Alex Palmer's Natural History Notes and Thoughts

Up until about the 1970s, the southern potion of Chicago was one of the largest industrial centers for steel processing and manufacturing.  Over the years as companies left the region to move down south and overseas, they gradually abandoned their large factories and plants, leaving behind a parched and burnt-out landscape whose imprint has been felt and will continue to felt for years to come. My walk through Eggers Grove , a property now owned by the Forest Preserves of Cook County, was both grim and uplifting.  The taint of past industry had left this landscape degraded and stale, and a stench of steel slag from a still functioning plant nearby floods the air across a post-apocalyptic landscape.  Yet there are still signs of life as nature slowly makes its way back in.  Clumps of little bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium ) can be seen arising from a gravelly substrate and the quiet calls of overwintering birds can be heard from clusters of red-osier dogwood shrubs ( Cornus seric

I work in a large and urban forest preserve system that surrounds most of the city of Chicago.   When I ask my coworkers where they are from or where they live, unsurprisingly they come from places outside of the city where there is more open space and less congestion and noise than in the heart of the city.  "I really don't like big cities." says one of the naturalists I work with at a south-suburban nature center operated by the forest preserves.  "I'll sometimes go into the city for a conference or an event, but otherwise my wife and I stay out of the city." "Woa, you're RIGHT IN the city, then!" says another coworker during a meeting when I tell her where I am living.  "Yep," I reply sheepishly. I don't blame my coworkers for avoiding the city.  Obviously, Chicago is not a well suited environment for naturalists who enjoy pristine green space and peace and quiet.  Yet I am always someone who has enjoyed the conveniences of

When you think of Chicago, you probably don't think of sand dunes, prairies, or large oak trees.  Yet despite Chicago being the third largest city in the United States and heavily impacted by urban sprawl and industrial blight, there remains thousands of acres of greenspace with wetlands, open woods, sandy beaches...and some rather surprising flora. The pictures below were not shot in Arizona nor in Southwest California, but were in fact taken at the 63rd street beach on a recently restored sand dune near Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois.  They are the eastern prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia humifusa ) . Figure 1:  Eastern prickly pear cactus, a native plant to the Chicago region and the only native cactus to the Great Lakes area.   The genus Opuntia is much more common out west where they have many different species, but in the Great Lakes and Midwest regions, the eastern prickly pear is the only native cactus.  It tends to be a little bit smaller than its western counterp

The Chicago skyline, as seen from Promontory Point Park along Lake Michigan.  September 9, 2014.  Click on image to enlarge.   Besides being common places for young couples to smooch, I believe urban skyline overlooks like the one pictured above are popular for another reason:  their perspective.  When we spend time in a big city, we forget about the world around us.  In fact, the rush of traffic, the shadows of tall high rises, anxious corporate executives blabbing on their cell phones, homeless bums shaking a cup for money, a loose bag of trash spilling out onto the street, sooty puddles filling potholes on the road, and the roar of helicopters overhead provide a perfect storm of congestion and stress that some of us come to believe is the world. Yet when we look at all of this from a distance, we can start to put things in perspective.  All of the chaos of urban life seems to fit between our fingertips as we gaze across a green and blue landscape with the skyline miles away.  

Introduction Times moves on, and I have parted ways with the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  I have now assumed a full time position as a naturalist with the Forest Preserves of Cook County in the urban and post-industrial south suburbs of Chicago.  As a native of the southern Great Lakes area, it feels good to return to the friendly and more laid back atmosphere of the Midwest.   Working as a naturalist in the Chicago region will be both rewarding and painstakingly challenging.  In the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, conservation challenges were numerous, and included (but were not limited to) large amounts of trash and debris as well as urban runoff from a seemingly endless population growth.  However, the region seemed well equipped to deal with some of the larger environmental issues, and despite a growing  human population and increased land development, the health of the Chesapeake Bay has been steadily improving (Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 2012). Figure 1:  For the first time in over

Disclaimer:  The opinions and commentary expressed in this blog post are my own and therefore might not represent the views and policies of the Chesapeake Education, Arts & Research Society, the City of Greenbelt, or any affiliated organization or person.    In 1935, during the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration launched the "New Deal" initiative to revitalize America's economy by hiring the unemployed and putting them back to work building new infrastructure and restoring the environment.  One such project was for the federal government to build, construct, and maintain "New Deal Towns" which were intended to be a refreshing alternatives to the developing urban slums of that era.  Each of these planned communities would feature a town center with restaurants, stores, banks, a post office, and other amenities all within walking distance for each resident.  New Deal towns would be arranged into superblocks with rows of houses or apartments tha

Date:  11 July 2014 Time:  10am-2pm Location:   Flag Ponds Nature Park , Calvert County, Maryland, USA Weather:  85 degrees F, Sunny, 10% cloud cover, calm wind On Friday, July 11th I had the opportunity to participate in a habitat survey and exploration at Flag Ponds Nature Park, a protected natural area along the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland.  The park features coastal plain forest, maritime forest, swamp forest, freshwater marsh (see Figure 1), sand dunes, beach, and shallow brackish tidal marshes.  The coastal plain forest is dominated by various oaks ( Quercus spp. ), Tulip Trees ( Liriodendron tulipifera ), Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), and other overstory trees common to the Mid-Atlantic coastal plain.  The understory consists primarily of Spicebush ( Lindera benzion ), American Holly ( Ilex opaca ), Mountain Laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ), and other small trees and shrubs.  Wet lowland areas consisted of red maple ( Acer rubrum ), lots and lots of pawpaw ( Asi

Figure 1:  Mountain Laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ) in bloom along the Greenbelt Lake Trail at Buddy Attick Park in Greenbelt, Maryland.   One thing I love about spring in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast is the showy flowers of Mountain Laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ).  Native to the eastern half of the United States from Pennsylvania down into Alabama and Georgia, this large evergreen shrub has a misleading name.  First of all, the shrub is not actually a species of laurel but is in fact a Rhododendron.  Secondly, mountain laurel does not necessarily grow on mountains.  In the Appalachian Mountains, mountain laurel does well on windy, somewhat exposed areas near the peaks of large hills.  However, in the coastal plain of the Chesapeake Bay region, mountain laurel grows in lightly disturbed, well-drained soils often in woodland understories (see Figures 1 and 2).  Right around May and early June, mountain laurel's membership in the rhododendron and azalea family becomes obvious as it bu

Disclaimer:  The opinions and commentary expressed in this blog post are my own, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Chesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society (CHEARS), the City of Greenbelt, Volunteer Maryland, the Corporation for National and Community Service (Americorps), or any affiliated parties. My job as a Volunteer Maryland Coordinator is to develop and enhance a volunteer program structure for the Chesapeake Education Arts and Research Society (CHEARS), a small nonprofit based in the DC suburb of Greenbelt, Maryland.  The overall mission of CHEARS is to facilitate community-driven action projects that improve the health of people and the environment in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  The structure of the organization is partnership-based, with one of the closest partners being the City of Greenbelt government. Greenbelt is a rather unique town in that it was one of three planned communities inseminated during the Great Depression.  Everythin