All Frozen

Our cold weather restoration work has wrapped up at Wampum Lake Forest Preserve in south suburban Thornton, Harms Woods near the Village of Skokie, and Sweet Woods in south suburban Glenwood.

We completed approximately 41 acres of invasive tree felling and brush mowing at Wampum Lake, which includes Thorn Creek, a 20.8-mile-long tributary of the Little Calumet River. At Harms Woods, which lies next to the North Branch of the Chicago River, crews tackled more than two acres of buckthorn/invasive woody vegetation using chainsaws and other hand-cutting tools. Overall, invasive brush was removed from a total of 61.5 acres at Sweet Woods, a forest preserve also adjacent to Thorn Creek. Combined with Forest Preserves of Cook County’s participation commitment this culminated in a restoration total of 135.48 acres at Sweet Woods since work began in 2022. Unusually mild temperatures in early 2023 resulted in delays for restoration activities at this site.

Freezing temperatures are vital to creating the conditions for this large-scale ecological restoration work that requires large equipment because the frozen ground protects the soil and plants from being destroyed and compacted. Changing winter climate conditions create challenges that we work through creatively and responsively with our partners.

Thank you to the Forest Preserves of Cook County for their partnership in these restoration projects as well the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation for supporting work at Harms Woods, and the US Forest Service and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for supporting work at Wampum Lake. For our work at Sweet Woods, we thank the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chi-Cal Rivers Fund, with support from the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and BNSF Railway Foundation.