Over the following 130 years, another 38% were sacrificed - primarily for development.

So, isn't one tree as good as another?

No, Oaks are better. They really are in many ways.

Oaks have acorns. Acorns are a valuable food source for a diversity of wildlife ranging from deer to blue jays. Native people would make biscuits from acorn flour because they were potent sources of energy.

Insects love oaks, and more insects use oaks for at least some part of their lifecycles than any other type of tree. And a diversity of insects translates directly into a diversity of birds! So, even if one doesn't appreciate insects, most folks do like birds.

Oaks are McHenry County's heritage. Not maples, not willows, not cottonwoods. Oaks. Quercus. Macrocarpa (bur), Rubra (red), Bicolor (swamp white), Alba (white). And if we play our cards right -- if we all do what we can to restore, protect and regenerate our local oaks -- oaks will be our future too!

Remember, the Greeks said: A society grows great when old men & women plant [oaks] whose shade they know they shall never sit in. Let's make McHenry County a great society!!

Horse Fair Springs Fen update!

That's skunk cabbage poking up through the snow on the first day of Spring (March 20th) at Spring Grove's Horse Fair Spring Fen! The little creek was thick with those early-rising, prehistoric-looking plants that are a sure sign of a natural, high quality wetland.

Kudos to Linda Balek for exploring this forgotten corner of the Village last year and finding this hidden gem! March 20th was the second Volunteer Work Party at the property, and what a Party it was. Just five of us made a big dent in the invasive brush, two with chain saws and three hauling & stacking the cut wood!

Who knew it would snow on that first Spring morning! But a few flakes didn't stop the volunteers, just as they didn't stop the skunk cabbage from poking up after its long winter nap.

The pictures on the right and left show the area before and during clearing -- lots of brush is visible. The picture on the right shows Ted Thornton & Rich Paull wrestling with a box elder that has been cut, but won't fall because its upper branches are hung up by grape vines. Snags like that have can't be left to fall later -- they could hurt someone if they fell unexpectedly.

The final picture is of the same area after the clearing is complete. The dark spot in the middle appears to be a wet area that will probably be thick with skunk cabbage next time we're out there!!

For the Love of Oaks

Look at that red oak acorn! Looking like a chubby head with a cap that's a bit too small!

Did you know that an oak tree has to be 20 years old before it produces acorns? At 20-years, an oak is technically mature, but still just a kid -- kind of like people, I guess.

That is why the state of McHenry County's oak woods is so alarming. The rate things are going, we are going to lose a lot of the large old oaks in the next 20 years, but there are not many young oaks growing in the local woods to take their places when the ancient giants succumb to age or disease.

There are a number of reasons why oaks are not reproducing, but most of the problem has to do with what is happening on the ground under the trees, after the acorns fall. One of two conditions is often to blame: either a lawn is maintained under the oaks - meaning that any young seedlings that start to grow will be killed by the mowers; or, invasive brush chokes them out and blocks the sun that they need to grow!

For many years, I had one of those mowed lawns around our large bur and white oaks on our lot in Harvard. Then, about 5 years ago, we started restoring areas of the yard to native plants, gradually replacing large parts of the lawn with savanna & woodland species - grasses, wildflowers and shrubs like hazelnuts. We even installed a rain garden, and then last fall, mulched a couple of areas extensively to help eliminate even more lawn around the oaks.

And we see young oaks growing, thanks to the many squirrels that bury their acorns all over the yard!

TLC works with a lot of landowners who are tackling buckthorn and honeysuckle thickets around their oaks. One piece of advice we hear over and over again is "start small." Pick one oak, and decide to clear the brush around it - being sure to paint the cut stumps with an appropriate herbicide like glyphosate. When clearing the brush, keep an eye out for any young oaks trying to grow, and avoid harming them -- they are the future!

You don't have to do everything at once, but by resolving to at least start to make things more hospitable for oaks, we can all make a difference!

Land of Oz article link

Did you see the article in the Monday, January 11th NW Herald about TLC's purchase of a 60 acres we are calling the Land of Oz?

This is only the third time TLC has purchased land -- we only buy land when it is on the county natural areas inventory, and either too small or isolated to be purchased by the Conservation District. Otherwise, we leave the land-buying to them, and focus on work with private landowners.

Let's face it, land is expensive, the District has the money, and they are really good at acquisition. On the other hand, because of Linda Balek, TLC excels at working with private landowners to help them leave their legacies of land for future generations.

But, that brings us back to the Land of Oz. We purchased 60 acres of (mostly) wetland for $270,000, and will undertake restoration in the coming years. There is a lot of reed canary grass growing out there, BUT, there are also these amazing pockets of natural sedge meadow that have no reed canary. The pockets are dominated by blue joint grass, sedges, wetland forbs, and all the things one would expect to find in a natural sedge meadow.

The goal of TLC's restoration will be to connect the dots -- to expand the extent of the high quality pockets to the point where they dominate the site.

We decided to name the site the Land of Oz after the long-time owner, Nat Ozmon. But, the name fits for other reasons as well. Like Baum's Land of Oz, this place would only be found by accident, as when the Wizard's balloon blew off course and in to the Emerald City. It is otherwise inaccessible, and hidden from view due to topography. The Land of Oz lies at the bottom of a basin, and does not have direct frontage on any road.

Our local Land of Oz is also a place of wonder - a place where surprises lie around each bend.

We haven't seen any munchkins yet! Or cowardly lions. But I bet there are plenty of frogs & salamanders! We'll find out in the Spring - I hope you'll join us.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Inaugural Work Party!

Who's up for a winter work party?!

The Presidential Inauguration is going to be Tuesday January 20th, and the theme is "Restoring America's Promise," so what better way to celebrate than by attending the Inaugural Workday at our newest preserve: West Woodstock Prairie?!

The President-elect's Inaugural Committee is having a Day of Service on Monday, January 19th, the MLK Jr. Day Holiday, and encouraging people to volunteer in their communities to kick-off this new era of restoration!

It's practically a Presidential Decree! And you can be a part of this historic event by participating in TLC's Inaugural Work Party at West Woodstock Prairie!! You don't want to miss out on the fun!

Meet at 9am on Rose Farm Road, south of Kishwaukee Valley Road on the west side of Woodstock! You can park at the side of the road. Thanks to Seneca Township for clearing the shoulder for us to park on! Dress for the weather, and in work clothes. We plan to get a bonfire going to burn the brush we cut - and help us stay warm. We'll have something warm to drink and sweet things to eat!

Wild Parsnip Advice

If you have it, you know it!

If you aren't sure, read carefully, because you want to be very careful around this plant!

Here is the management warning from the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission "Vegetation Management Guidelines" web page for this plant: "Warning-- Care should be taken to avoid skin contact with the toxic sap of the plant tissues by wearing gloves, sleeves, and long pants.Although eradication of this exotic is desirable from a human safety as well as ecological standpoint, in some situations the best control measure is to do nothing."

The plant is phototoxic - in other words, it gives off an oil that is activated by sunlight. And once activated, it can cause burn-like rashes.

I was at a conference recently, and asked several experienced land managers about parsnip - before giving me their management advice, each one would role up his or her shirt sleeve and point out scars earned during parsnip management work to be sure I knew how dangerous the plant was.

Despite the plant's toxicity, it can be controlled. NOTE: once the plant turns brown, it is ready to drop seed! So, while this advice is coming right at the end of parsnip season, it might help someone develop a plan of attack for next year.

Use the plant's life-history to your favor. It is a biennial, meaning that during its first year of growth it focuses on putting energy into its root system, and in the second year (or sometimes the third), it sends up a stem and blooms to set seed and create the next generation of plants.

With this in mind, it is ineffecive to herbicide the plant in year two, because the herbicide is designed to be delivered to the root when the plant feeds the root, and in year two, the plant is focused on producing seed, not feeding the root! That means the herbicide can't do its job. However, in the first year, herbicide works great because the plant is focused on putting food into the root, so if you are able to identify first year plants, spray away (using glyphosate, aka Roundup).

Here is a summary of the best advice I obtained about non-chemical control of the plant:

1. Wear long sleeves, long pants & gloves to be sure the plant does not touch your skin. After you finish any contact with the plant, thoroughly wash your clothes - including the gloves - take a shower just to be sure, and wash any tools that came in contact with the plant so you don't pick up the oil later. Another suggestion was to wear a miner's helmet with a light and cut the parsnip in the dark - the person who suggested this was quite serious!

2. If there are just a few plants, pull them out by the roots before they set seed. Destroy the plants by burning them. DO NOT leave the plants lying where you pull them.

3. If you have an infestation that is too large to hand pull, then try this approach: after the plants flower, but before they set seed, cut the seed heads off and gather the cut tops together to burn them. NOTE: the plants are likely to flower again and will set seed, BUT, the flowers will be smaller, there will be fewer seeds, and many of the seeds are likely to be sterile. In four or five years, this approach should result in a dramatically reduced number of plants. At that point, the remaining ones can be pulled.

4. If mowing the parsnip (because of size or resources), use a pull-behind tractor type mower, not a push mower, and definitely not a rotary cutter or weed whip! Those are much more likely to scatter the oil around where you or someone nearby can be harmed! Mowing should be timed carefully to occur when the plant has finished blooming but has not set seed. (Friday, August 1st would have been a good day - the plants I saw looked ready.) The area mowed should then be checked in a few weeks for resprouts, and if necessary mowed again.

5. One good piece of news is that sites with a well-established prairie planting are not likely to be invaded by parsnip, and, if an area is enhanced, the parsnip is likely to fade on its own over time.

6. Prescribed fire does not really help control the plant, BUT, it will make it easier to identify the first year plants in the spring since they will be some of the earliest plants to come up.

I'd like to thank my friend Vern LaGesse from Springfield for talking me through the ins and outs of parsnip management, and for reminding me to check the INPC vegetation management website because they have pulled a lot of good resources together to help individuals with managing weeds on their property.

This is a photo of first year growth

Do you have an experience with parsnip control to share? I'd love to hear it!!

Some facts FYI:
Life history: Wild parsnip typically lives for two years. The first year, as a spindly rosette of leaves, it keeps fairly low to the ground while the plant's carrot-like taproot develops. It may live two or more years this way until conditions are right for flowering. The second year, a hollow, grooved flower stalk rises 2-5 feet high, first holding clusters of yellow flowers and later dozens of flat, oval seeds.

Leaves: Pinnately compound, with a main stem and 5 to 15 leaflets.

Flowers: Yellow, in flat-topped umbrella-like clusters at the top of the plant.

Season: Wild parsnip rosettes are among the first plants to become green in spring, and its flowers turn a prominent yellow in midsummer. After flowering and going to seed, plants die and turn brown in fall, but first year rosettes remain green until frost.

Habitat: Roadsides, abandoned fields, unmowed pastures, edges of woods, prairie restorations.

Seed Sharing Day

About two dozen people came out to Alden Township October 27th for the third annual "Seed Sharing Day" where local landowners open up their restored properties to other landowners from across the county to gather seeds of native plants for their own restorations.

TLC's Linda Balek worked with the WPPC's Carol Rice & Jim Keenen - and the five local landowners who opened their properties- to coordinate the event this year.

One feature of the event (shown above) is the collection of native seeds that local landowners gather prior to the event and make available to participants. This allows people to obtain seed for species that may have set their seed earlier in the year (like spring or early summer flowering plants).

This year, WPPC member and Nature Preserve owner, Jeanine Dammann brought along about two dozen small Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) seedlings that she claims grow like weeds by her house. People with savannas were encouraged to take the dogwoods for planting at their own properties. This is a beautiful, small native tree that grows in the understory of oak woodlands and savannas. The tree has clusters of small, white flowers in late spring, clusters of small, dark, blue-black fruit in summer, and reddish-purple fall color. Horizontal branches give the tree a unique layered appearance.

TLC's land protection efforts continue

At the May 7th TLC board meeting, permanent protection will be granted to nearly 94 acres of McHenry County land! Both project have been in the works for a couple of years.

Dutch Creek Conservation Area, a 37.5 acre TLC easement at Dutch Creek Estates subdivision in Johnsburg adjoins property owned by MCCD and another Dutch Creek easement held by the District. The easement comes with a long-term management agreement for the wetlands, riparian area along Dutch Creek, and the upland buffer areas. Funding for the management will be paid through the Homeowner's Association.

Haligus Road Sedge Meadow (I just came up with the name), a 56.4 acre wetland and upland buffer area in Lakewood at the Woodland Hills subdivision will be preserved forever by TLC through a permanent conservation easement combined with a long-term management agreement that will be paid by the Homeowners' Association.

Dutch Creek is considered one of the highest quality headwater streams in the Chicago area. Uncommon fish species like the Orangethroat Darter and various types of minnows are found there. While the development will have road crossings at two creek branches, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers, and US Environmental Protection Agency made sure that the construction of the road culverts would not disturb the fish during their spawning season which started about April 1.

The Haligus Road Sedge Meadow had not been thoroughly studied until a wetland delineation report was prepared for the subdivision proposal. With management, TLC expects to see this site flourish, much as the Prairie Ridge Fen in Woodstock dramatically rebounded over the last 10 years through our on-going management.

Both projects will provide excellent opportunities for local residents to experience what I like to call "Neighborhood Nature." Frogs, toads (like the baby American Toad in the above picture), turtles, and an abundance of birds will reside at and visit both sites. Dutch Creek will continue to provide a home for many uncommon fish species, and together, people and nature will thrive!

Crowley Sedge Meadow burned!

Walking across the recently charred landscape at TLC's Crowley Sedge Meadow near Harvard, I actually caught myself doing a little dance! The site has never looked so beautiful!

This has always been one of my favorite places - the 6.7 acre "diamond in the rough" that TLC actually purchased in late 2003. I say "actually" because I am still amazed that we took that leap, especially at that time. McHenry County land is expensive, and in 2003, our finances were still a bit iffy. Yet, when it came right down to it, we knew that if we didn't buy the property, it would be lost - either through development or neglect.

After the fire, seeing all the blackened sedge tussocks (mounds of clumping grass) extending across the property, I knew that we had done a very good thing. TLC took a chance on a small site - a site that is on MCCD's natural areas inventory, but is too small and isolated to make it onto their acquisition list. Yes, a small site that the experts consider a high quality natural area worth protecting, yet because of its location and size, it would have been lost - if not for TLC.

The most common misunderstanding about TLC is that we are part of MCCD. Folks don't understand how we are different. Where do I begin?!

(1) We do not get tax money to pay our staff or to buy land. We raise our budget from private sources that include members and charitable foudations.

(2) Imagine a future where every child will be able to walk to a natural area - that is our vision for the county. You won't have to get in a car and make a special trip to experience nature - it will be part of your community - part of where & how you live, regardless of your income.

(3) We focus on preserving those resources that would otherwise fall through the cracks - those places like Crowley Sedge Meadow that all the experts say are worth preserving, but that no one else has the time or the will to save.

(4) We work primarily with private landowners to help them leave a legacy of natural lands for future generations. The vast majority of land in the county is, and always will be in private hands. TLC helps individual landowners make permanent commitments to keeping the land they love undeveloped.

I think that TLC fills a unique niche in McHenry County, and we accomplish things for land protection that - in all likelihood - would not be accomplished if we were not here. There are plenty of 6.7 acre parcels across the county that have homes on them - and you can bet that there will be plenty more in the years to come, but how many thriving sedge meadows are there? I'm thrilled to know that because of TLC - and our awesome cadre of volunteers, this little sedge meadow will be here forever!