Chicago EXPLORING NATURE & CULTURE WILDERNESSSPRING 2002 chicagowildernessmag.org WILD KIDS WILD YARDS WELCOME BACK WHOOPERS What is ChicagoWilderness? Chicago Wilderness is some of the finest and most significant nature in the temperate world, with a core of roughly 200,000 acres of protected natural lands harboring native plant and animal communities that are more rare – and their survival more globally threatened – than the tropical rain forests. isCHICAGO an WILDERNESS unprecedented alliance of 143 public and private organizations working together to study and restore, protect and manage the precious natural ecosystems of the Chicago region for the benefit of the public. www.chicagowilderness.org Chicago WILDERNESS is a quarterly magazine that celebrates the rich natural heritage of this region and tells the inspiring stories of the people and organizations working to heal and protect local nature. www.chicagowildernessmag.org OPPOSITE: Prairie smoke from East Main Street Prairie in Cary, Illinois by Pat Wadecki. Prairie in Cary,Illinois Prairie smoke from EastMain Street CHICAGO WILDERNESS A Regional Nature Reserve Everyday Heroes hese days the people universally venerated as Martha hadn’t planned to start a campaign, but she was heroes are the firefighters and policemen who, by alarmed at what she saw and cared enough to do something Tdint of character and training, throw themselves about it. into mortal danger to care for others. Their altruism, Young Jean-Luc Mosley and Cora Thiele (shown here) are duty, and courage are inarguably heroic. heroes in my eyes, along with their compatriots featured on But I find I don’t have to look as far as that for heroes. In pages 6-9 and hundreds more like them throughout Chicago this issue we present people Wilderness. I say heroic be- who, by dint of character cause these kids are cultivat- and spirit, undertook cam- ing the capacity to love other paigns to save small parts creatures, converting natural of the rest of Creation. In wonder to advocacy and care. doing so, perhaps they too A generosity of the heart is a are saving the world. heroism that is accessible to I speak, for instance, of a every one of us. Kane County fellow known Edward O. Wilson, the to his friends as Jim Phillips renowned entomologist, and to thousands more as writes in The Future of Life: “The Fox.” (Our tribute “A conservation ethic is that begins on page 27.) When which aims to pass on to fu- he witnessed the other ture generations the best part creatures of this world being of the nonhuman world. To harmed by the thoughtless know this world is to gain a acts of men, he took it upon proprietary attachment to it. himself to speak out and To know it well is to love and act up. Photo: KevinWeinsten take responsibility for it.” Before the Clean Water Let us celebrate joy and Act, before the Clean Air wonder. Let us remember Act, Jim Phillips captured that they lead to passion the attention of polluters and love. Without them, we (and the public) by turning are lost. With them, we are his ire into satire and skew- whole. We are human. Hap- ering selfishness with wit. His deeds were legendary but, until py Earth Day, Mother Nature. May our lives deserve you! his death last October at age 70, few knew his name. Martha Carver is another local hero moved to act from indignation. Campaigning from her keyboard, Martha took on the online auction house eBay and won (see pp. 12-13). Debra Shore EDITOR S PRING 2 0 0 2 CONTENTS Spring 2002 Volume V Number 3 chicagowildernessmag.org FEATURES KIDS WILD ABOUT NATURE by Cindy Mehallow and Shanna M. McGarry .............................6 Bugs, baseball, and cool, cool kids. Q & A WITH SENATOR DICK DURBIN .................................. 10 What Illinois’ senior senator has to say about Chicago Wilderness. WEED MEETS MATCH: Photo: KevinWeinsten by Debra Shore ......................................................................... 12 How Martha Carver took on eBay and illegal weeds. UNLOCK YOUR YARD 6 by Nancy Shepherdson ............................................................. 14 “There is more to life than a weed-free lawn.” DEPARTMENTS Letters ...........................................................................................5 Jagodzinski Photo: Dave Into the Wild .............................................................................. 17 Our guide to exploring the wild places of Chicago Wilderness. Meet Your Neighbors ................................................................. 25 Judy McCarter and hepatica. 14 Remembering The Fox: teacher, friend, and environmental crusader .............................. 27 by David Weissman Welcome Back, Whoopers! ........................................................ 30 In which a grand endangered bird learns once again to migrate. by Karen Fernweger News from Chicago Wilderness ................................................. 32 Reading Pictures ......................................................................... 40 Photo: Ed Reschke Weeds and Nature. Cover: In Ryerson 26 Conservation Area, four year- old Troy Kayne of Deerfield looks for bugs under the mighty flowers of cow pars- Migration Photo: HeatherRay – Operation nip. For more on Ryerson, see page 23. Photo by dad, Joe Kayne. Opposite: Trillium and blue- eyed Marys at Messenger 6 Woods. Photo by Joe Kayne. 30 S PRING 2 0 0 2 Chicago Small School. Big Family. WILDERNESS Volume V, Number 3 Early Childhood Education BOARD OF DIRECTORS Human Services, Culinary, Business Information President: Dr. George Rabb Technology, Liberal Arts Hotel/Restaurant Management Vice-President: Dan Griffin Secretary: Laura Gates Treasurer: Barbara Whitney Carr Jerry Adelmann, Laura Hohnhold, Ron Wolk Acting Publisher: Sharon Sullivan Editor: Debra Shore Senior Editor: Stephen Packard Assistant Editor: Sheryl De Vore News Editor: Alison Carney Brown Art Director: Carol Freeman/Freeman Design Web Master: Jennifer Dees Advertising & Subscriptions Manager: Phyllis Wier SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions are $14/yr. & $25/two yrs. Please address all subscription correspondence to Chicago WILDERNESS, P.O. Box 5054, Skokie, IL 60076-5054. (847) 965-9253. [email protected] ADVERTISING Ad info: (630) 417-5230 [email protected] EDITORIAL Please direct editorial inquiries and correspondence to Editor, Chicago WILDERNESS, 5225 Old Orchard Road, Suite 37, Skokie, IL 60077. (847) 965-9275. [email protected] Chicago WILDERNESS is printed on recycled paper. Chicago WILDERNESS is endorsed by the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council. The opinions expressed in these pages, however, are the authors’ own. © by Chicago Wilderness Magazine, Inc. Chicago WILDERNESS (ISSN: 1097-8917) is published March, June, September, and December by Chicago WILDERNESS Magazine, Inc., 5225 Old Orchard Road, Suite 37, Skokie, IL 60077. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Paid Rates is KENDALL COLLEGE Pending at Skokie, IL. PUTTING EDUCATION TO WORK POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Chicago 2408 ORRINGTON AVENUE EVANSTON, IL 60201 WILDERNESS, P.O. Box 5054, Skokie, IL 60076. 847 866-1304 WWW.KENDALL.EDU All rights reserved. TOLL FREE 888 475-7752 chicagowildernessmag.org 4 C HI C AGO W ILDERNESS Letters they love/hate) immensely. Geese live here CLEAN THE POOP squirrel. and some people appreciate that, others To the Editor: In the 1970s, I excavated an archaeolog- don’t. I’m more informed about aspects of I found your article about Canada geese ical site with the Field Museum in Ottawa this issue than before. by Nancy Shepherdson (Winter ‘02, p. 6) Trail Woods at 45th and Harlem Ave. The Also, I’d wondered about freshwater jelly- to have an unbiased approach that is all too area was a pretty open savanna and dozens fish since we found our first exposure to these rare. I count myself among those who like of Franklin’s ground squirrels were our critters locally last summer. I’d never seen or to see Canada geese in urban areas. They neighbors. When I went back there in the heard of them before. They’re quite beautiful provide an element of the wild amid the mid-1980s, I found that the forest preserve and so soft you can’t feel them brush past. condominiums and industrial parks: they had stopped mowing much of the area. It There were LOTS of them gently undulating have a freedom that reminds us that the is now grown up with trees and shrubs. No around us as we swam. So beautiful. It’s nice Chicago suburbs were once undeveloped. more savanna. No more Franklin’s ground to know more about them. I know of several people who have an squirrels. Last, the piece on winter butterflies was irrational hatred of geese, seemingly simply I also liked the mourning cloak article amazing. What remarkable critters we share because they exist. What they forget is that and always looked for early spring holes the world with. people share this planet with many fellow made by the yellow-bellied sapsucker. Sap Thanks for an enlightening issue. animals. Canada geese are out where we can running from these holes attracts mourning see them while other animals are stealthy cloaks and many other insects. Ken Morehead and usually remain hidden from our view. Durham, N.C. To many people, the answer is to kill the Edward Lace geese, so I count the use of humane meth- Wilmette, Ill. SQUIRREL FIND ods of controlling geese as a step forward. To the Editor: I have visited the Chicago Botanic Gar- Correction: Harold Frederickson Two articles in your Winter issue were dens with geese and without geese. I would should have received credit as a founder of great interest to me – Franklin’s ground prefer to see some geese present. When the of Migratory Bird Management in “Wild squirrel and the freshwater jellyfish. geese were allowed to roam, the gardens had & Messy” (Winter ’02). We regret the During the 1930s, I hung out and fished a look more in keeping with nature rather omission. in Sherman Park but never heard of the than a place created as an ornament for jellyfish. At the same time we fished and people. Waterfowl pausing to stop at the gar- swam in Maple Lake near 95th and Wolf dens lent a completed look for me, so I am Road.