Principles of the Somme Community

By some of the stewards working in the Somme preserves
To introduce new volunteers to how we work
And, of course, for anyone interested.
Please comment (below) or make suggestions to: info@sommepreserve.org 

Principles of the Somme Community

“We shall never achieve harmony with the land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve but to strive.”

Aldo Leopold

We who work to restore and maintain the health of the Somme forest preserves also seek to foster among ourselves a nurturing human community. Here we attempt to describe our organizational “what” and “how” for two reasons. First, we are eager to make it easy for new participants to understand this community. Second, we seek to review and improve how we work from time to time. (This draft focuses on the human community. We are also working on a summary of the scientific and conservation principles that underlie our efforts.)

One important principle is that this is a “no obligation” community. We contribute what inspires and energizes us. Neither as a group nor as individuals do we “pressure” or otherwise put expectations on people beyond what comes from our own motivations. As one of us put it, this is a “passion project” and not a “burden or obligation” project.

 

Zone Steward Stephanie Place leads a field seminar seeking input from other stewards on her 2018 plans.
We experiment, we reflect, we learn, we improve, and we support each other. 

We write this while understanding that these are difficult times for the planet: We are in the process of the sixth great extinction. A once-favorable climate is deteriorating. It’s less sure than it once was that the average young person will find a good occupation. We care about the whole planet. The Somme work is not our whole lives, but it does represent one good contribution we can make.

We never expect to “finish” our conservation efforts. The stresses of the modern world will require stewards for the foreseeable future. We do not expect to do enough. Much more is needed, which is why we seek to welcome more and more people who would thrive as stewards.

We local volunteers seek to demonstrate that we can work with forest preserve staff and all experts who are willing to help experiment, learn, build neighbor and political support, and whatever else is needed to restore this site’s natural ecosystems (tallgrass prairie, savanna, woodland and associated wetlands).

Do we do it best by building a community that is in some ways like a church or temple congregation? So that it can last from generation to generation? In today’s world, people come and go. Does that mean that we need to be all the more welcoming and all the quicker to recognize and empower people who want to contribute? People bring ideas and take away ideas. The Somme core seeks to be sufficiently coherent, competent, and respected that the community flourishes - and the Forest Preserve staff (which rightly has all the legal authority) does not hesitate to trust and empower us appropriately, and increasingly.

As we begin 2018, our strengths and challenges include.

STRENGTHS

1.     Four years of a new approach and a new community arising out of Somme East. Four years of ecological growth and four years of human community growth.

2.     Ability to draw on a long, successful history of restoration successes and learning at Somme Prairie, Somme Prairie Grove, and Somme Woods West.

3.     An equally long and successful history of recruiting and community-building.

4.     An existing group of people who believe in fun, learning, generosity, participatory democracy, public spiritedness, and reverence for nature.

5.     A determination by many to learn the science and the skills and get the certifications as the many types of stewards: workday leaders, zone stewards, chain-sawyers, species monitors, and others.

OPPORTUNITIES

1.     How do we strike the best balance between (noisy, dangerous, effective) chain-saws and listening-to-the-ecosystem, family-friendly quiet work events?

2.     Might we find ways to be simultaneously kid friendly, family friendly, diversity friendly, expert friendly, neighbor friendly, retiree friendly, young professionals friendly, and, also, just friendly?

3.     For Somme science we already have bird, frog, salamander, endangered plant, and other monitors. We’ve had a couple of “science meetings.” Is this how to do it? Or are there more or better ways?

4.     Do we prefer our existing structure (or un-structure?)? Many of us appreciate our flexibility of roles. Or would we do better to specialize a bit and have various of us more explicitly take the lead on, for example:

a.     Welcoming and teaching new people at workdays. (Might some people like to take turns being “Cruise Director” – welcoming new and newish people and assisting them in having valuable and engaging experiences?)

b.     Separate work areas for kids and families vs. chainsaw “high efficiency” areas?

c.     How might we build an expanded seed gathering team?

d.     Recruiting, welcoming, and empowering new volunteers.

e.     Short-term seasonal needs groups: Fire-prep team (fall). Trails-paving group (mostly spring). Trails-mowing group (mid-summer). Solstice celebration group.

f.      Tools maintenance group.

g.     Expanded kid stuff. (This is easier during seed season. Could we also carve out some more-specifically-young-kid-friendly brush-cutting work?)

Parts of what’s needed from time to time are “one and done” projects. Should we list them somewhere? If we identify both one-and-done and longer-term possibilities, might perhaps some people step up and run with some of the opportunities?

RECENT SUCCESSES:

1      Ben Fischer’s “Micro-steward” concept led to the “Zone Stewards” concept. The Zone Stewards are off to a good start. See Endnote 1.

2      Our seed gathering has massively increased. In 2017 we gathered and prepped 220 gallons of rare seed – representing 243 species. See Endnote 2.

3      Having Somme East workdays every second weekend seems to be working well. Yes?  (If we include Somme Prairie Grove and Somme Woods West, we have a workday every weekend.) Somewhat different groups of people come to the different sites, which seems fine.

4      Many people have qualified for chain-saw, bonfire, and other certified leadership.

5      We at Somme are our own sub-community while being part of the North Branch Restoration Project community.

We think it’s important to take stock from time to time of what’s working well, less well, and showing promise. We work as collaboratively as possible, while recognizing that our mission requires leadership, however gentle, to explore new ideas, make decisions, and get things done. Updating this written summary and occasional meetings help us seek conservation and community success.

This document was written by Ben Fischer, Eriko Kojima, Jim Hensel, Karen Glennemeier, Kathleen Soler, Linda Masters, Nora Gavin-Smyth, Paul Swanson, Stephanie Place, Stephen Packard, and Wade Thoma.

This draft completed: January 12, 2018

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ENDNOTES

Endnote 1

Burn, cut, and seed.

In the last few years, thanks to the newly approved Somme East “Centennial” project, 130 acres have been added to the work plan. Brush-cutting and pole-tree-thinning are well under way on approximately 45 of those acres. Seed has been broadcast on most of those acres in the year of the cutting – except when extensive seedling buckthorn is present, in which case we wait until after foliar spraying those seedlings, normally in the next growing season. To the extent needed and possible, we try to seed all areas with both spring and fall seed (see below) and to do so for at least two years after the initial opening up to increased light. (There is little high-quality remnant ecosystem in Somme Woods.)

Six new zone stewards are leading the restoration in eight new work zones. Forest preserve staff and contractors (with volunteer help) have burned about 90 of the new eastern 130 acres at least once.

Endnote 2

Seed strategies and statistics

A much beefed-up rare harvest this year gathered 220 gallons of mostly-rare seed. The seed is mixed for planting in thirteen major mixes, designed to match various combinations of shade and wetness. The shade (or sun) component includes:

“Open” (that is prairie or marsh – no tree shade)

Intermediate (half way between open and woodland)

Woodland (that is, not all that dark, but the dappled light of the oak woodland).

Although there are some maple and basswood trees at Somme, they mostly appear to be invaders of the previously open, dappled-sunny, oak-dominated woodland. We have not identified nor sought to restore any heavily-shaded (and, today, much more common) maple-basswood forest areas.  

Turf mix. This mix has larger amounts of conservative species that establish better or only in an existing turf. Much of our seed is planted where shade has killed off most of the vegetation, so the plants compete against each other on bare ground. Into the turf mixes we put most of the seed of such conservatives as shooting star, alumroot, eared false foxglove, savanna blazing star, prairie gentian, hepatica, wood betony, and similar conservatives.

Mesic Open - 43 gallons

Mesic Open Turf - 10 gallons

Wet-mesic Open – 24 gallons

Wet-mesic Open Turf - 5 gallons

Wet Open - 6 gallons  

Mesic Intermediate - 18 gallons

Mesic Intermediate Turf – 5 gallons

Wet-mesic Intermediate - 15 gallons 

Wet Intermediate - 5 gallons 

Mesic Woods – 40 gallons

Wet-mesic Woods - 20 gallons

Wet Woods - 7 gallons 

Pond - 3 gallons 

In addition to these principal mixes, there are the following special mixes:

Steward’s Choice mixes (held apart for special uses by the stewards).

Seeds of species that for various reasons are planted one species at a time.

Spring seed mixes (important, but much smaller quantities are harvested, not included here).

Woodland grass mix: sometimes put out on slopes (to lessen erosion) on burned areas where buckthorn seedlings will be herbicided. The foliar spray used for buckthorn does not kill grasses.