Salt Creek

Water seems not as silty as in past years and flowing nicely. So much clearing happening in all the woods to get rid of invasive species. They burned the brush collected and the area smells of smoke.
Not much in the way of sporing blooms, too much clearing and burning has happened.

Saw a great blue heron overhead! 2 downy woodpeckers chasing each other about. Still seeing juncoes.

So much work going on! Aside from the dam removal there is a large project to remove invasive species that have overrun the forest preserve. Large areas have been cleared and burned, and will be replanted with native species. I do wonder about runoff and erosion, but seems ok.

Because Salt Creek has been been finding its new path with the dam removal, the shore is very muddy and not easy to access. I have found a spot near my previous sampling spot that I can easily use a "cup toss" method to get samples. And that has enough water!

Water level is way down from last week. Flow is still higher than I am used to seeing. The ice and snow is off the trails, but it is kind of a limestone/muddy mess.

Water level very high and fast! Been a lot of rain and snow melt. Trails were still quite snowy and icy.

Had to move to a nearby location due to the water flow change with the removal of the dam. Was able to collect water by using a cup/string/stick from shore.
Had a robin follow us around! Also saw a cardinal, red-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker

Water seems to be lower, thanks very muddy. Spring wildflowers are bursting out.

Water was very high, no signs of spring flowers. Everything rather muddy.

Trails are either snow-covered or very wet limestone. Roads in the area are physically salt covered from the recent winter weather event. Still some snow in the shady areas of the ground. Stream bank is very muddy so I had to resort to my “thrown cup” method of collection.

Nuthatch, 2 mallards

Water level high and very muddy and silty.