Natural Enquirer N e w s l e t t e r f o r S p r i n g Va l l e y S u p p o r t e r s a n d Vo l u n t e e r s
vol.5 no.2 • March-April ‘14
In this issue...
It has often been stated that for democracy to function, a well-informed citizenry is required. This is equally true when it comes to solving seemingly intractable environmental issues. As a publicly-funded institution, Spring Valley does not actively advocate positions on environmental issues; however, we cannot ignore or avoid these issues. Our role is to make folks aware of some of these issues (many of which are not discussed in the mainstream media diet that feeds the minds of many people) and help to whet their curiosity for learning more about them. Our focus will always be on topics that impact us right here in the Chicago area; however, some national or global issues have the ability to impact us here at home and are just too important and far-reaching to ignore. In this issue of the Natural Enquirer, you’ll learn about how some of our native plants and animals are unwelcome invaders in other countries, how you can reduce your home waste stream with vermiculture, and how the current oil and gas boom may impact one of the gems of the Illinois state park system. We hope that your interest is piqued and that you continue reading up on one or more of these topics. Exercise your right and responsibility to be informed!
Inside Confessions of a Worm Wrangler.......................2 Invasively Made in the USA.................................3 What’s Happenin’.............................................. 4-5 Sand Men...............................................................6 Spring Valley General Information....................10
Volunteer News Contents Volunteer Information..........................................7 Volunteer Calendar........................................... 8-9
Visit www.parkfun.com and take our Spring Valley Program Survey.
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4
Confessions of a Worm Wrangler
I
by Derek Gronlund
have some strange things in my basement. As you descend the stairs, nothing jumps out at first. It isn’t until you venture to the small storage room tucked away underneath the staircase that things start to raise some flags. Stacked up against the far wall are dozens of flattened cardboard boxes; stacks of old newspapers line the lone shelf, and a mud streaked plastic shower curtain hangs from a nail protruding from an exposed wall stud. As you look at the floor, you notice an assortment of plastic buckets and containers; all of which appear to be filled with dirt and dried leaves. And right in the middle of it all is a giant plastic bin, teeming with thousands of worms. Now, before you call the producers of Hoarding: Buried Alive, allow me to explain myself. See, I am not a hoarder. I am a vermicomposter, a worm wrangler if you will, and all of those seemingly random supplies gathered in the basement are an integral part of my home composting system.
Vermicomposting is the process of using composting worms to quickly convert all sorts of kitchen and paper waste into high-quality compost. While worms have been chewing through organic matter and recycling nutrients long before humans were around to notice, the practice of using worms to compost at home didn’t catch on until fairly recently. Most people who have worm bins give credit to Michigan science teacher Mary Appelhof for popularizing the home worm composting movement. Looking for a way to compost indoors year-round, Appelhof began to experiment with Eisenia fetida, or red wiggler worms, in an enclosed system to process her kitchen scraps. The red wigglers were ideal to use indoors since they live only in the top eight to twelve inches of soil and can consume half of their body weight per day. This preference for shallow substrate, combined with their voracious appetites, meant the red wigglers were well-suited to living in a shallow bin filled with wet paper bedding and processing the food scraps of the average household. Eventually, Appelhof compiled all of her knowledge and experience into the 1982 book Worms Eat My Garbage, which is still regarded as the definitive guide to home vermiculture. To understand why the red wiggler worms are so great at composting, it helps to think of them as a muscular eating machine. Since worms lack teeth, the food they eat must be first broken down into small particles. This is ac-
complished by the millions of beneficial bacteria, protozoans, and fungi that are also present in a well-established worm bin. Without the softening action of these microorganisms, the food waste that goes into a worm bin would be very difficult for the worms to eat. Worms use a flexible fleshy protrusion located at their head, known as a prostomium, to pull the mushy food into their mouth. Once the worms ingest these small particles of semi-decomposed food, they use their gizzards to further pulverize their meal. A worm’s gizzard relies on gritty particles and muscle contractions to grind food into a highly digestible pulp. When taking food into the mouth the worm also ingests soil and sand, which collect in the gizzard. As the muscles around the gizzard contract and relax, the contents are squished against the sharp edges of the grit. Just imagine if you squeezed and smashed some overripe fruit between two pieces of sandpaper. After a short time, nothing would be left but a gooey mess. Once the food is adequately ground up, it enters the worm’s intestine, which is roughly two-thirds of the worm’s body length. It is here that enzymatic digestion and absorption of nutrients take place. Any material not absorbed is excreted as worm castings. These castings are rich in nutrients and make an excellent organic fertilizer. As I generate kitchen scraps, I stockpile them in an empty 64 ounce plastic yogurt container. When filled, which 2
happens at least once a week, I empty the container into the worm bin. Since on average the food waste weighs less than the yogurt, I estimate that each week I actually generate around 32 ounces, or two pounds, of kitchen waste. This means that in the five years I have been vermicomposting, my worm bin has processed nearly 500 pounds of food scraps. That is 500 pounds of organic matter that was kept out of a landfill, where it would probably still be trying to decompose. This number doesn’t include all of the newspaper, coffee grounds, tea bags, dryer lint, dead leaves, and corrugated cardboard that went into the worm bin as bedding. It never ceases to amaze me how the material that goes into the bin is harvested three months later as dark, crumbly compost. I use this black gold to top-dress houseplants and improve the soil in the garden. In the spring, I even use the compost to brew compost tea, a liquid organic fertilizer, and apply it to the lawn for a boost of nutrients and beneficial bacteria to the soil. If you are interested in starting your own home vermiculture system, but would like some guidance through the process, Spring Valley offers a Vermicomposting Workshop in the fall. If you are an adventurous do-it-yourselfer, there are plenty of web tutorials, YouTube videos, and books that can help get you started. With a little effort, you too can be wrangling worms in no time!
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4
Invasively Made in the USA
by Matt Streitmatter Prickly Pear in Australia
Red Squirrel
A fine line separates the delicate issue of native and non-native species in this country. Depending on how far someone wants to look back, many species can be questioned on the actual authenticity of their origin. Most of us (or our ancestors) arrived as non-natives to this land. Due to its rapid growth through immigration, America remains a melting pot of cultures and customs unlike any other place on Earth. Because of this fusion of different backgrounds, a variety of plants and animals were brought to America to carry on family traditions with farming, gardening, cooking, and social aspects of everyday life. Regrettably, many of these introduced species are now the source of numerous conservation endeavors. Land management crews continuously fight to control European buckthorn, Japanese honeysuckle, purple loosestrife, zebra mussels, and Asian carp to name a few from a growing exotic species list. And while the battle continues to preserve the natural history of this land, one must wonder if the same native plants and animals we are trying to protect in America are the cause of another nation’s restoration efforts. Simply put, “Are our native species invasive elsewhere?” This article will address that question and shine some light on a few of the darkest invasive species to leave our borders. There are few sounds that ring in summertime quite like the call of the American bullfrog. Unfortunately, the familiar “jug-o-rum” chorus does not represent family barbeques or camping trips with friends in other nations like it does here. The American bullfrog is perhaps one of the most invasive species exported from the United States. The frog was shipped worldwide as a food source (i.e., frog legs), sport, pets, and biological control because of its aggressive feeding habits. This conservation effort to control hostile native species elsewhere backfired as the bullfrog quickly became the “top frog” in the food chain. Bullfrogs can ingest anything that can fit in their mouths including other frogs, salamanders, birds, bats, and snakes. One bullfrog was even found with a 33 inch garter snake in its stomach. Bullfrogs thrive in human modified environments like detention ponds and drainage ditches where more sensitive native frogs cannot. They are immune to many diseases and are often carriers of a skin condition known as chytridiomycosis. This infection has led to the extinction of seven native frogs in Australia since the bullfrog’s introduction in 1970. Release of the frog has been banned in Europe, Japan, and Australia due to the negative ecological impact. The bluegill, our state fish, has brought many the joy of their first catch. This revered panfish, found in almost all of our local waters, is a staple for a healthy and thriving aquatic environment. Unfortunately, many other nations do not share the same affection towards the fish as it has been the cause of countless ecological issues worldwide, notably in Japan. The bluegill was actually a gift from Chicago’s own Mayor Richard J Daly in 1960 to Emperor Akihito. The initial plan was to introduce the bluegill to Japan’s waters as a food source to help with a protein deficit within the country. While the bluegill was caught and eaten by some, the population of the fish quickly exploded without a natural predator. It has now wiped out the royal bitterling, a native fish to Japan, and has caused many problems for other species. Japanese fishermen
are strongly urged to kill any bluegill caught. Local universities and diners are adjusting their menus with dishes like Bluegill Burgers in an attempt to promote the fish as a delicacy. As the government continues a multimillion yen effort to control bluegill populations, the fish is now present in the moat around the imperial palace in Tokyo. Sticking to the aquatic theme, the redeared slider may have a flagged passport in some international airports. This native reptile has been widely distributed as a common house pet. Released turtles have acclimated and thrived in Europe, Australia, South Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean causing problems for other native turtle species. Sliders sexually mature around 5 years of age, much faster than many other species. Not only do they reproduce earlier in life, they tend to grow much larger than other kinds of turtles. This gives them the outright advantage when choosing nesting and basking sites. There are import/keep/trade bans on the red-eared slider in Australia and some European countries.
a natural fence line. Initially established in 1840, it quickly invaded much of the dry soil in Australia. By 1925, over 60 million acres were covered with it and landowners were forced to abandon large tracts of their fields. This aggressive assault was halted in 1930 with the introduction of a cactoblastis moth from South America, which feeds on the plant. Prickly Pear still exists in Australia, but it is now looked on as a contained common weed due to the moth’s biological control. Its bright yellow flower now only represents a thorn in the side of Queensland’s past. The last invasive may be one growing in your backyard or down the street. A preferred parkway tree, the black locust is often planted outside of its native range because of its strong wood, small amount of leaf litter, and ability to grow in poor soils. It was introduced in Europe in the 1600s as an urban shade provider; and in Africa for erosion control in degraded areas. Locusts are kept somewhat in check in the native southeastern region of the United States by a locust-stem borer; however, this insect is not present in other countries. Consequently, the black locust quickly spread throughout Europe and especially Africa. The tree can propagate through seed dispersal and rhizome root shoots and is now seen as a very aggressive weed in southern Africa. Locusts frequently grow in dense groves which can ultimately shade out the native understory. Mechanical and chemical removal of the tree is the only solution, much like attempts to remove invasive trees and shrubs in the United States.
Here in Illinois, we all know the cause for concern and breeding potential of rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons. These common backyard animals are responsible for many weekend hours fencing the garden, covering attic vents, and securing garbage cans. Our pain and suffering are now being shared by many European residents, due to the introduction of two of the three mentioned above. Raccoons are a somewhat surprising addition to this invasive export list. Introduced in A walk around a Bullfrog Eating Bird the commercial healthy wooded pet trade in the 1970s, raccoons have pond in Illinois offers a sense of solitude overtaken many European countries, esand connection to the land–a realization pecially Spain. Some reports show that of how things were thousands of years they are still being sold as pets even ago. A swirl in the dark water suggests with their feral numbers climbing. With a school of feeding bluegill; while the no natural predators and an opportuniscall of an American bullfrog and the bark tic diet, the raccoon is now threatening of an eastern grey squirrel break the native bird, amphibian, and small mamsilence. Raccoon tracks along the shore mal populations. They are also conlead to a fallen black locust where a tributing to the spread of rabies and a red-eared slider scoots off into the water nematode worm that is not only affecting upon your arrival. Although native and domestic pets, but humans as well. quite familiar to the U.S., many of these species have also caused concern here Farther north, in England, the eastern in the states; however, their tendency togrey squirrel has found a new home. ward aggression and population growth Grey squirrels were brought to England is kept in check by predators and a dyth in the early 19 century as pets for the namic food chain. Whether it is pythons wealthy. These pets have caused an in the everglades or bluegill in a Japaoutbreak throughout the nation due nese pond, problems arise when a new to their adaptability to urban settings. species is introduced to an environment. This has led to a threatening status As the struggle to maintain invasive to the native red squirrel because of exotic species continues in America, it is the U.S. rodent’s ability to eat up to 7 interesting to see how some of our most times more food. The eastern grey also recognizable plants and animals have carries a viral pox that devastates the unfortunately “jumped the pond” and native English squirrel. Due to the lack contributed to the battle worldwide. of wildlife within the UK’s borders, the red squirrel is adored by many of the English citizens. Conservation efforts have struggled to contain the threat and population boom of our eastern grey squirrel throughout the country.
For more information about the mentioned species and others visit:
Animals are not the only U.S. export that has caused damage overseas. The common prickly pear cactus, native to the southern half of the states, is one of Australia’s biggest environmental problems. Much like buckthorn in America, the prickly pear was introduced to farm and cattle fields in Queensland to act as
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120828073306. htm
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www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/26/japan.israel en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_bullfrog en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-eared_slider
www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/invasive-species-usamerica_n_2585308.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia_stricta en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_grey_squirrels_in_Europe
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4
Click on program/icon for information and to register online.*
*To create a new account, visit the registration desk at the CRC or download an internet registration form from www.parkfun.com. The form can be found under the registration tab. Programs will be cancelled three days in advance if minimum is not reached, so register early!
Growing Up Wild: Early Childhood Teacher Workshop
Additional workshops are being developed. For up-to-date information, visit www.parkfun.com/ Spring-Valley/ programs.
Saturday, April 12 • 9:00AM-Noon Take part in a hands-on workshop designed for early childhood educators.
Early Childhood Educator’s Combo
Saturday, April 26 • 9AM-3PM Receive two nationally acclaimed curricula, Project Learning Tree Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood and Growing Up Wild.
Free - SPARKS Family Fair
Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2 • 1-4PM • Nature Center Don’t miss Spring Valley’s 3rd SPARKS Family Fair! SPARKS (Supporting Parents in Advocacy, Reform, and Knowledge in Science!) is a program originally funded and supported by the Bronx and Brookfield Zoos. The goal is to encourage science education by providing ideas for parents to engage their children in science inquiry and nature investigations. The fair will have activities and fun for the entire family, especially for children ages 5–10.
ADULT or TEEN
ALL AGES
Harper College & Spring Valley
Owl Prowl
Register through Harper College or call 847/925-6707. Class held at Spring Valley.
Saturday, April 19 • 8:00-9:30PM Take a moonlit walk to discover why owls are equipped to be the ultimate hunters of the night.
Landscaping with Native Plants
Saturday, April 26 • 9AM-Noon Learn about the beauty and environmental benefits of using native plants in home landscaping. Course: LLG0062
Sundown Supper on the Farm
Friday, May 9 • 5:30-8:30PM Help with evening chores, make supper and watch the sunset while tasting historic recipes.
Home Composting
Saturday, April 12 • 9-11AM Discover solutions for many of the commonly assumed problems associated with composting. Course: LLG0064
Springtime Schaumburg Park District's
Blacksmithing for Beginners
Saturday, March 2 • 1:00-4:00PM Participants will learn the basics of metal working and take home a sample of their labors.
$4 per person • $16 per family 3 yrs & under Free
on the
Cheese Making
Farm
Saturday, March 23 • Noon-4:00PM Participants will make cheese while learning the history and science behind it.
Going Wild in a Tame Garden
Saturday, April 12 • 10:00-11:00AM Learn about the area’s native plants and ways of incorporating them into the home landscape.
Sunday, April 27 • Noon-4PM Spring brings new life and activity to the Heritage Farm. Things to see and do for all ages! Activities include cow milking, plowing and blacksmithing demonstrations. Click here for more information.
Heirloom Vegetables & Herbs for the Suburban Gardener
Saturday, April 5 • 10:00-11:00AM Participants will learn about the benefits of heirloom varieties.
Weekly Yoga at the Cabin
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Tuesday, April 1 - May 6 • 6:00-7:00PM Tuesday, April 1 - May 6 • 7:30-8:30PM Thursday, April 3 - May 8 • 6:30-7:30PM Thursday, April 3 - May 8 • 8:00-9:00PM Enjoy a weekly yoga class in the woods at the Merkle Cabin.
All About Farm Animals
Tuesday, April 8 - May 6 • 1:00-2:00PM Junior farmers will learn all about livestock at the Heritage Farm.
Budding Naturalists
Sugar Bush Fair Schaumburg Park District's
Saturday, May 3 • 9:00-11:00AM Children will explore, listen to a story and plant a seed to take home.
Presented by
Nature and Spring
Saturday, April 5 • 11:00AM-Noon Children will explore the world around them, focusing on spring’s new growth and bursting life.
FREE ADMISSION! MAPLE SUGARING-Originally published by Currier & Ives
Saturday & Sunday, March 15 & 16
Ready for Robins
Enjoy a pancake breakfast with real maple syrup, sausage, juice and coffee. See authentic demonstrations of maple syrup production, a pioneer sugar camp, children’s puppet show, hayride and sales of syrup and other goodies. Click here for more information.
Saturday, April 26 • 10:00-11:30AM Participants will discover what food a robin eats, examine real bird nests and explore outside. 4
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4
Sunset Fire and Picnic on the Prairie Saturday, April 5 • 6-8:30PM • Spring Valley
$3 per person • $12 per family (up to 6 people)
The prairie fires that awed and frightened early settlers to Illinois were vital to the health and well-being of the prairie landscape. This popular program provides insight into just how important fire was—and still is—to natural areas. Bring a picnic or purchase grilled food and beverages. Following dinner and a brief presentation, a portion of Spring Valley’s prairie will be burned at sunset, visible from a safe distance. Tickets may be purchased at the door. (Rain date: 4/13/13) Click here for more information.
&
Native Plant Sale Backyards for
Home School Group Programs
Spring Valley Nature Center and Heritage Farm is the perfect place for hands-on, exploration-based science programs. Offerings change seasonally, so check the program guide regularly.
Nature Fair
Spring topics: • Stars & Constellations – Explore the far-out world of stars while traveling the life cycle of a star, telling constellation stories and star-hopping across the winter sky. • Biscuits & Butter – Learn about 19th century farm life as you cook on the wood burning stove and churn your own butter. • Butterflies – Follow this colorful insect from egg to adult, explore how butterflies are different than moths, start a butterfly garden and make a colorful craft. • History Quest – Go on a quest to learn about farm life. Help make butter, work with harvested grains, take care of chickens, and see what needs to be done in the farmhouse. • Kites – Soar high while combining history, science and art. Perform simple aerodynamics experiments, build and then fly your own kite. • Water Cycle – Water makes the world go round. Dive into the most important substance on Earth while observing its different phases and the role water plays in an ecosystem.
Sunday, May 4 10AM-2PM
Spring Valley Nature Center
This celebration of environmental stewardship features information on landscaping with native plants, composting, attracting birds, rain gardens, natural pest control, children’s activities and plant sale. Call 847-985-2100 for information. Co-sponsored by the Schaumburg Park District and Schaumburg Community Garden Club
FAMILY
The following programs have a special family rate. By registering ONE child, it is assumed that a minimum of two people (one adult and child) or a maximum of four people are attending. Do NOT register additional people, they may pay on the day of the program.
Easter Egg Hunt
Available every spring: Farms and Food, Gardening, Nighttime Nature, Owls: Predators of the Night, Springtime Growth, Wetlands, Conservation in Action, Woodlands
Saturday, April 19 • 10:00-11:30AM Search for eggs in a beautiful wooded setting near Merkle Cabin. You will also dye eggs.
For more information about programs and pricing, or to schedule a program, call 847-985-2100.
Meet the Turtles
Saturday, April 27 • 1:00-2:30PM Learn about the adaptations that help turtles survive in the wild and more.
YOUTH
Nature Stories
Sunday, March 9 • 1:30-2:30PM Saturday, April 26 • 11:30AM-12:30PM Nature and stories go hand in hand. There are many stories to tell and books to read.
Beginning Birders
Winter Habitats: Spring Valley Style
Browsing for Signs of Life
Sunday, April 27 • 8:00-9:30AM Join a naturalist on a morning hike to observe and learn about the birds found along the way. Sunday, March 23 • 2:00-4:00PM Come and browse the prairie and woodland and track animals using these little signs of life.
Sunday, March 9 • 3:00-4:30PM Woodland Explore the prairie, wetland and woodland.
Campfire Cooking and Candlemaking
Heaven’s Watch
Saturday, March 8 • 9:30AM-12:30PM Children will build a fire, prepare food , cook in a Dutch oven and make candles.
Mars & FREE Jupiter
Chocolate Bunny Building
Sunday, April 6 • 1:00-3:30PM Make chocolate delights and relive history by making and decorating a chocolate bunny.
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls
Sunday, March 9 • 1:00-3:30PM Experience how girls in former years used their imagination to make dolls.
Go Fly a Kite!
Saturday, April 26 • 10:00-11:30AM Design, cut out and fly your very own kite.
Home for the Birds
Saturday, April 5 • 10:30AM-Noon Design, construct and decorate a birdhouse for your favorite feathered friends.
Saturday, April 19 • 8:30PM Nature Center
Spring Valley Spring Break Camp
Mon.-Fri., March 24-28 • 10:00AM-2:00PM Spend some time at Spring Valley as spring approaches and the days become a little warmer.
Join Chicago Astronomical Society members as they set their telescopes for a peek at the spring skies. Bring a flashlight and follow signs to the viewing site. If weather is inclement, slides or a video will be shown in the visitor Center.
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S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4
Sand Men
by Walter Plinske
Sand is something with which everyone is familiar. Beaches everywhere are paved with it. The deserts of the world have heaps of it. Many soils are made of it. But next door to the crown jewel of Illinois state parks, there is a growing confrontation between sand mining interests and people conFrack Sand cerned about the effect of sand mining on the park, their homes, and the environment. The place is called Starved Rock. The sand in question is used in “fracking” (see Mar-Apr 2013 issue). What is so singular about this particular flavor of grit? Why not mine it elsewhere? Where did it come from?
materials used as a proppant include ceramic beads, aluminum beads, and sintered bauxite; but the sand has a cost advantage.
formation in northwest Texas can require 100,000 to 300,000 pounds of sand, and it can be fracked numerous times, requiring 3 million pounds of sand. Other
The sand ended up in a shallow sea, where energetic wave and tidal action produced the quartz grains’ typically well-rounded shape. The constant wash-
Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals on earth, making up about 12% of the earth’s crust. The quartz
ing also helped rid the sand of impurities until a consistency of up to 99% pureness was achieved, something that makes mining it simple. Without other minerals to help bind it together, it is easily broken into pieces. The St. Peter covers thousands of square miles, at or below the surface. Through this long history of multiple cycles of weathering and erosion, almost all mineral grains other than quartz were removed. This is why the more common sand dredged up from rivers, excavated from glacial terraces, or removed from beaches is unlikely to produce a good product for the sandmen.
Ottawa, Illinois, became the silica sand capital because of what began to occur millions of years after the St. Peter was laid down. Perhaps because of the continents’ slow movement into former oceanic areas of thinner crust, the accumulated marine strata began Starved Rock to sink, forming what is today called The fracking process involves drilling the Illinois basin. Layer after layer of crystals that form the St. Peter sanda well thousands of feet underground, continental-born sediments, over a span stone originally came from the weathercracking open the shale rock, and shootof 300 million years, settled ing of granite that formed the ing a mixture of water, chemicals, and on the gradually subsiding core of the primordial North sand into the miniscule cracks to force seafloor. This vast repository American continent, dubbed out natural gas. The sand serves as a of strata, some 3 miles thick “Laurentia” by geologists. “proppant” to hold open the cracks in at its deepest point, is shaped When this occurred, over the rock. The sand that most companies like the bowl of a spoon and 400 million years ago, the want to use is the purest possible silica, orientated on a northwest to proto continent was situor quartz, in a round and even grain southeast axis. Because of ated at the equator, where size. The silica found in the Midwest in this bowl shape, the older abundant rainfall, typical to Laurentia the St. Peter sandstone formation is performations on the surface lie this day, hastened the disfect for the purpose. It is also the sand on the margin; the youngest surviving integration of the parent rock. Coupled that forms the towering layers are at the center. to this was the stark bluffs at Starved Rock. nature of the world Long after this, glaciers scoured down at that time. It would This sand has long the rock repeatedly, revealing the presbe almost 60 milbeen mined for ence of St. Peter sandstone at the rim lion years before life commercial and of the basin. At Starved Rock, wind and would colonize the industrial uses such water sculpted it into the shapes that we land, leading to foras abrasives and admire today. In the neighboring area, ests of large primitive glassmaking. The it is located conveniently at or near the plants whose roots largest sand mining surface making it amenable to strip-minand falling leaves company has been ing. Heading in a southerly direction, the Sand Mine help to slow erosion. located in Ottawa, sandstone is buried deeper in the basin Lacking these environmental brakes, the Illinois, since the 1860s; however, the making its extraction not cost effective. St. Peter formed to extend like a thick gas drilling boom now underway has There are 5 silica mines in Illinois, four gigantic apron along the edge of the produced an enormous demand for the of them in LaSalle County. Four more continent. sand. A single well in the Barnett Shale are in the planning stage. Millions of
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visitors to Starved Rock may soon find themselves driving through Illinois’ largest sand box.
Volunteer News S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4
Volunteer Want Ads
If you are interested in helping with any of the following activities, please call Judy at 847/985-2100 or e-mail her at juvito@parkfun.com.
Heritage Farm New Interpreter Open House
Monday, March 3 The Heritage Farm is looking for new interpretive volunteers! Enjoy light refreshments and learn about how you can volunteer your time by dressing in historic outfits and showing visitors what life was like over 130 years ago. The Open House runs 5:30-7pm so you are welcome to drop by as your schedule allows, but please let us know if you plan to attend.
Sugar Bush Set-Up
Thursday, March 13 Can’t help at the Sugar Bush Fair, but still want to be part of it? Join us the before the event to help set-up. We have a variety of activities which need to be done. Come at 9:30am and stay for all or part of the day!
Sugar Bush
Saturday and Sunday, March 15 & 16 Have you thought about volunteering for the fair, but haven’t talked to Judy yet? Please give her a call. Shift time is 8am-12:30pm. Remember – there’s a free pancake breakfast for all volunteers!
Annual Heritage Farm Volunteer Meeting
Friday, March 21 Come and help kick off the Farm’s upcoming open season! If you volunteer in any capacity at the Heritage Farm or just want to find out about volunteer opportunities there, you are invited to attend this meeting held at the Nature Center Visitor Center from 6-8pm. Attendance by all volunteers involved with interpretation, livestock care, and kitchen gardening is strongly encouraged. Staff will fill you in on the plans for the Farm for 2014. Feel free to come early at 5:30pm to socialize with your fellow volunteers while enjoying a potluck dinner provided by volunteers and staff.
Dates to Remember
• Monday, March 3............... 5:30-7pm New Interpreter Open House • Monday, March 10............. 1-4pm Handy Crafters Meeting • Thursday, March 13........... 9:30am-3pm Sugar Bush Set-Up • Saturday & Sunday, March 15 & 16 9am-Noon.......................... Sugar Bush
• Friday, March 21................ 5:30-8pm Annual Farm Kick-off Meeting • Monday, April 14................ 1-4pm Handy Crafters Meeting
• Sunday, April 27................. Noon-4pm Springtime on the Farm
Sunset Fire and Picnic on the Prairie
Saturday, April 5 Trained prescribe burn volunteers are needed to assist at this unique program which provides insight into how important fire is to natural areas. The burn crew will help oversee this sunset prairie burn from 5:309pm.
Springtime on the Farm
Sunday, April 27 Volunteers are needed to help our guests experience a busy spring on the Farm. Help prepare the fields and gardens for planting, do some spring cleaning 1880s style, or assist with children’s activities and food sales. The event runs from noon to 4pm.
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Happy Birthday to… March
1 3 4 5 8 12
John Curin Melina Lynch Kevin Kaitis Karen Kusek Judy Velan John Witkowski Jenny Greco Roy Svenson
April
1 Andrew Awdziejczyk Daryle Drew Ellie Vogel 11 Duane Bolin 14 Patty Ochs
13 Alan Kraus 17 Barb Muehlhausen 23 Christine Curin 28 Bob Pautsch 30 Amy Vito 31 Ann Schooley
17 Ryan Ochs 19 Bill Bidlo 20 Jerome Dvoratchek Bruce Glesne 24 Charlie Loh
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • Vo l u n t e e r C a l e n d a r
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
MARCH 2014 Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1
Farm Closed
SPARKS Family Fair 1pm
Cabin Closed Bold indicates volunteer activities Italics indicates programs which may be taken as complimentary by volunteers See “What’s Happening” for program descriptions
2
SPARKS Family Fair 1pm •Blacksmithing for Beginners 1pm
3
4
New Farm Interpreter Open House 5:30pm
9
10
Handy Crafters Meeting 1pm
•Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 1pm •Nature Stories 1:30pm •Winter Habitats 3pm
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
11
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
16
17
Sugar Bush Fair 9am
18
5
6
7
13
14
20
21
Spring Valley Nature Club 6:30pm
12
Sugar Bush Set-Up 9:30am
23
24 M-F
30
15
Sugar Bush Fair 9am
Schaumburg Community Garden Club 7pm
19
22
Annual Farm Volunteer Meeting 5:30pm
St. Patrick’s Day •Cheese Making Noon •Browsing for Signs of Life 2pm •Wormy Wonders 1pm
8
•Campfire Cooking and Candle Making 9:30am
25
26
27
•Spring Valley Spring Break Camp 10am
31 8
28
29
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • Vo l u n t e e r C a l e n d a r
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
1
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
6
•Chocolate Bunny Building 1pm
7
8
•All About Farm Animals 1pm
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
13
14
Handy Crafters Meeting 1pm
Passover
20
21
27
Wednesday
2
Spring Valley Nature Club 6:30pm
9
Schaumburg Community Garden Club 7pm
16
22
28
29
•All About Farm Animals 1pm
Saturday
Friday
4
5
•Heirloom Vegetables and Herbs 10am •Home for the Birds 10:30am •Nature and Spring 11am •Sunset Fire and Picnic on the Prairie 6pm
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6:30pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 8pm
10
11
12
•Home Composting 9am •Going Wild in the Tame Garden 10am
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6:30pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 8pm
17
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
•All About Farm Animals 1pm
Thursday
3
18
19
•Easter Egg Hunt 10am •Owl Prowl 8pm
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6:30pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 8pm
23
24
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
Easter •Beginning Birders 8am Springtime on the Farm Noon •Meet the Turtles 1pm
15
•All About Farm Animals 1pm
APRIL 2014
25
26
•Landscaping with Native Plants 9am •Go Fly a Kite 10am •Ready for Robins 10am •Nature Stories 11:30am
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6:30pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 8pm
30
Farm Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-2pm • Sat/Sun 10am-4pm Cabin Closed Bold indicates volunteer activities Italics indicates programs which may be taken as complimentary by volunteers See “What’s Happening” for program descriptions
•Weekly Yoga at Cabin 6pm •Weekly Yoga at Cabin 7:30pm
9
S p r i n g Va l l e y • N a t u r a l E n q u i r e r • M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 4 Spring Valley • Schaumburg Park District • 1111 East Schaumburg Road • Schaumburg, Illinois 60194 Schaumburg Rd. Vera Meineke Nature Center
Plum Grove Rd.
N Volkening Heritage Farm
PHONE VERA MEINEKE NATURE CENTER...............................................847/985-2100 VOLKENING HERITAGE FARM......................................................847-985-2102
135 acres
HOURS
Vera Meineke Nature Center
The earth-sheltered visitor center provides an introduction to Spring Valley’s 135 acres of restored prairies, woodlands and wetlands and three miles of trails. The center contains natural history exhibits that change seasonally, a demonstration Backyard for Wildlife, an observation tower, classrooms, an extensive library, gift sales area and restrooms.
Volkening Heritage Farm
Step back into the past for a look at Schaumburg as it was in the 1880s – a rural German farm community. Help with seasonal farm chores, participate in family activities and games of the 1880s, or simply visit the livestock and soak in the quiet. Authentically dressed interpreters will welcome and share activities with visitors throughout the site.
Environmental Outreach Program
We’ll bring our outreach program to your site. Topics include forests, worms, spiders, mammals, owls, food chains, food webs, wetlands, and the water cycle. Students will participate in hands-on activities, songs, and games. Topics may be adapted to students in grades one through six, and are aligned with Illinois State Standards and NGSS.
Programs at Spring Valley
School, Scout and adult groups are encouraged to take advantage of Spring Valley’s Environmental Education Program. Programs change seasonally and are geared for specific age groups. Correlations to the state standards, connections with NGSS, and activity sheets are available on the SPD website, www.parkfun.com. Learn local history with a visit to the Heritage Farm. Elementary and high school students recreate farm life in the 1880s with Hands on History; second graders experience it through Heritage Quest. Children from the age of four through second grade will learn about food, farmers, and farm animals in Farms and Foods.
Scout Badges
We offer many opportunities for scouts. Our programs will help with your badge, pin or patch requirements. Call for more information or stop in for a brochure.
SPRING VALLEY MISSION STATEMENT:
Spring Valley’s mission is to educate area residents regarding the natural and cultural history of the Schaumburg area and how people have and continue to interact with and upon the landscape.
Spring Valley is a refuge of 135 acres of fields, forests, marshes and streams with over three miles of handicappedaccessible trails, a museum featuring natural history displays and information, and an 1880s living-history farm. Spring Valley is open to the general public. Admission is free.
SCHAUMBURG PARK DISTRICT BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: Mike Daniels Sharon DiMaria David Johnson George Longmeyer Bob Schmidt
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Tony LaFrenere
Nature Center Grounds & Trails...............Open Daily...............8AM-5PM Volkening Heritage Farm Grounds..........Closed......................Dec.1-March 1 NATURE CENTER/MUSEUM HOURS: Year Round.............Daily*.......... 9AM-5PM FARM INTERPRETIVE PROGRAM HOURS: Nov. - March............Open for Special Events April 1 - Oct. 31.......Sat/Sun....... 10AM-4PM Tue-Fri........ 9AM-2PM Mon............ Buildings Closed
Unless otherwise noted, all programs are held rain or shine. Participants should dress appropriately for weather conditions.
*All facilities closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day
Spring Valley Birthday Parties
Looking for a unique, fun, and educational venue for your child’s birthday? Spring Valley is the answer! Two party themes are available. A hayride can be added for an extra fee. Call Spring Valley for more information.
Spring Valley Firepit and Shelter Rentals
Make your next scout group, business or family gathering something special! Spring Valley offers the use of a picnic shelter and fire pit in a wooded setting near the Merkle Log Cabin. Use of the site includes firewood, trash/recycling receptacles and benches, as well as picnic tables. No alcohol or amplified music permitted. Restrooms are available at the Heritage Farm or Nature Center, a 5–10 minute walk. The adjacent Merkle Log Cabin contains a restroom and may be rented for additional fees. Hourly use fees: Residents:.............. $25
Civic groups:...............................$25
Non-residents:....... $40 Corporate/business groups:.......$55
NATURAL ENQUIRER STAFF: Mary Rice Editor
Judy Vito Volunteer Coordinator Dave Brooks “In this Issue...” Scott Stompor 10 Graphic Artist
SCHAUMBURG PARK DISTRICT WEBSITE: www.parkfun.com
E-MAIL:
springvalley@parkfun.com
MEMBER: