Storm debris finally gets cleared out of preserve, state park
By Frank Abderholden fabderholden@stmedianetwork.com February 9, 2012 7:18PM
Integrated Lakes Management Chris Ryan of McHenry carries logs to a brush pile during clean up at Lyons Woods Forest Preserve in Waukegan. | Thomas Delany Jr.~ Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 10, 2012 11:56AM
Mild winter weather has allowed the Lake County Forest Preserve to get a jump on restoration work at Lyons Woods north of Waukegan that includes cleaning up damage from heavy winds last summer on either side of North Avenue.
At the same time, heavily damaged Adeline Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park near Zion plans to open in April for campers and hikers. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has dedicated money for an outside contractor to clear July storm debris from the state park next week.
“Every preserve had some damage (from the summer storms),” said Mike Tully, director of operations and public safety for the forest preserve district. The main preserves with damage were Lyons, Ryerson and Brae Loch Golf Course.
“Lyons Woods was not heavily damaged, but it did get walloped twice,” he said of the two wind storms in July.
Nick Huber, restoration ecologist in charge of the Lyons Woods project, said there are two primary objectives of the work: To clean up storm damage and to remove invasive woody plants.
“This project involved cleaning up the downed material within 100 feet of North Avenue and the trails that are immediately adjacent to North Avenue,” he said.
Most of the downed trees were oaks, with half dozen just off the trail where their tops were torn off.
Most of the material will be chipped or burned, with some logs stacked near the trail being removed by Integrated Lakes Management of Gurnee, which was contracted for the cleanup and restoration work.
The second half of the project will remove invasives like buckthorn, and will also trim some opportunistic natives like box elder, cherry and ash trees. This brush also will be chipped or burned.
Over at the state park, Bob Feffer, assistant site superintendent, said things will be changing next week. He said the state has contracted with Homer Tree Care of Wauconda for a little over $200,000 to remove and haul away the many tree trunks in the beach parking lot and finish cutting down the trees that block the trails and the camping area.
When the wind sheer (94 mph) in July came off Lake Michigan, it knocked over hundreds of trees. Miraculously, no one at the campground’s 241 sites was injured. They were all safely evacuated.
At one point, the Lake County Forest Preserve and Lake County Public Works Department employees helped clean up some of the mess and stack downed trees and chips in the Illinois Beach parking lot.
“We are hoping to open on April 1,” said Feffer. “We haven’t opened up the reservations yet.” Officials want to make sure things are cleaned up enough to open.
“We have people calling almost every day,” he said. The park used to be the most visited park in the state, but now it is in the top five.
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