Somme Woods Community

08/04/2026

Enjoy this “vintage” demonstration video (from ten years ago) on managing an invasive plant, purple loosestrife, in Somme Prairie Grove

07/17/2026

A hot day, Tuesday the 14th of July: volunteers decided to find a way to work that kept everyone happy and safe

Eighteen volunteers got together early to meet in the shade of the pavilion at Somme Woods with bags of recently collected seeds, tubs, hand-made mesh screens, and various metal salad bowls to prep the seeds

With ice-cold lemonade, iced tea, cold water, cubed melons, and high spirits, we kept cool and the time passed by quickly

A small group looked for seeds near the parking lot, and those bags were sorted in the second half

Weather conditions are variable, but there's still something important to do for the ecosystem on each day

Sign up at sommepreserve.org for multiple weekly options

07/16/2026

On Sunday, July 12, volunteers assembled on a beautiful summery day at Somme Prairie Grove to collect seeds and pull lingering white sweet clover (an invasive species that was originally introduced as fodder for livestock)

The main target species for seed collecting was thicket parsley, Perideridia americana. We also collected lots of other seeds such as nodding fescue and various kinds of woodland sedges

White sweet clover was present near where we collected seeds. This invasive plant has been pulled for decades at Somme. Every year gets better and better, approaching zero. We only pulled a handful of lingering plants (grasping the stem low, at ground level, pulling slowly, to make sure we got the roots), and placed them on a burn scar near the trail to keep an eye on them in future years, with the roots broken off in case there is enough energy to finishing ripening the seeds

A nice break on a log with cold drinks and snacks make a warm workday really quite enjoyable

There's always something important to do and special to see during the volunteer work parties

Sign up at sommepreserve.org for one of the multiple weekly options to serve the ecosystem

07/12/2026

See this brand new blog post by Stephen Packard

https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2026/07/parasite-and-partner-leafless-rootless.html

As we put this parasite into our seed mixes, we remember regularly getting alarmed alerts from summer visitors to Somme Prairie Grove: "There's some kind of parasite taking over! Can anything be done?!?"

Be calm, friends. We plant it.

It's a great partner in restoration of ecosystem health and biodiversity.

🧡

Read on, and take a look at spectacular photos of dodder at work

As we put this parasite into our seed mixes, we remember regularly getting alarmed alerts from summer visitors to Somme Prairie Grove: "Ther...

07/10/2026

In the early days of biodiversity conservation and restoration, some people argued that it would be wrong to "play God" by meddling with nature. "Leave it alone!" they insisted.

A few hundred feet apart, these two areas are linked.
Formerly pasture, both had been "protected" conservation land that had been invaded by buckthorn.

Read more on this burning question in this new blog post by Stephen Packard: https://woodsandprairie.blogspot.com/2026/06/these-two-sites-had-been-same.html

07/10/2026

Somme Prairie Grove, Thursday, July 9

Colors, brilliant and rich

07/07/2026

Seed collectors this morning gathered seeds of many kinds of sedges, a bulrush, three kinds of woodland grasses, and more 🌱

We rendezvoused with the scything crew for a lovely snack break on the perimeter, under the shade of a young bur oak that we had rescued a couple of years ago from a big buckthorn thicket

Volunteer sessions multiple times weekly

sommepreserve.org

Photos: Donna Wittert

07/06/2026

Somme Prairie Grove in early summer bloom, July 5

Do these photos do it justice?

Come walk and take in its ineffable beauty





Illinois Nature Preserves Commission
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
North Branch Restoration Project
Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves