Two weeks ago, before the recent blast of warm air melted the snow, I made my first visit in almost a year to Somme Woods. The changes were amazing. The big oak grove at the southern end of the land has been totally opened up. It looks truly sacred.
Buckthorn is as ruthlessly dominating visually as it is botanically. Walking through a buckthorn thicket, you have to devote almost all of your attention to avoiding a poke in the face with a sharp twig. And the tangle of branches and leaves on all sides and overhead is so overwhelming that most of the time, you can’t see five feet in any direction. At Somme Woods you used to be able to see the broad crowns of the oaks from a distance. But once you got in among them, it took careful searching to find any of the big trees.
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The NBPP, which is also a brainchild of Steve Packard, started cutting brush in forest preserves along the north branch of the Chicago River 13 years ago. Somme Woods, at Dundee and Waukegan roads in Northbrook, is the northernmost of the preserves the project is working on. Sauganash Prairie Grove, the southernmost, is within the city limits at Bryn Mawr and Kilbourn.
Fortunately, the NBPP was very circumspect in its behavior in the early days. Work was organized so that changes came about gradually. They didn’t just march in and start sawing down trees. By now, of course, the work has proceeded to the point where everyone can see the marked improvement in the appearance of the preserves, from the unveiling of the oaks to the gorgeous wildflower displays on the summer prairie. At this point we are unlikely to see groups of irate citizens going to the county board with complaints about the FPD mistreating the land.
This is prelapsarian gardening–not conquering the landscape and forcing it to do your bidding, but helping it do what it wants to do anyway.
