A Not So South Shore (Part 2 of 3)

5/4/11


          Traveling north from Rainbow Beach, It wasn’t long before I arrived at the palace that is the South Shore Cultural Center. No joke, this place is lavish in its architecture and grounds keeping. But anyway, behind the building on the lake shore is another dunes restoration project. Occupying an artificial outcrop over the lake, there is a dune area, a couple round stone benches and a small wetland. The area is pleasant, cool and secluded.

As a restoration project though, it’s a joke. The small area that is even an attempt at a proper dune is nothing but Marram grass (Ammophila breviligulata). It doesn’t even touch the water, it’s a mound of sand leading to a beach but it lacks any beach of its own. It’s as if the land manager decided to use “INSTANT Dune!” and POOF the Chicago park district can claim yet another dunes project. In the connected habitat, the situation is no better. A few token native trees and forbs are planted in an area over run with non-natives, lawn grass, and unkempt shrubs.

This terrible description of mine is only relevant though from an ecological stand point. As a garden it is quite a nice place but ecological is all I’m concerned about here. With all that criticism it is also completely salvageable and in a short time. The necessary conditions, plants, and habitat are in place. All it would take for this area to become a municipal gem is for a dedicated crew of volunteers to frequently and gradually work their magic.

          Moving north again, I approached my last destination for the day; 63rd st. beach. I had been here a few times during the winter before anything was growing. I had also heard some pretty rave reviews about it especially concerning birds over the years so I was anticipating something promising. I have little in the way of complements. When I dismounted my bike and walked down the beach to the designated area, I was a bit taken aback. Instead of asking “what life is present here?” I was asking “what the hell happened?”

There are areas on both ends of the public beach. The area to the west was home to large barren areas. There was more trash than plants. A rather large depression filled with water probably was an attempt at an inter-dunal pond or panne habitat. What was present though was a bowl of water with shores lined by garbage surrounded by a fence. The east side didn’t look so much like a disaster zone but it was not very praise worthy either. Lacking in any cottonwoods it was suffering from the same lack of dune creation that is occurring at rainbow beach.

But at least at rainbow beach, biodiversity was increasing and the entire area was exploding with life. Here, the biota was simply Marram Grass (Ammophila breviligulata) and Little Blue Stem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and the growth was spotty. This place needs regular care and, due to the ambitious size of the project, a strong and numerous group of volunteers too. This habitat needs help.

To Be Continued