{"id":92904,"date":"2020-11-09T11:50:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T17:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=92904"},"modified":"2020-11-11T11:55:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:55:30","slug":"cook-county-ecologist-protects-natural-areas-for-every-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/cook-county-ecologist-protects-natural-areas-for-every-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cook County ecologist protects natural areas for every generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carlyn Kranking<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Kristin Pink remembers coming to Spears Woods as a child, walking the paths with her sled in the winter. She knew what time of year the lily pads on the wetland bloomed and visited the woods to look at them.<\/p>\n

Now, she walks the same paths with her red Cook County Forest Preserve lanyard around her neck. She knows what time of year is best to perform prescribed burns that help the landscape grow. As an ecologist for the forest preserves, Pink works to protect natural places for tomorrow\u2019s children who will grow up with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little girl playing in these woods, and maybe the next generation of little girls playing in these woods can keep this work going,\u201d Pink said.<\/p>\n

In grade school, Pink learned about destruction of rain forests and realized that the natural places she loved were at risk. Her high school biology teacher taught her about restoration, and in college, she studied natural resources and environmental science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Now, she’s worked at Spears Woods, southwest of Chicago, since 2010.<\/p>\n

Spears Woods is a remnant ecosystem, meaning that the natural area has remained largely undisturbed, surviving since the retreat of glaciers 13,000 years ago. Remnants take minimal attention to restore, but they\u2019re a high priority for ecologists, who see so many get destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce these areas are lost \u2014 our precious, irreplaceable remnants \u2014 that’s it, they’re gone for good,\u201d Pink said.<\/p>\n

According to Pink, the way to protect a remnant ecosystem is to give it the conditions with which it evolved. Walking through the woods, she can see clues to what the land looked like in the past. A thorny plant called white snakeroot tells her the land used to be grazed. The soil type tells her if the land developed under trees or prairie.<\/p>\n

Tree branch patterns tell her the land used to be more open, with less dense trees. Sometimes, restoration work might seem counterintuitive \u2014 the landscape must burn in order to grow, and some trees must be cut for new ones to sprout.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually need to thin, or cut down some of these oaks in order to get baby oaks to reproduce,\u201d Pink said. \u201cIf we don’t cut, this will be the last generation of oaks in these woods. That’s a really weird concept to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spears Woods before and after restoration work, 2018-2019<\/h4>\n\n\n