The pack of kids excitedly ran back with a roly-poly bug last Saturday at Cranberry Slough Nature Preserve. Roly-poly bugs hold a piece of my heart, Janis.
Their excitement made me nostalgic for those tiny armadillo-looking crustaceans. Beyond their trick of rolling into a ball when touched (conglobation); they’re scavengers serving a role in nature.
There was lots to absorb on a 2.5-mile circle hike around the slough (probably closer to five miles for the kids), led by Iza Redlinski, deputy director of resource management for the Forest Preserves of Cook County. It was part of the statewide 60th anniversary celebration of Illinois Nature Preserves last weekend, organized by Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.
On Aug. 28, 1963, the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission was formed “to create a system of natural areas representative of Illinois’ landscape with the INPC charged “to preserve, protect and defend natural areas and endangered species habitat for public benefit.” Illinois was “the first state to create such an innovative land protection program.”
“As of the 244th INPC meeting on May 9, 2023, there are 622 sites with 121,492 acres protected in the Illinois Nature Preserves System,” emailed Jayette Bolinski, director of communications for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. “This includes 416 dedicated Nature Preserves encompassing 62,763 acres AND 206 registered Land & Water Reserves encompassing 58,729 acres.”
The first INP was Illinois Beach NP. Cranberry Slough was the fifth.
“Illinois Nature Preserves are like our nation’s National Parks,” Redlinski said.
FPCC has 27 INP and six Illinois Land and Water Reserves, totaling approximately 10,968 acres, the most of any local agency in the state.
Cranberry Slough is one of a few peat bog ecosystems in Illinois.
FPCC describes it as, “A unique ecological community developed in this hollow, formed by an ice block stranded during the retreat of the glacier some 14,000 years ago. Plants such as sphagnum moss, a more typical inhabitant of the cooler climes of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, share company with familiar prairie and woodland species, such as white wild indigo, marsh blazing star and tall bellflower.”
Another notable bog is Volo Bog in Lake County, the 25th INP.
As our group of seven adults and six kids started, Redlinski said endangered northern long-eared bats are there. Our first bird was an eastern wood-pewee, followed by a red-bellied woodpecker. Late in the hike we had a red-headed woodpecker.
Yellows, particularly from native and non-native goldenrods, dominated the landscape.
Poison ivy surrounded the first mushroom we spotted, a yellow American blusher, quickly followed by a golden-scruffy collybia. Both are very tentative IDs for me and firsts.
Redlinski dropped another nugget, saying, “Poison ivy is related to cashews.”
I had to look that up. Poison ivy and cashews are in the anacardiaceae family with mango, sumac, Peruvian pepper and pistachio.
The kids found hickory nuts, which led Redlinski to point out a shagbark hickory.
A charm of American goldfinches added more yellow in an open area.
Redlinski showed us Solomon’s seal, nodding onions, cup plants and buttonbush, which reminded me of fishing crappie at Rend Lake.
An unknown frog hopped off.
She showed us elderberry, all the rage during the pandemic, rose mallow (a dab of purplish pink) and cattails, both natives and hybrids. Redlinski pointed out that the native cattails space out while non-natives and hybrids take over.
The kids came back with a gall, which Redlinski opened to show the wasp larvae inside. Pretty cool.
She moved on to sedges and grasses, then made the unusual connection that grasses are like the multiple straws that Scooby-Doo used to steal drinks. On cue, Nik Egedus spotted a sedge growing in the crotch of a tree.
We first glimpsed Cranberry Slough while a low plane from Midway Airport droned overhead. That fit a scene with rare wildness mixed into a human setting that included hikers, dog-walkers, bicyclists and even some horse riders.
Purple milkweed and ironweed splashed purple in the yellow at spots.
As Redlinski showed us false Solomon’s seal, she quipped, “It has to show off.”
Its flowers and fruit are on top while in the unrelated Solomon’s seal the flowers and fruit hang down.
When we finished, Redlinski said, “We need people to love these places.
To volunteer at an INP, go to friendsofillinoisnaturepreserves.org/events/.
Find an Illinois Nature Preserve at dnr.illinois.gov/inpc/directory.html. There are dozens in Cook County alone and I’ve only been to a third of them.
