Alex Palmer's Natural History Notes and Thoughts

On May 9, 2015 I went out with Dan Spencer, a resource ecologist from the Forest Preserves of Cook County to examine wetland graminoids in a marsh at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, Illinois.  The preserve protects over 75 acres of wetlands in various conditions.   Graminoids are grasses and grass-like plants.  We were particularly interested in sedges and rushes that were growing in a wetland area on the property. Sand Ridge Nature Center is situated in the lake plain, a former lake bottom of the ancestral Lake Michigan.  Over the past 6,000 years, Lake Michigan has been receding, and as it has done this it has left behind old sand deposits interspersed with wetland areas.  The low-lying topography of the area as well as urbanization of the surrounding landscape has left much of the property of Sand Ridge Nature Center partially underwater for most or all of the year (figure 1). Figure 1:  Wetland area dominated by graminoids (grass-like plants) on either side of the

As part of the professional development opportunities offered by my employer, I present my notes and commentary on a recent lecture I heard on the conservation and ethnobotany of a prized plant known as American Ginseng.  The presenter was Jessica B. Turner, a graduate student from the University of West Virginia, who is researching the potential to perform restoration of populations of American Ginseng.  The lecture took place on May 6, 2015 at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, Illinois.  Enjoy!   Since the dawn of human beings, people have used plants for various purposes, such as tools, food, crops, shelter, ornamental, and many other utilitarian uses.   Ethnobotany is a branch of botanical research that examines how people have and are using plants.   Some examples of how people have used plants include palm fronds for thatched roofs and willows ( Salix spp. ) as a source of aspirin.   Another example is the Madagascar Periwinkle ( Catharanthus roseus ) which is im

The City of Chicago is the third largest city in the country and one of the largest in the world.  It's urban, filled with concrete, and populated by urban people.  Yet the city is blessed to have a fully accessible lakefront along the world's second largest freshwater lake, Lake Michigan.  It is along Chicago's lakefront parks that the Chicago Park District has managed to restore - and in some cases recreate - naturalized wildlife habitat.  One such area to explore a piece of Northern Illinois's natural history is the 63rd Street Beach Nature Sanctuary (see Map A). Map A The name of this area quickly reminds you that you are in the city.  Chicago is laid out in a grid, with numbered east-west running streets south of the Chicago River.  This massive grid dead-ends on the shores of Lake Michigan where nearly 20 miles of parkland allow urban dwellers to reach down and touch the water.  Most of it was developed during the early 20th century when hoards of fill mater