The
Orland Grassland Volunteers work to restore the Orland Grassland Forest
Preserve, and to organize outreach, fieldwork and educational activities
emphasizing the importance and purpose of the restoration initiatives.
They coordinate their work in conjunction with a comprehensive plan
developed through the collaborative efforts of the Forest Preserve District of
Cook County, Audubon-Chicago Region, the Corporation for Open Lands and the U.
S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District.
They gratefully acknowledge the support of the Village of Orland Park,
Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman and Congresswoman Judy Biggert.
The newsletter, "Bobolink", is full of articles written by the volunteers covering various subjects relating to restoration education, volunteer work activity, upcoming events and volunteer recruitment. It is released quarterly by mail and can be picked up at the Orland Park Library and Orland Park Village Hall.
An
enews, "Workday Reminders and Other Good Stuff", goes out monthly with timely messages.
The volunteers have host various events:
Earth Day Celebration – In connection with Earth
Day in April, a clean up event was organized inviting friends and neighbors of
the Grassland to collect trash that had accumulated throughout the past year.
Welcome Back Bobolinks—This community awareness,
educational event was held in May to take advantage of the opportunity to view
migrating and resident birds.
Autumn on the Grassland—This event was held in
conjunction with Public Lands Day in September. It is advertised as a chance for the public to learn while
participating is some light fieldwork. Tours
are also offered.
Various public speaking engagements for interested
groups by volunteers.
The “Orland
Grassland Volunteer Guide” was developed to invite and acquaint potential
volunteer groups to participate in activities at the Grassland.
It explains the restoration plan and purpose, provides directions to the
sight, a work activity and events schedule, and tips on how to be prepared.
The
group participates in regularly scheduled workday activities on the second and
fourth Saturday and Wednesday of each month throughout the entire year.
They also participate in additional activities such as monitoring, seed
gathering/planting and educational field trips outside of regularly scheduled
workdays.
Volunteers clear invasive brush and tree species from
the Grassland perimeter throughout the year. The Wednesday group has been clearing brush at the south end
near the Old 175th Street entrance, extending the central prairie.
The Saturday group most often clears brush and trees at the north end,
opening a bur oak savanna.
Late summer is devoted to mapping and removing
invasive teasel and mapping other invasive plant species that have resprouted
since the contractors applied herbicide.
Fall is prime time to collect seeds.
Monitoring: Volunteers
currently monitor for plants, birds, dragonflies and frogs.
A volunteer to monitor butterflies is needed.
A volunteer is setting up a camera at timely intervals at specified
locations to monitor Grassland status.
Seeding: Early
fall will be spent collecting seeds from nearby locations and seeding the
grassland. Some seeds can be
interseeded right away. Others need
to be processed by volunteers before they can be planted.
Seed collecting and planting is a regularly scheduled activity, but is
also frequently done as volunteers find time to get out to various sights and
get into the prairie to plant. Seed
cleaning and preparation is done extraneously by a single volunteer or as an
extra group gathering.
Mapping: Volunteers
map the location of undesirable species such as teasel, white sweet clover,
birdsfoot trefoil and wild parsnip for future, coordinated, guided removal.
Meetings: Volunteers
hold and participate in planning meetings throughout the year.
Liaisons: Volunteers
act as community, advocacy and media liaisons.
Volunteers participate in training activities to become certified in such areas as ecological restoration, wildlife monitoring and prescribed burn training. The Cook County Forest Preserve District is scheduling training activities this fall and several volunteers will be attending. Others participate in educational lectures, tours and training classes in other venues, such as through the Morton Arboretum, Field Museum or Camp Sagawau. Recently, a group of volunteers took a field trip to Nachusa Grassland to view a successful prairie restoration project that is about 25 years old.
It’s
easy to become a volunteer—Contact
Us from the home page.