By Melanie O’Brien, Restoration Technician with our Natural Areas Department
The winter landscape at Heller Nature Center currently sports some curious clues about our ongoing restoration work. Behind the nature center, neon pink tags adorn native understory trees and shrubs, such as Hazelnut and Redbud. Piles of brush, dark burn scars among the leaf litter, and patches of scorched ground and vegetation in our northern prairie might have piqued your interest. The Park District’s natural areas crew, along with hardworking members of our volunteer program, have been busy taking advantage of the benefits of these cold months!
You might think outdoor work slows down with the plunging temperatures, but winter weather makes important restoration techniques possible. The cooler weather and low humidity of late fall produces dead leaves and vegetation, which means plenty of fuel and optimal atmospheric conditions that make prescription burns possible. Prescription burning has been part of Illinois’s ecosystems for thousands of years; our native plants have evolved and adapted alongside wildfire and the indigenous peoples of Illinois used controlled fire to clear brush and provide space for game and hunting. At Heller Nature Center, our natural areas crew utilizes controlled fire as a cost-effective tool to control non-native species such as buckthorn and honeysuckle. The blackened, exposed ground you see in our north and south prairies also provides excellent conditions for seeds of native flowers and grasses to germinate and thrive come spring.
When December and January turn frigid, trees, plants, and insect life are dormant. This winter, our crew and volunteer members focus on our oak and hickory woodlands, cutting invasive brush and removing the plant material through brush pile burns, a method that leaves a distinctive ground scar that can be reused for multiple burns. In these dormant conditions, plant matter can be disturbed and removed without causing harm to living insects and plants. When the ground is frozen, the soil won’t be torn up or trampled as crew members and volunteers (carefully) walk the woods and haul cut brush, performing the important work of creating excellent growing conditions for native woodland flowers that thrive in Heller’s open woodlands, such as Trout Lily, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Red Trillium.
Heller’s outdoor winter workload can benefit more than our Park District’s native habitats – it can benefit your health as well! If you’re tired of the treadmill, or want to experience a little more sunlight during these short days, or simply need a breath of fresh air, why not attend a weekly volunteer workday hosted by our natural areas team? Volunteer workdays take place every Friday, 9-11am, all year around, with tools and training provided by our crew of experienced restoration technicians. Cutting and hauling brush is such great exercise, you won’t even need to depend on our burn pile to keep warm! If you’d like to be added to our list of volunteers and receive our workday emails, please contact our Natural Areas Manager, Liz Ricketts, at ericketts@pdhp.org.
Winter only feels like it lasts forever; before long, the ground thaws, the trees bud, and green shoots grow toward the warming air. The soil where a stand of dense buckthorn grew the previous year is blanketed in native ephemerals like Bloodroot, Rue Anemone and Mayapple. These positive changes to our native habitats wouldn’t be possible without the ongoing interests and efforts of our Park District community, or without the boons we gain in our coldest months. When we look at the big picture, it’s not hard to envision wintertime as a fruitful season.
