Friends of Moraine Hills State Park

Habitat Restoration & Stewardship

Be a Stewardship Friend for Habitat

Feb 11’ 2010, four volunteers tested and passed to obtain their herbicide operators' licenses.

Congratulations to Dave Albright, Tina Johnson, Holly Richter & Ann Shanks.

These four join Bob Vetter, Myrna Nelson and Mike Iwanicki in being licensed to apply herbicide at our favorite sites of Volo Bog, Moraine Hills & McHenry Dam.

We are going to reinstate work days once per month beginning in March. However, due to changes in my schedule, they will not always be on the 4th Saturday of each month.

Below is a preliminary schedule. Please let me know if you are available for one or more of each of the dates (which ones) then I will follow up with particulars as the time approaches. I will also send out a fresh call for volunteers each month.

With my added duties, we will be relying even more heavily on our capable volunteers to help get 'er done each time. The habitat needs us!

Meanwhile, you may learn more about invasive species at

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/invasives/plants.asp

and

http://web4.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/education/factsheets.cfm

The Dates (all Saturday afternoons from 12:30 - 3:00 p.m.):

March 20

April 17

May 15

June 26

July 24

August (no date)

September 18

October 30

November 13

IF you think you will not be helping out in 2010, please let me know so I can remove you from the list and recruit more volunteers to the team as needed. Right now you are among 47 volunteers on board. If everyone is available for just a quarter of the days (2 per year), that would give us 12 or so to split up between the two projects each day. 6 people is a good minimum number. Of course, some of you will be available most of the days and we especially appreciate that level of devotion. However, even those available only a couple times of year help to make our work possible. We do have fun and learn a little along the way too.

Sincerely,

Stacy Iwanicki

Friend’s members now have a monthly opportunity to help with habitat restoration and stewardship at both Volo Bog Natural Area and Moraine Hills State Park! These monthly workdays have been set up with our "Friends" support and sponsorship at both locations. We meet at varying locations on the forth Saturday of each month (except December) from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. All volunteers are welcome - kids 10 & up too! (Minors under 15 must be accompanied by an adult).

What is involved in this program? In the fall, as the sap is drawn back into the roots, we cut Buckthorn, Honeysuckle, Black Locusts, Multiflora Rose, Box Elder and other invasive species and haul it away to a location for burning. A critical part of this invasive species removal is herbiciding. As the shrubs are being cut volunteers with an Illinois State pesticide license herbicide the stumps to kill their root systems. At other times of year we will pull Garlic Mustard, Japanese Hedge Parsley and other herbaceous invasives, plant native wildflowers, trees and shrubs, gather seed heads (both native desireable plants for propagation and invasives for control) and other types of stewardship projects.

After each session, we will gather to share refreshments, camaraderie and good conversation.

If you'd like to help out, please register through Natural Recourses Education Coordinator Stacy Iwanicki at her main office at Volo Bog: dnr.volobog@illinois.gov or 815-344-1294. New volunteers will need to come early to fill out IDNR volunteer paperwork.


Photo by Stacy Iwanicki	Photo by Bob Vetter

Volunteers, Myrna Nelson, Trisha Steele, Neil Whitman, Paul Howerton, And Bob Vetter guided by staff members John Laskowski & Stacy Iwanicki cut out and hybridized unwanted shrubs on September 20^th. At the same time a team of volunteers did the same at Volo Bog.

Home