Dundee Township steward maintains a thriving ecosystem

Dave Petzel was 18 years old on a cold winter day in 1979 the coldest day on record, he said. Businesses across the city shut down.

But Petzel had been going every day to this piece of land near the Des Plaines River and he thought it would be almost wrong for him to skip a day for the cold. A sense of duty turned into a test of survival what would he do if he really had to make it outside?

Petzel knew getting warm had to be the first step. He found some dry kindling under the snow and gathered a small pile to start a fire. As he slowly started adding bigger sticks he had a strange feeling and turned to his left. An opossum had poked its head out of a hole in the ground, keeping warm with Petzel's fire.

"He stayed there the whole time I was there," Petzel said.

Petzel grew up on the northwest side of Chicago, escaping every chance he got for a piece of nature. As a kid he took a bus to the end of the line with a friend, as a teenager he drove himself out of the city and as an adult, he has spent his free time as a steward on Dundee Township property.

Petzel's early experiences exploring and finding bugs as a 10-year-old forged a lifetime connection he can't quite explain.

"Maybe it's the connection of being able to see things as they should be," Petzel said. "Not modified."

At 49, Petzel has turned a love of the land into a volunteer opportunity. He has been a steward of the Library Springs property that sits behind the Dundee Township Public Library since the township bought it in 2002. After years of walking through that land with his son, identifying the insects, plants and animals it's home to, Petzel now walks through as a more official protector.

"Every year for the past five years there's been some outside threat to the property," Petzel said.

More than just keeping in touch with the township supervisor and coordinating work groups to pull out invasive species or clean up the trail, being a steward means Petzel must be aware of the various forces that might jeopardize the property.

Petzel helped save a century-old burr oak tree a couple years ago that was going to be cut down to create a path for drainage, for example. And a couple years before that he helped stop a local business from using toxic chemicals that drained into a pond on the property, killing much of its wildlife.

He gets out onto the property about five times every week, maintaining an awareness of the land and the threats to it.

As a steward, Petzel also works to chronicle the life of the land. He adds trees, flowers and animals into data lists, monitoring the Township's success in restoring the land and reclaiming it from invasive, nonnative species. It's just a 50-acre plot of land but that space is a thriving ecosystem.

"It's pretty amazing such a small piece can support so much diversity," Petzel said.

Petzel works with about 20 other local volunteers to maintain the Library Springs property on workdays the third Saturday of every month. But the younger generation is largely missing and they're always looking for more volunteers. Petzel said he would love to see more people at the three-hour work days if only for an hour. He, for one, will be out there for many years to come.

"I hope I don't ever have to stop," Petzel said.

How to helpDundee Township is always looking for more volunteers to staff its monthly workdays. Join neighbors for work and fun with midmorning snacks provided.When: 9 a.m. to noon third Saturday of every month. The next workdays are Oct. 16 and Nov. 20.Where: Dundee Township Public Library parking lot, 555 Barrington Ave., East Dundee.Details: dundeetownship.org; (847) 428-8092