Woodridge Park District manager details invasive-removal work and plans to plant 133 trees

Chris Pollock, the natural resource manager for the park district, said crews have completed an intensive invasive-species removal and will follow that work with targeted plantings and prescribed burns to restore roughly 200 acres of natural area.

"We hired Davey Tree, a contractor, to remove all the invasive species," Pollock said, describing work that began in February and took about two months. "They would cut that, take that material and move it to their chipper and chip the material and haul it off site." Pollock said crews and district staff also assessed trees for safety and removed non-native or hazardous trees near paths, turf and property lines to reduce risks to park users and neighbors.

The restoration follows a 2018 inventory of trees larger than 6 inches in diameter that found many of the taller trees were native but dominated by fast-growing pioneer species such as cottonwoods, box elders and cherries. Pollock said that smaller brush—primarily buckthorn and honeysuckle—was not captured by that inventory and had choked understories, making movement through the woods difficult.

To prevent regrowth after cutting, the district will use minimal, focused herbicide applications. "It's just like little literally drops of herbicide on there," Pollock said, explaining that technicians treat cut stumps to prevent resprouting rather than applying broad sprays that disturb soil.

Prescribed burns are planned on a roughly three- to five-year cycle in appropriate prairie areas, Pollock said, but the district will exclude newly planted trees and areas chosen for tree establishment. He described the typical burn window as roughly mid-October through the end of April and emphasized operational constraints—humidity, wind and wet drainage areas—mean crews must wait for safe conditions.

The district recently secured two grants to support planting: one from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for habitat improvement and another through Trees Forever that Pollock said is funded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service. "With those we're looking at planting an additional 133 trees out there," he said. The plants will be 5- to 15-gallon stock across approximately 15 or 16 species, including canopy species (oaks, hickories, hackberries), understory trees (redbuds, ironwood) and shrubs.

Pollock said the district will focus on small planting pockets that staff can maintain rather than very large plantings that previously overburdened operations. He estimated planting and establishment work will continue for three to five years and that prairie plants often put root growth first, with above-ground signs of establishment following later.

District officials said the combination of removing dense non-native brush, targeted stump treatment, prescribed fire and diverse plantings should increase food and habitat for a range of wildlife, from insects and pollinators to birds, rabbits and deer. "They stay there," Pollock said of wildlife observed during working crews; "they don't really care if we're out there working."