Workday in the wild

Volunteering, helping the environment, getting outdoors more often -- if any of those were your goals for the new year, the Kane County Forest Preserve has options for you.

The district will hold several workdays for residents interested in helping clean up and restore natural areas this month.

Volunteers will likely help remove invasive plants and brush.

Forest Preserve Volunteer Coordinator Julia Bourque said despite the cold weather, people were showing interest in helping.

"I think people's New Year's resolutions are kicking in," she said.

Volunteers should dress for cold weather and bring their own work gloves. Children have to be accompanied by adults.

Workdays for this month are:

• Fabyan Forest Preserve, Geneva, 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 12. If it is below freezing, the event will be canceled.

• Les Arends Forest Preserve, Batavia, 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 12. Volunteers should meet at the shelter. If there is heavy rain or snow, the event will be canceled.

• LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve, St. Charles, 9:30 a.m. to noon Jan. 15. Volunteers should meet at the parking lot near the near the Great Western trailhead. If it is raining or snowing, or if the temperature is below freezing, the event will be canceled.

• Burnidge Forest Preserve, Elgin, 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 19.

• Bliss Woods Forest Preserve, Sugar Grove, 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 26.

• Dick Young Forest Preserve, Batavia, 1 p.m. on Tuesdays. Volunteers should meet at the parking lot off Nelson Lake Road by the silos. If it is raining or snowing, the event will be canceled.

• Johnson's Mound Forest Preserve, Elburn, 1 p.m. on Thursdays. If it is raining or snowing, the event will be canceled.

For more information or to confirm the events, call (630) 762-2741.

Also, on weekends there are workdays at the Campton Forest Preserve in St. Charles. Volunteers should call the district for dates and times.