'We want the public to see it': Hawthorn Woods restoring land not touched in a century
Another long-forgotten landscape in Hawthorn Woods is being uncovered with the intent to open it for public use.
Officials said the 11-acre village-owned property at the end of Seneca Avenue West hasn't been touched in a century and is overgrown with buckthorn and other invasive plants, obscuring Indian Creek and an upland meadow.
"This is a piece of land that time forgot. We had to cut our way in," said Pam Newton, the village's chief operating officer and a passionate advocate for the legacy of the land in Hawthorn Woods.
An official groundbreaking for Indian Creek Nature Preserve was held in June. But monthly volunteer and in-house work to begin clearing the first of three trails started in February.
The overgrown tract was regarded as surplus property, likely dedicated at some point to the village as open space by a developer who couldn't build on it, Newton said.
"It was an amazing discovery," Newton said of the meadow and other features of the property. "We want the public to see it."
It's the second such find in recent years. The village uncovered a similar area while looking to provide a habitat for migrating monarch butterflies. The 11.5-acre Brierwoods Preserve was dedicated in 2017.
"To find a parcel of land that nobody's seen, you're discovering something new right in your backyard," Newton said.
"It took us three years to do Brierwood. I had the desire to open this (Indian Creek), but we didn't have the money."
The multiyear plan is to create three trails: one leading to the meadow that's being created now; a general forest hiking path; and, another to connect to the 31-mile Millennium Trail and Greenway.
Invasive species will be removed, the tree canopy expanded and the site restored with native plants as a wildlife and pollinator habitat. Already, cleared areas are seeing sunlight, and flowers that have been dormant for years have emerged, Newton said.
"The forest is regenerating. It's becoming what it was meant to be," she said.
As with the Brierwoods project, the village received a $25,000 grant from a partnership of America in Bloom and the Canadian National Railway. The partners award 10 grants each year for beautification projects for communities along the railroad corridor. The grant must be matched in dollars or in-kind services.
"Hawthorn Woods has received multiple grants from America in Bloom and CN because of their commitment (to) protecting the natural environment, their excellent track record of putting forward unique and creative grant projects, and their exemplary efforts to maintain the project areas," said Laura Kunkle, America in Bloom executive director.
The village's intent to implement conservation measures to help protect pollinators and pollinator-dependent plants is in line with the organization's mission, Kunkle said.
Five volunteer work days have been held, and former Mayor Joe Mancino is returning from Chicago today with a crew from his company, GreenSigns, to assist.