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Midewin
National Tallgrass Prairie |
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Wattle Fence Project at Midewin |
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The Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie hosted a “get outdoors” project during the winter break by recruiting volunteers to build wattle fences. What’s a wattle fence? The wattle fence is probably one of the oldest forms of fence and involves weaving slender, flexible limbs between upright posts. Cutting invasive species to use as fence building materials provided even more benefit. Midewin’s wattle fence was built out of Osage orange for the posts and Amur honeysuckle saplings for the weaving. The rustic wattle fence sections will guide visitors to walkways and protect prairie landscaping in Midewin’s new parking lot at the River Road native seed gardens. Twenty-five people came out to wattle with the Forest Service on Saturday morning, December 30, including the science club from nearby Peotone High School. Volunteers divided into cutters, gatherers, and weavers to finish the fence sections much faster than expected, even though none had ever seen or built a wattle fence before. Some volunteers also set additional posts to support the weaving, and everyone was impressed at the quality and quantity of mud in the new parking lot. Collectively, volunteers logged 118 hours for this project. The Midewin Tallgrass Prairie Alliance provided coffee and hot chocolate to get people moving and roasted a hot dog lunch as a “thank you” to all volunteers. Although the weather was overcast, temperatures were ideal for working outdoors. |
| A FEW PHOTOS: | Click on thumbnail below for larger photo. |
| Janine Catchpole & Mike
Thom spent a couple days auguring and setting the Osage orange posts prior
to the workday.
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| Project leader Janine Catchpole presenting Wattle Fences 101 before everyone started to work. |
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| Andy Ferraro worked cutting Amur honeysuckle saplings and branches for weaving materials. Honeysuckle is an invasive plant -- you can see there's still plenty left! |
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| Once the branches were cut along Boathouse Road, they were next transported to the weavers in the parking lot. |
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| Janine coaching Anna Stuhlmacher and her father Jim on weaving honeysuckle branches to create a wattle fence. |
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| Everyone pitched in and worked together on several sections of fence. |
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| As the branches are woven between the posts, it helps to push them down to make a denser fence. Stepping on them is one way to pack them down. |
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| Volunteer Gail Staunton works alongside some members of the Peotone High School Science Club. |
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| Filling in behind Julie Sacco, Chris Pratt is the The Nature Conservancy staff member who is Midewin's new Volunteer Coordinator. (Note the van behind her providing tunes that achieved an entertainment compromise for this multi-generational group.) |
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| Jerry Heinrich and other members of the Midewin Alliance cooked a hot dog lunch for the volunteers. (Marshmallows were a cook-it-yourself dessert.) |
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| A hard working group! |
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| The wattle fences after trimming. Come back next summer to see how they look with the new prairie plant landscaping. |
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