Lake Bluff Open Lands Association

Lake Bluff Open Lands Association Preservation, Restoration, and Education for Open Space

LBOLA is an almost all-volunteer organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of open spaces and natural areas in and around Lake Bluff, Illinois.

Witness TreesDo you have a big tree? Measure its circumference, check the chart at GrowingNativeHabitatLB.org and you’ll...
09/04/2026

Witness Trees

Do you have a big tree? Measure its circumference, check the chart at GrowingNativeHabitatLB.org and you’ll find its age. GNH LB is documenting these “witness trees.” Send in your stats! So far, 22 trees are over 250 years old. One is 360.

Save some love for baby trees, too. Celebrating our 250th national anniversary, GNH LB is giving away 250+ oak saplings. Two-thirds are already on their way to new homes. Get yours ASAP, at Farmers Market on September 11 and 25.

HUGE News: Tree gurus Mickey Collins, Janice Aull, and Karen Szaflarski report a giant elm in East Lake Bluff. It’s untreated for Dutch Elm Disease - yet perfectly healthy - and perhaps a chance to share some precious DNA. Thanks GNH!

Have you peeked at the outdoors lately? As they say at our sister organization, Lake Forest Open Lands, think outside ...
08/30/2026

Have you peeked at the outdoors lately? As they say at our sister organization, Lake Forest Open Lands, think outside the box – think outside.

Just-plain walking is good for your body, good for your head and an underrated exercise. What might you see? Friends, furry and feathered, maybe friends of the humankind, too.

Be a grownup! Assign daily recess to your schedule.

We at LBOLA haven’t commented on coyotes in a few years. They are among us, in wooded areas, in ravines, wherever habit...
08/24/2026

We at LBOLA haven’t commented on coyotes in a few years. They are among us, in wooded areas, in ravines, wherever habitat can support them. Heightened vigilance is wise two times of the year: during spring mating season, and denning time when families are raised.

The recent event in Lake Bluff was neither of those times. A small dog was taken. The owner was very close by, giving chase unsuccessfully. If you spot a coyote behaving like a predator make noise, wave your arms, do whatever makes you seem menacing, including throwing what you can at the coyote. Be more wary at dawn and dusk.

Our hearts go out to the pet owner. We hope this unpleasant lesson in nature’s ways doesn’t happen to you. This is the first incident like this recorded here.

Photo by David Torres

Have you followed the adventures of the Piping Plovers on Waukegan Beach? Check out Lake County Audubon Society’s faceb...
08/17/2026

Have you followed the adventures of the Piping Plovers on Waukegan Beach? Check out Lake County Audubon Society’s page.

About ten days ago one of the volunteer plover monitors watched a kestrel hovering, intent on hunting. Soon, all of this year’s new chicks were gone. Avid birder and LBOLA board member Scott Gulson says ”It’s an emotional roller coaster. We get so attached.” Happily, several captive-reared plover arrived on schedule and two fledglings born at Montrose Harbor spontaneously flew north to check out the Waukegan beach. A choice Scott calls “Fascinating!” Because southward migration has already begun.

Despite the non-stop drama, the Great Lakes plover guardians are hugely successful: 19 nesting pairs in 1990 are nearly a hundred today.

Photo by Piping Plover Project

Photo by T Aull Purple prairie clover in the Skokie Reserve We optimistically purchase multitudes of species, with mi...
08/13/2026

Photo by T Aull Purple prairie clover in the Skokie Reserve

We optimistically purchase multitudes of species, with mixed results. This time of year we see a few spots to infill. Plants have very strong preferences.

Do you want an interactive database you can customize to our region? Try these:
Audubon Native Plants Database
National Wildlife Federation Plant Finder
Field Museum’s Field Guides

If you want a brief pocket guide try Xerces Midwest Region Pollinators. Page two is a great short list: Xerces Society’s Pollinator Friendly Plant Lists. Is a particular area of your yard in need of a tune-up? Here’s a plant list that's already sorted by the habitat the plants prefer: Illinois Wildflowers

When planting in the late summer/fall dry months you will need to water those young seedlings, but they will heel in well by next summer. All of these links are on LBOLA's Education page of our website: lbola.org

This Monterey Cypress must branch sideways because of the relentless winds on New Zealand’s coast. What do you see? Is ...
07/31/2026

This Monterey Cypress must branch sideways because of the relentless winds on New Zealand’s coast. What do you see? Is it resilient? Struggling?

“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” So says Dolly Parton. But if she’s not your guru, then maybe you are more of an Einstein weatherwise: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

As we settle back into gentler summer days, the memory of this week’s powerful storms may fade. For most of us, anyway. Please accept our sympathies if the fierce weather has tested your resilience.

Thumb up, thumbs downTopmost photo: Native bee balm’s pale lavender flowers may look demure from afar, but up close they...
07/25/2026

Thumb up, thumbs down

Topmost photo: Native bee balm’s pale lavender flowers may look demure from afar, but up close they are an explosion of individual flowers. Each little tube is a hummingbird’s joy. This well-behaved plant is a pollinator magnet, drawing butterflies and bees, too.

Lower photo: This now-green ragw**d will bloom with showy yellow plumes that look like ostrich feathers. While technically it is not an invader of our local ecology, it is an opportunist noxious w**d to pull. Ask anyone with allergies in a few short weeks!

Volunteers from Union Church have completed four flights of steps in Ravine Park. They toiled in our recent hot weather...
07/21/2026

Volunteers from Union Church have completed four flights of steps in Ravine Park. They toiled in our recent hot weather; fortunately formidable student volunteers bolstered the team. Thank you!! Have you visited lately?

Ravine Park is owned by the LB Park District, where LBOLA is steward. We are proud to preserve one of the very few publicly protected ravines. Our ravine system is rare, and it's a ragile ecosystem.

Lake Bluff’s Ravine Park has a densely green shaded trail system meandering beside a burbling stream that is lively after rains. Try it -- if you’re lucky you may be graced with a chilled updraft from the lake, even when the table land above is sweltering.

Raptor guru and ever-vigilant photographer Vic Berardi has shared this extraordinary photo. Vic says, “Craziest looking ...
07/17/2026

Raptor guru and ever-vigilant photographer Vic Berardi has shared this extraordinary photo. Vic says, “Craziest looking cloud formation I’ve ever seen!”

Unfortunately, wild-fire smoke stretches from Manitoba to Virginia today; the airnow.gov Air Quality Index is off the charts.

With apologies to Vic for misrepresenting this stirring natural image, what do you see? A fire-breathing troll? The gods toying with humans in a scene from the Odyssey?

Have you visited the Goetz Wetlands on Wimbledon Court? Birdwatchers love its open sky. Turtles love to forage in its mu...
07/13/2026

Have you visited the Goetz Wetlands on Wimbledon Court?

Birdwatchers love its open sky. Turtles love to forage in its muck. Walkers love its sheltering pine forest. Why don't you take a stroll on the newly refurbishd boardwalks?

Tell us what you think: [email protected]. LBOLA’s Land Management Committee is always weighing priorities.

Address

PO Box 449
Lake Bluff, IL
60044

Telephone

+12244361512

Website

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