Santa Fe Prairie Nature Preserve -I & M Canal

09/12/2026

What a great turnout for today's Volunteer Day. We had 17 wonderful helpers. Cut down dead trees and lots of buckthorn, and did plenty of seed collection. There were homemade brownies and cookies when we were done. Thanks to everybody who came out. Check out the pictures, there are a bunch!

Our next Volunteer Day is Saturday, October 17th, 9-11 am. Hopefully it will be cooler. Come out to help out with friends. There's always stuff to do to keep our beautiful piece of Illinois, an unspoiled remnant prairie, looking excellent.

09/12/2026

The wonderful people who sponsor and manage our prairie are putting on another great event.

09/11/2026

Just a reminder, tomorrow 9/12 from 9-11 am is our Volunteer Day. Come help us keep our beautiful remnant prairie in great shape. Cookies! The next volunteer opportunity is October 17th.

09/06/2026

Today was a busy one at Santa Fe. Mowing the paths and around the pavilion, and removing debris from around the grate that drains the creek to the river. Our beautiful prairie is still in bloom, including our prairie doc. We were also joined by some happy amphibians.

Our next Volunteer Day is this coming Saturday, September 12th, 9-11 am. Come join us! Wear long pants, bring gloves and sunscreen, and save room for homemade cookies. There's always cookies.

08/23/2026

Yesterday's Volunteer Day was another fantastic success. We had a great turnout of dedicated helpers. We cut teasel heads, took down some dangerous hanging branches resulting from the last storm, cleared the grate at the end of the creek, sprayed invasives, hauled out wood, and collected seeds for winter planting. Oh, and celebrated Anna and Mark's birthdays! Mary baked cake and cookies, and Doug as always was an amazing grillmaster, and Gary made onion to go with the brats and burgers. Thanks to everybody who came out. Our next Volunteer Day is September 12th.

08/16/2026

Just a reminder, Volunteer Day is this coming August 22nd, 9-11 am. Come join us for fun, helping out beautiful prairie stay that way, lunch on the grill, and homemade cookies. There's always cookies.

We'll be removing teasel, hauling away a bunch of branches that fell in the recent storms, and clearing the creek. Wear long pants and gloves. Sunscreen is HIGHLY recommended.

Santa Fe was gorgeous today. The ponds are high, there are still lots of flowers in bloom. Our tallest prairie doc finally showed its colors. And the diversity of prairie life was obvious. As we walked the paths, the crickets were all over. Lots of butterflies and dragonflies and birds. Check out our pictures, and see if you can spot one of the frogs we scared up.

A huge tree fell on the other side of the fence, and luckily spared our side. But our own trees lost some bits that have to be taken away.

Please come join us on Saturday.

08/11/2026

During a mini Volunteer Day yesterday, the rain kicked in, and in no time the creek heading toward the grate was underwater. But it was beautiful, listening to the rain coming down, and the prairie is still in bloom.

Our next official Volunteer Day is August 22nd, 9-11 am. Hope to see you there for invasive removal, grate clearing, hauling cut wood and other debris to the road, homemade cookies, and lunch on the grill. Come help and hang out!

07/28/2026

Julia and Ryan helping our steward Anna gathering seeds this past weekend for planting later. Overdressed for the weather? Well, not for the bugs and the vegetation. Our volunteers on Sunday braved the weather to do great things for the prairie.

07/26/2026

07/26/2026

What a fantastic volunteer day! We cut down more teasel and white sweet clover, identified Tree of Heaven for removal, cleaned out the creek, chopped down a forest of willow for Mark to haul away, and started pulling out debris we’d previously piled up after the rains.

We were visited by snakes and minnows and herons. Our steward Anna along with Julia and Ryan collected seeds. And after, we had cookies from Mary and excellent char broiled hot dogs from grillmaster Doug.

Thanks so very much to our wonderful volunteers Jessica, Gary, Bill, Julia, Ryan, Doug, Craig, Will, Joyce, Don and Mary.

And thanks to Mark and Alice for being excellent hosts!

Please consider helping out on our next Volunteer Day, Saturday August 22nd, 9-11 am.