Oakwood Hills Fen gets cleaned up

This photo story stars Oakwood Hills village board member Kelly Ruhnke, new Friends director Amy Doll, a rare grassland type, a fox snake, and local Boy Scouts. 

The Friends received a report of problems at Oakwood Hills Fen in March. But people are busy.  It took three months and the work of the many to launch the team effort reported here.

The photo below is more dramatic than it might appear. The top left is surpassingly good; it shows the dormant-in-winter very-high-quality fen. The bottom and right-hand two thirds of the photo is evil: a death-dealing, foot-thick shroud of landscape waste - 80 feet long and up to 25 feet wide. 

This mulch has been killing and would progressively kill more of the 'Grade A' rare fen beneath.

Despite many exchanges of emails about the smother threat, no specific plans were made until Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves director Doll contacted board member Ruhnke. The Village Board discussed. A plan was made, and the word went out - leading to the mighty task force shown below.

Ruhnke (in flaming pink) explained to the group that the landscape waste needed to be raked and hauled back without trampling the surviving ecosystem, just beyond. 

And when work started, the lush plants and singing birds in the fen inspired us all to painstaking care. 

Strategies evolved. Problems arose and were solved.

It was "Community to the Rescue." Eight Boy Scouts worked hard the whole time. Eleven other neighbors and friends did too.  

The surprise of the day was a handsome fox snake. 

It was under the mulch - inspired a piercing scream and hasty retreat by the person who first saw it ... and then a good-natured interaction with Friends volunteer leader Rebeccah Hartz, who treated the assembled to a "show and tell" and then released the beauty away from feet and rakes. 

It's worth mention here that fox snakes eat mice. They're part of the predator/prey balance and they're protected by Illinois law in this nature preserve. 

How would anyone know that this area is a Nature Preserve? Some of us took time to marvel at the evidence of a "former civilization" shown above. If you look carefully you can see hints that this is the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission sign describing the importance of this fen preserve. The posts are rotten and the sign crumpled and nearly invisible behind invasive brush. More controlled burns, brush-cutting, and stewardship generally had been needed. But the site had been largely forgotten.

As we worked, Village staff were installing "No Dumping" signs. More friendly and interpretative signs will follow. This preserve deserves love and respect.

On the left, below, is a skunk cabbage, a plant typical of fens. On the right is a "ghost skunk cabbage" - starved of light under mulch until discovered this day. It was a joy to uncover the poor thing. 

Bit by bit, the huge dumpster filled with the smothering waste. Toward the end, seven victorious Scouts posed with it. 

Then some of us circled up for a discussion of the day.

The first comment by the first Scout was, "We're proud of what we did today."

The survival of nature in today's world depends on people caring and doing. 

This effort started when Nature Preserves field rep John Nelson asked the Friends to come to the aid of some other McHenry County fens that needed it. Nature was being lost to invasives and neglect. Many important Illinois Nature Preserves are owned locally. The theory had been (and a good theory it was!) that local people could in some cases provide the resources and care that would make the difference. Indeed, people do care and are inspired to help. But they need the education, facilitation, and minimal resources that make events like today's possible.

John Nelson is hard-working and effective. But he has overall responsibility for about 200 nature preserves. He needs help. This story is an example of how it gets done.

Acknowledgements

First credit goes to the Village of Oakwood Hills for recognizing and dedicating these 12 acres (and 4 acres of buffer) as an Illinois Nature Preserve in March 1986. The site qualified for Nature Preserve status because of its high-quality communities of "graminoid fen, calcareous seep, and sedge meadow." 

Village board member ("Trustee") Kelly Ruhnke assembled most of this day's stalwart crew of neighbors and scouts and 

Many years of credit go to the McHenry County Conservation District for controlled burns, brush control, and other stewardship.

Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves new director Amy Doll helped plan the day and demonstrated awe-inspiring stamina at slinging wet compost. 

The Friends' fen initiative has been spearheaded by Rebeccah Hartz with energy, persistence, and skill. She's a fine facilitator of people (in addition to wildlife).

Thanks for proofing and edits to this piece by Eriko Kojima.

If you're interested in Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, click here.