DuPage River Sweep, Saturday, May 20th, 2023, 9am - 12 noon

[Bart Durham]

Apologies for the late notice but the DuPage River Sweep will be taking place this year in just a couple of weeks on Saturday, May 20th, 2023 from 9 am - 12 noon.  We'll be working  with Daniel Flinn, Natural Resources/Horticulture Manager at the Bolingbrook Park District in cleaning up the East Branch of DuPage River Valley.  There will be opportunities here for river clean up work and restoration work involving removal of invasive species along the river valley  

We will meet at the Hidden Lakes Trout Farm Parking lot located at 419 Trout Farm Road in Bolingbrook at 9 am.  Bring some good gloves and boots and plan to get dirty and dress appropriate for the weather.  Trash bags and trash picks will be provided by the Park District.  

This is a great opportunity to give back to a river system that means so much to the members of our great organization.  We look forward to seeing you there.  Here is some more information on the river clean up event:

https://www.theconservationfoundation.org/river-sweep/

 

 

[Matthew Wier]

HI Bart,

  Does the ISA participate in any other river/stream cleanups?  I'd love to attend this but my youngest son graduates from H.S. that day so I won't make this one. 

 

Thanks,

Matt 

[Jim Wright]

I’m in!

[Kev-mo]

On 5/4/2023 at 2:25 PM, Matthew Wier said:

HI Bart,

  Does the ISA participate in any other river/stream cleanups?  I'd love to attend this but my youngest son graduates from H.S. that day so I won't make this one. 

 

Thanks,

Matt 

Matt,

We (the ISA) have participate in different clean ups on different rivers over the years. Most of out participation has been in conjunction with the county or a group. 

When I first joined the club we did some clean ups on our own. I'd like to get back to some of those types of events next year.. While it's GREAT that county(s) and and cities sponsor these types of events they come too late in the season. There is already a lot of plant growth which hides a lot of the trash. Also poison ivy along with other 'nuisance' plants are well established.

If you have areas in mind that need cleaning start a list.

[Kev-mo]

Planning to attend

[Bart Durham]

Quick update, instead of meeting at the Trout Farm parking lot, we're meeting at 9 am at the Dupage River Greenway trail head located at 569 Concord Lane, Bolingbrook.  This is located near the intersection of Royce Road and Concord Lane in Bolingbrook.

Dan Flinn of the Bolingbrook Park District who will be coordinating our work, mentioned the following:

This year we are offering garbage clean up as well as 2 restoration efforts.

• Hand pulling garlic mustard and dame’s rocket.
• Helping plant a pollinator garden between the parking lot and the new playground.

If you could encourage your volunteers to bring work gloves I would appreciate it. I have some if people do not have any, but if all groups get a full turnout we will probably be short.

I have attached a few helpful brochures from the conservation foundation on what everyone should bring/expect, as well as a page about poison ivy and the waiver forms.

I will have copies of the waiver form available on Saturday if you need them.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need anything else. Can’t wait to see everyone on Saturday!

 

Thanks,

 

 

Daniel Finn  Natural Resources, Horticulture, and Turf Manager 301 Recreation Dr, Bolingbrook, IL 60440 P:(630) 783-6563 | F:(630) 739-1589 dfinn@bolingbrookparks.org | www.bolingbrookparks.org

River Sweep Waiver Form-fillable.pdf

[Bart Durham]

A contingent of ISA members joined a group of approximately 30 volunteers on May 20, 2023 to take part in the Dupage River Sweep in Bolingbrook in conjunction with the Bolingbrook Park District..  The weather was perfect and we cleared about 30 lawn bags worth of invasive plant species that had invaded the DuPage River Trail in Bolingbrook.  Other volunteers picked up trash and river debris.  I'll post some pictures when  I can minimize them for posting.  Afterwards, Kevin Daugherty, Jim Wright and I were able to pick out a large blue barrel that had floated downstream on the East Branch near Weber road.  Thanks to all that participated.