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Water Willow Planting - Fox River


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On Saturday July 6th we will once again be doing our annual water willow planting on the Fox River. This year we will be planting an area in Batavia, we will meet at 8am at the Glenwood Forest Preserve (1644 S. River St., Batavia). We will plant several areas and should finish up in time to grill up some lunch and hopefully get a bit of fishing in. This is a great chance to give back to the river and provide better habitat for our beloved smallmouth! Stay tuned to the website or contact Tim U @ Timmay723@gmail.com for updates in case of high water or inclement weather.

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  • 1 month later...

John L. and I joined Bob Rung from the IDNR last week to take a look at last years planting on the Fox River. Although we did find a nice row of plants, it seems like this years heavy rain may have washed out many of the plants we planted last year.

 

We have decided we will once again plant the head of the island behind VFW Post 1197 in Batavia.

 

We will meet at the following location @ 8am, Saturday July 6th.

 

VFW Post 1197
645 River St.
Batavia, IL 60510

 

 

This is an open event so please bring along anyone who you think will be interested, the more people in attendance the quicker we plant the 1000 plants and move on to lunch and some fishing.

 

I recommend bringing waders and a pair of gloves, the ISA will provide the shovels, water and a light lunch.

 

Please post here if you plan on attending and PM or email with any questions, I will respond as soon as possible.

 

Thanks,
Tim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Glad to hear back from some people....here are a few benefits of volunteering for this event.

 

 

Fishing - I plan to be on the river sometime between 5:30-6:00am that morning to get some early fishing in before we plant. Post a message here or PM if you want to meet up at one of the many access points in this area before we start. Also, there is usually a group that fishes after the planting, either on the Fox or other near by water.

 

FREE LUNCH!

 

Bob Rung - Bob works for the IDNR as a stream biologist and has studied and sampled many of rivers/streams in Illinois and has a wealth of knowledge he is usually willing to share. Bob is also an avid fisherman who spends a lot of his free time fishing different waters in Illinois and Wisconsin and loves to talk all things fishing.

 

FREE LUNCH!


The ISA does many things throughout the year in regards to conservation and education, but this event gets you directly involved in the process. Water willows provide habitat for many species small and large that live in the river, help protect shoreline from erosion and even provide food for some animals as deer will graze on the leaves and blossoms, while beavers and muskrats consume the rhizomes.

 

Here is a bit of information I pulled from the Friends of the Fox website I found interesting.

 

"A native plant of the Fox River, water willow colonies along the river were nearly eradicated by shoreline development. A few original colonies still exist along the less developed southern reaches of the river. Seeds and clippings from these colonies were used by Country Roads Greenhouses nursery in Rochelle to propagate the plants we use in our plantings ensuring that the water willows we plant come from original Fox River stock."

 

Did I mention FREE LUNCH?

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BUMP!!!

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP!!!

On Saturday July 6th we will once again be doing our annual water willow planting on the Fox River. This year we will be planting an area in Batavia, we will meet at 8am at the Glenwood Forest Preserve (1644 S. River St., Batavia). We will plant several areas and should finish up in time to grill up some lunch and hopefully get a bit of fishing in. This is a great chance to give back to the river and provide better habitat for our beloved smallmouth! Stay tuned to the website or contact Tim U @ Timmay723@gmail.com for updates in case of high water or inclement weather.

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not looking good right now to get a vacation day with that being a holiday weekend. if that changes, I'll let you know.

 

Go to my report on the water willow pattern if you think re establishing water willow beds is not worth the time or effort involved.

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With all the rain we have had, and rain in the forecast 5 out of the next 7 days we are going to postpone the water willow planting. We will try for 2 weeks out, Saturday July 20th. But please watch for updates as I reach out to all parties involved to set a new date.

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Im out of town next weekend. Selfishly hoping it might be continued again due to high water so I can make the rescheduled event. If it goes, have fun guys. Your efforts have obviously proven fruitful on the Fox. Welcome to the ISA Brian.

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  • 2 weeks later...

BUMP!

 

The river is coming down nicely and the forecast looks good for the week so we are going to move ahead with planting this Saturday 7/20 @ 8am. The forecast for Saturday looks wonderful with a temp around 80 degrees and some cloud cover.

 

We will meet behind the Batavia VFW hall around 8:00am and work to get the plants in the ground as quick as possible. We will have lunch afterwards and some groups will most likely break off to get some fishing in.

 

Members of DRIFT and the Friends of the Fox will be joining us as well.

 

Please post here if you plan on attending. You can call me at 630-254-4144 or email: timmay723@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

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I'll be there.Also I ran into Bob Rung today and reminded him that it was this Saturday.He had forgotten that this Saturday was the 20th.

Thanks Ed! John L. was going to reach out to him today as well. I contacted Country Road Greenhouses, the Batavia VFW and Friends of the Fox confirming this Saturday.

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