SIBLEY - A morning of outdoor work and conservation is planned Oct. 10 at Sibley Burr Oak Grove Nature Preserve, where volunteers will help prepare a new picnic area while contributing to the ongoing stewardship of the 50.5-acre preserve.
The East Central Illinois Master Naturalists will host the Sibley Burr Oak Grove Fall Workday, with check-in from 8:30 to 9 a.m. and volunteer work scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will meet at the northwest corner of the grove, with parking available on E 1250 N Road.
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The morning's project will focus on clearing a new picnic area in preparation for the installation of a picnic table provided by the Scouts. The effort is part of ongoing work to improve the preserve while maintaining its natural character and creating additional opportunities for community members to enjoy the site.
“Workdays like this are a great way for people to get involved in caring for a local natural area while also helping make the preserve more welcoming and accessible for visitors,” said Karla Griesbaum, Extension educator with University of Illinois Extension. “We appreciate the volunteers who are willing to spend a morning working together to improve Sibley Burr Oak Grove.”
Volunteers should wear long pants, sturdy shoes and work gloves.
Sibley Grove Nature Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy, is an isolated prairie grove dominated by bur oak. The 50.5-acre preserve sits on a morainal ridge at the very headwaters of the Mackinaw River, just east of Sibley.
The site includes a restored wetland as well as the bur oak grove. At least 10 young-of-the-year wood ducks were observed at the wetland this year, and an immature bald eagle was seen flying just above the treetops June 27 while observers watched the ducklings.
The preserve has a small parking area off County Road 1250N but does not have a trail system.
The area's conservation history also includes Burr Oak Valley Nature Preserve, another significant natural area protected through the efforts of Julia and Eugene McCleary in the 1980s. With a donation from the McClearys and McCleary Industries, the Natural Land Institute purchased the first 63 acres in 1986 and has provided stewardship ever since. McCleary Industries donated another 35 acres adjacent to the preserve in 2013, bringing the preserve's total size to 93 acres.
Burr Oak Valley is one of the area's few woodlands left untouched by development and represents a landscape similar to what surveyors encountered in this part of Illinois in the 1830s. Its natural communities include mesic upland forest, dolomite prairie, dolomite cliff and intermittent stream.
Dolomite bedrock lies close to the surface across much of the preserve, with exposed outcrops along the creek and nearby hillsides. Black oak, shagbark hickory and hackberry are among the trees found there, while three small dolomite prairies in the northwest corner support plants including little bluestem, side-oats grama and purple prairie clover. The preserve is also known for its spring wildflower display.
The Sibley Burr Oak Grove workday offers residents an opportunity to take part in that broader tradition of protecting and caring for central Illinois' remaining natural areas.
For more information, visit go.illinois.edu/SBOG.
