Tour the Oak Savanna - July 3rd, before fireworks show

The Maine East Ecology Club will be holding a fundraiser for their Oak Savanna restoration project on July 3rd from 7-9pm prior to the fireworks show. We will be leading tours through our nature preserve on Dempster & Dee.  Tour leaders will walk the trail and introduce visitors to a Google Map plant identification guide for easy use via cell phone or ipad. We will also introduce children to this enchanted habitat being restored for a wide variety of native Illinois and migratory animals.  Kids will also receive materials to help them learn about this endangered ecosystem.

We have completed the first step in a series of landscaping restoration make-overs.  European Buckthorn, the invasive shrub that has been plaguing the Chicago Forest Preserves for decades, has been cut out of the nature preserve.  The shrub was brought to the U.S. by early settlers but has become a relentles invasive plant affecting woodland areas in Northeastern Illinois by crowding out the native grasses, flowers, and trees, hogging sunlight, and competing for resources in the soil.

For about the last 25 years students and staff have labored with cutting and prescribed burning to remove it each fall but if not consistently and heavily managed the buckthorn can persist and dramatically affect biodiversity and aesthetic quality in an ecosystem.  That's why the group is embarking on a major restoration and fundraising effort.

The Ecology Club's goal is to renew this valuable resource for the benefit our students, staff, community and native critters. Imagine a place to go and learn about poetry in English class, capture images in Photo, count species in Biology, or analyze water quality in Geology, Environmental Science, or Chemistry classes.  Future plans include fundraising in order to do restoration work and install a new fence, path, trail signs, and deck with seating around the pond. 

In order to bring back this historical native landscape we will be creating a Friends of the Oak Savanna network where those who contribute to our cause will recieve biannual updates on our progress. 

Butterfly Garden - Prickly Pear Cactus

Way back in first semester, my APES class was taking a tour of the butterfly garden. The teacher, Mrs. Riha, showed the class the various native plants that live in Illinois. I saw the usual tall grasses and wildflowers; but to my surprise, hiding in the shadows of the taller plants grew this spiky little plant. My first guess was that it was a cactus, but I never thought that they could be found as far north as Illinois. We all expect to find cactus all year round in the hot, dry deserts. However, very few people would even think of finding these prickly plants up here in our backyard. Well, to all y’all nonbelievers, the elusive cactus does take residence in Maine East’s own butterfly garden! True to its cactus roots, the Eastern prickly, or Opuntia humifusa to all you Latin speakers, prefers full sun and dry soil. Though it may certainly appreciate the extra rain we experience here, it will also survive the worst of the Midwestern droughts.

The Eastern prickly pear is a short plant that grows less than 3 feet. If you are able to see it between late spring and early summer you may catch the cactus in bloom. It seems so unfitting that such a spiky plant could have such a beautiful yellow flower... but don’t judge it. You never know what curveballs nature might throw at you, but this yellow flower certainly is a home run! The flower provides food for pollinators such as bees, which in turn allow the cactus to produce seeds inside their red fruit. The rest of the plant might appear to be unappetizing, but for animals like skunks, squirrels, rabbits, deer, and coyotes the fruit, stem, and seeds provide a free snack.

by Guest Blogger: Marc Solano, Class of 2012

Resident Profile: Eastern prickly pear cactus

AP Env. Science - Year-end Projects

by Guest Blogger:  Marc Solano, Class of 2012, APES student

**Disclaimer by Mrs. Riha - "I did, however, give a scantron final in addition to these projects sooo...  maybe Marc's trying to tell me something?  :D"

As the end of the year approaches, many students are studying (or trying to study!) for final exams. Many people in this year’s APES class are in other high paced classes, so the stress levels many be higher than they would like. Many teachers understand the pressures of a written final and have instead opted to collect final grades in the form of a final project. Many students prefer these projects over spending hours filling a scantron (I for one agree wholeheartedly). Granted, there are some pros and cons to choosing projects over written finals, which I will briefly go over.

Let’s face it: written finals tend to be boring! Think about it this way: you are on a road trip with your family. It’s been hours since the last rest stop and you are dying to get out and stretch. In another scenario you also on a trip, this time on a train. It’s been hours since the last stop and you feel the need to get up and do things. However, unlike driving in a car, you are allowed to get up and explore. Personally, I have been on a few long train rides and though it takes quite a few hours, it is much more enjoyable simply because I am able to walk around. Finals are like that. If given two choices, would you rather sit at a desk for a couple hours filling in a whole scantron or writing an essay? Or would you rather have the opportunity to get your hands dirty (figuratively of course) and be able to exercise some freedom?

People demonstrate their knowledge differently. While some people are great at mentally recalling knowledge to complete a written final, others are not. Some people are visual, auditory, or spatially oriented, so they are more likely to succeed if the grades are focused more towards their strengths. If you are an artsy person, you might like doing a relevant art project vs. an essay. Or if you like to hear things, you might want to make a video or song. If you are very hands-on, you may like to build something. If you like cold hard facts… you’ll want a scantron.

For this year’s APES class, all the students are involved in their own little project – from blogging, to building, to decorating and making signs. A couple weeks ago, we were given a list of possible projects and we chose from those, or we proposed our own ideas. Below is a basic list of projects the class is participating in:-          Blogging about various environmental topics

-          Decorating display cases for monarch butterflies and ecosystem services of prairies

-          Building benches for a oak savannah

-          Building bird houses for the oak savannah

-          Creating species labels for plants in the butterfly garden

-          Creating a Google map of the species of plants in the oak savanna