On Saturday, July 16, the Friends of the Fox River (FOFR) completed the first year of its new riverbank planting initiative at a joint planting event co-sponsored by the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance (ISA). Around 40 volunteers comprised of members of FOFR, the ISA, and concerned citizens gathered at Violet Patch Park in Oswego to plant 1,750 water willow plants in the Fox River. This planting was the last of three water willow plantings sponsored by the Friends of the Fox River during 2005. The other planting sites were West Dundee (1,000 water willow plugs planted on July 9) and Montgomery (1,000 water willow and 75 lizard’s tail plugs planted on May 21). As at the Violet Patch Park site, both the West Dundee and Montgomery plantings attracted around 40 volunteers.
The plantings were made possible through grants received from the Kane and Kendall County Soil and Water Conservation Districts that provided the money for purchasing the plants. Also instrumental to the success of the plantings was the assistance provided by Bob Rung, Region 2 Streams Biologist from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, who directed the planting process at all three sites and provided expert guidance in helping to select sites for the plantings. Other individuals and organizations who merit special recognition in making the plantings successful include Dave Margolis of the Oswegoland Park District who provided logistical support for the Oswego and Montgomery plantings and Thom McNamee and Dave Nerge of Rosie O’Hare’s Public House who provided a complimentary lunch for the volunteers who planted at the West Dundee site. Mark Kasick and the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance also provided volunteer help at our May planting and co-sponsored our July 16 planting. Finally, groups of students from the Illinois Math and Science Academy, the College of DuPage and Aurora University provided volunteer assistance.
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 used in our plantings ensuring that the water willow we planted came from original Fox River stock.
Water willow plantings represent part of a new initiative for Friends of the Fox River: habitat restoration. This initiative will complement our longstanding river cleanup work by providing permanent habitat improvement for organisms that call the Fox River home as well as beautifying the shoreline. Over the next few months, Friends of the Fox River will be working with Bob Rung of the IDNR to identify suitable sites for future plantings of water willow and lizard’s tail.
Friends of the Fox River plans to make water willow plantings an annual event. Check future newsletters for updates on our planting schedule and opportunities to volunteer your time for a worthy cause. Thanks to all of our volunteers this year, the planting project was a big success!