Grove Restoration Project

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The Halloween clean-up and restoration event was a success. Early in the afternoon visitors to the area spent most of their time speaking to one another about the cemetery while volunteer photographer Robert Lundin documented the volunteering efforts. The material that was collected and placed into a central location was accomplished with the help of volunteers of the GRP as well as new members of the team which also included friends of GONIL, the Geocachers Of Northeastern Illinois.

As the day progressed everyone continued to fill up the wheelbarrow and talked about various topics. Once the water level in Tinley Creek began to subside from the recent rainfall, all of the volunteers went for a walk to see the remains of the old homes west of the cemetery. Afterwords, everyone helped to bring the trash bags to the curb of 143rd street to be picked up by the Forest Preserve District.  Upon leaving the area some of the volunteers were greeted by employees of the Forest Preserve District and were thanked for all of their hard work and dedication to a great cause!

We truly appreciate everyone attending the first Halloween event geared toward the care and maintenance of the cemetery! We hope you had a great time and we look forward to meeting all of you again in the near future!

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The Forest Preserve District has granted approval for the GRP to pick up where S.W.A.P. had left off last month. On the day of the clean-up for Saturday, October 31st, volunteers will be gathering inside of the cemetery at 12:00 P.M. The only items you will need to bring are a pair of comfortable gloves and possibly a hard rake if you happen to have one. If you forget to bring a pair of gloves there will be some available on-site. A few hard rakes will also be provided on-site but standard leaf rakes will not be necessary. Most of the material that needs to be relocated into one large pile will not require the use of tools.

Trash collection will be the primary focus early on in the afternoon and the Forest Preserve District will be providing all of the garbage bags. Once the general area has been cleaned up the majority of the efforts will be on creating a central brushpile from all of the material that was cut up last month. At this point in time a brushpile burn will not take place but it may be scheduled for next month if everything is completed on the 31st. For further details please read the initial post below about the clean-up. If you have any questions about the event please don’t hesitate to email a coordinator!

On a side note, the GRP filed a request this month for the recent graffiti that some of you may have found in the area. We are pleased to announce that the Cook County Sheriff’s Graffiti Removal squad placed a visit to the area and everything has been cleaned up. It is now becoming a true waste for vandals to put their own time and money into such activities as it will only be removed.

See you all on the Halloween!

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A permit to help clean up the cemetery has been issued for Saturday, October 31st 2009 from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. At this point in time the permit has been issued for a clean-up that will consist of trash removal. There is, however, the possibility that volunteers will have a chance to continue where the Cook County Sheriff’s S.W.A.P. team left off this past week with the removal of weeds and trees from within the cemetery.

At the moment, the main areas of attention will be the cemetery itself and the main path leading to the cemetery. To help mark this special event, with weather permitting, volunteers will be shown the foundations of the old homes west of the cemetery and help remove trash from the paths along the way.

All volunteers will be meeting inside the cemetery and due to the nature of the date chosen please locate a coordinator upon your arrival. Many of the visitors to the area may not be attending the cemetery for a clean-up so it will be a little difficult to spot new volunteers. You will be able to locate a coordinator by looking for their ID Tag hanging from their neck, or you can simply ask another volunteer for assistance. Spotting a volunteer should be as easy as looking for someone carrying a garbage bag. A coordinator will also be utilising a FRS radio to help keep in contact with volunteers so if you happen to own one please bring it with you and tune it to channel 13.

Last month police officers with S.W.A.P. had a discussion with the GRP about their past efforts with helping to maintain the cemetery and its surrounding area. They expressed their concerns with the upkeep of the cemetery and decided to lend a helping hand this year. The area is certainly looking much better with the removal of particular invasive species of plants and trees, along with general trimming of the grounds. There have been past efforts by S.W.A.P. roughly ten years ago and we look forward to more of their assistance in the future! Good work everyone!

The remaining piles of brush that were cut up and left behind by S.W.A.P. still need to be collected and disposed of. The GRP is currently waiting for possible preliminary approval by the Forest Preserve District to perform a brushpile burn to properly dispose of the material before the end of the year. A certified Master Steward from the Bachelors Grove Prairie team will lend assistance to the burn if such approval is granted. Even if such approval is not immediately granted we may still get partial approval on the 31st to gather up all of the material and place it in one large pile.

Before any other work can be approved, officials from the Forest Preserve District need to perform a on-site inspection of the area. It is also possible that you will see employees of the Forest Preserve District attending the October 31st event. As always, we will keep you updated as more information becomes available and we look forward to seeing you all on the 31st for your special Halloween event!

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The current state to the acquisition of Bachelors Grove cemetery by the Forest Preserve District is that the transfer of the property has yet to be completed. At some point during October of 2009 there is to be a meeting with the commissioners of Cook County about the details of the transfer and we will keep you updated as further information becomes available.

On a side note, we are still waiting for a response from the Forest Preserve District about a permit to help clean-up the area at the end of the month and we hope to provide more details shortly.

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The excellent weather during the August clean-up and picnic made events of the day very enjoyable. Early in the morning the garbage can provided by the Forest Preserve District was placed on-site to greet volunteers upon their arrival. Throughout the three hour clean-up volunteers from previous efforts as well as new members of the team spent much of their time conversing on various topics as they removed material from the area. About a dozen bags of garbage and a few large items were collected and placed to the side of the road to be picked up by the Forest Preserve District. Comments by volunteers and general visitors to the area about the lack of garbage to be collected was certainly a positive reflection on how much has been accomplished this year.

At the end of the clean-up a portion of the volunteers relaxed at the picnic across the street in Rubio Woods. Discussions varied throughout the afternoon as everyone sat back to grab a drink and get something to eat. Some reflected on their early experiences of the area more than two decades ago as well as received a chance to browse through some of the artifacts recovered from the area such as a horseshoe from the horses used by early settlers, to a purple-hue milk bottle in excellent condition dated between 1910 and 1920. Other items present were the top portion of an 1800s handheld lantern, some recently discovered documentation about the old house that used to stand near the roped off entrance in 1939, and even one of the original doorknobs to one of the houses that stood in the 1800s just west of the cemetery.

Bill Fath from the Bachelors Grove Prairie restoration team also made a appearance to the picnic as well. He gave a brief introduction to the efforts currently in effect to restoring ecology to one of the central points to what was the Batchelors Grove settlement. Restoring ecology to the area has many benefits and it will also help reflect what the area used to look like when the Batchelder family first settled here in the early part of the 1800s.

Photographs of the clean-up provided by volunteer photographer Pam Bednarz can be found in the Gallery. If you also wish to become a volunteer photographer to help document the hard work performed by other volunteers we welcome you to email a coordinator to be notified of future events. As always, we appreciate everyone coming out to help take care of the area and we hope you all had a great time at the picnic!

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A permit to help clean up the cemetery has been issued for Sunday, August 23rd 2009 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The clean-up itself will be from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and a volunteer picnic will take place across the street at the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Details of the picnic will be sent to all volunteers as the date approaches.

The main areas of attention will be the cemetery itself, portions of the pond and the main path leading to the cemetery. Portions of the creek that runs along side the cemetery and pond is scheduled as well just so long as the water level remains low on the 23rd. All volunteers should initially meet in the cemetery. Upon leaving for the picnic the main path will be attended to along the way.

The permit was granted solely for the purpose of a clean-up that will only consist of removing the trash that has been left behind by visitors to the cemetery. At this point in time all permits that require the use of cutting tools are still on-hold. The only items you should bring are a pair of gloves, a few garbage bags, bug spray and possibly a pick-up stick if you have one. If you plan on helping with the pond or creek a pair of boots may be helpful. If you happen to have a wheel barrow feel free to bring that along as well. Any other tools that may be required will be provided on-site.

The Forest Preserve District has approved the placement of a garbage can that will be provided by the District itself. It will be placed at the cemetery by the GRP for daily visitation to the area. This is certainly another step in the right direction to the upkeep of the area. Visitors may have noticed a garbage can in the past, which was removed during the clean-up of fallen trees by the District, but the can was not approved by the District so that is why it disappeared. If you have not been to a clean-up before now may be a fun time to make a visit to take part in its first official placement. As for a update to the garbage dumpster that was recommended by the District, it was decided not to be temporarily placed on site at this point in time.

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The turn out for the July 26th clean-up was another success. There were many new volunteers who came out for the first time to express their concerns for the care and maintenance of the cemetery. During the first hour the cemetery itself was taken care of and then the efforts were focused on the house foundation located near the entrance to the main path leading to the cemetery. The majority of the material removed from the area was broken glass which resulted in a total of 47 bags of garbage.

Bill and Marybeth Fath of the Bachelors Grove Prairie (BGP) restoration team (stewards for the Forest Preserve District) also made a visit to the clean-up and to help mentor in the future care of the area. As always, their assistance is very much appreciated! If you happen to be visiting The Taste of Orland on July 31st, August 1st or the 2nd be sure to stop by their booth to say hello. They will be assisting the Orland Grassland volunteers, which happens to be one of the largest areas under restoration for the Forest Preserve District. It is a wonderful area to visit and if you are an avid birdwatcher it is an excellent grassland to spend some time in.

As for the wildlife out at the cemetery, be sure to keep an eye out for the two new turtles that have made themselves at home in the pond. Their protective shells are about a foot long but they can still be hard to spot, just keep looking. Among some of the other wildlife spotted out near the pond this year is another baby muskrat, a few large Bass and a bunch of Sunfish and Bluegills. During the clean-up itself a very hard to find “Stick-Bug” in the Phasmatodea family was spotted and a photograph of it can be found in the Gallery.

A big thank you goes out to all of the volunteers who showed up, especially those who drove almost two hours to help out! Your assistance is truly appreciate by helping make such excellent changes to Bachelors Grove cemetery and its surrounding area. Great teamwork everyone!

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A permit to help clean up the cemetery has been issued for Sunday, July 26th 2009 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The permit was granted solely for the purpose of a clean-up that will only consist of removing the trash that has been left behind by visitors to the cemetery. At this point in time all permits that require the use of cutting tools are still on-hold. Please do not bring any other items besides those recommended below.

The main area of attention will be the last clean-up location where there used to be a house along the main path leading to the cemetery. The photograph below shows the location of the site marked as H1.

The only items you should bring are a pair of gloves, a few garbage bags, rake and bug spray. If you happen to have a wheel barrow please feel free to bring it along. But again, please don’t bring any other items.

The Forest Preserve District will be providing garbage bags and gloves but you may wish to provide your own gloves for more comfort. Also, on the last clean-up all of the garbage bags provided by the Forest Preserve District were used up so it won’t hurt to bring a few extra just in case.

At this point in time the Forest Preserve District has filed a request for a garbage dumpster to be located out near the cemetery to help with the efforts. Based on availability, it is unclear if it will be placed on-site for the July 26th clean-up. We will keep you updated on the results of the request.
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