[BCNnet] First Habitat Clinic Saturday at Bluff Spring Fen

[bobolnk at ix.netcom.com]

The Habitat Project and the Volunteer Stewardship Network invite all restoration volunteers, monitors, interpreters, and advocates to join us this spring and summer for Habitat Clinics at six sites in different parts of Chicago Wilderness. Each site was selected for its unique characteristics, issues, and programs.

Our first clinic is this Saturday at Bluff Spring Fen - please let us know if you'll be there.  


BLUFF SPRING FEN, COOK COUNTY
Saturday, May 27, 9 a.m. – noon

Over 400 plant species grow on this magnificently restored 90-acre site. Bluff Spring Fen has fens, small hills, a savanna with massive bur oaks on its west side, a sedge meadow, and streams. The eastern half of the site is wide open with high quality fen, kames nearby, and associated plant species.

Site Steward Leon Halloran and his associates will discuss:

Learning as you go: restoration over the long term. Lessons learned, obstacles overcome since work began in 1987. 
Tracking success with endangered plants. Early (1988) transect data does not reflect the way that the plant population is propagating now. When restoration began, the rare plant populations were overgrown with brush, which was removed. Transect lines were then laid out for counting and monitoring the population. There has been little change along the original transect lines, but the populations are spreading in unpredictable ways, which complicates long-term comparisons. 
Ownership issues. Bluff Spring Fen is an Illinois State Nature Preserve owned by the City of Elgin and the Water Reclamation District of Cook County. The Cook County Forest Preserve District has acquired 80 acres of buffer to the east of the site. The FPDCC wants control of site, which would mean a change in the way that volunteers work. 
Directions: Take US 20 to the south side of Elgin. At the stoplight intersection of US 20 and Bluff City Road, turn south. Bluff City Road makes a quick bend to the east. Go one mile to the main entrance of Bluff City Cemetery. Turn left and follow the signs through the cemetery, to the small parking area and entrance to the Fen at the cemetery’s southern edge.

See www.habitatproject.org for detailed information for each of the sites.

Please register by e-mailing Shelley Ancheta at chicagowildthings at yahoo.com or calling 847-965-9239. Habitat clinics are for free for current and potential Chicago Wilderness.

Judy Pollock
jpollock at audubon.org