Calumet BioBlitz
By Don Parker

As if to pull in diners for a Friday-night fish-fry on the shores of Wolf Lake, a sign along Avenue O proclaimed "BioBlitz" in big, red letters. The sign heralded the Calumet Biodiversity Blitz — a biological inventory on steroids.

On August 23, more than 150 expert scientists assembled at Wolf Lake, Eggers Woods, and Powderhorn Marsh and Prairie on the South Side of Chicago to identify and record as many living organisms as possible within 24 hours. The purpose of this major undertaking was to underline the extraordinary range of creatures still living in green pockets amidst this collage of factories, warehouses, forest preserves, residences, and highways.

Three intrigued boys crowded around Rosalyn Johnson of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as she sorted bee specimens with tweezers. "Those little green ones are bees?!" the boys asked in amazement. Nodding her head, Johnson then pointed out the leg sacks of another specimen, full of pollen from the invasive purple loosestrife plant.

Johnson described the precarious balance of life here in the Calumet region. While the place abounds with species, the threat of continued invasion by killer pest species is everywhere.

Indeed, one chief goal of the BioBlitz is to publicly launch Phase II of the Calumet Stewardship Initiative, a comprehensive education and outreach program aimed at fostering long-term participation by local residents in efforts to rehabilitate and protect the region's natural resources. One goal of the initiative is to assemble 4,800 acres into the Calumet Open Space Reserve. Though a full inventory takes many years, the BioBlitz provides a mass of information (and some much-needed publicity) as conservationists continue to develop plans for habitat recovery.

Johnson: "I ran into a guy in the woods on his hands and knees, with his nose five inches from a pan of soapy water and a carrion beetle. I love that I can walk around the woods and bump into all these experts."

Left photo by Joe Rakoczy.

Field Museum president John McCarter opened the event. Marcia Jimenez, commissioner of Chicago's Department of the Environment, remarked that the BioBlitz signifies "the beginning of identifying the richness that exists in this part of Calumet."

The event mixed scientists and neighbors. Said Chris Merenowicz, superintendent of conservation at the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, "A lot of young kids get involved in a chosen field of science this way. They see this firsthand, and a lightbulb goes off in their heads."

Photo by Rob Curtis, The Early Birder.

At the science tent, late into the night, researchers picked through Petri dishes, sorting insects into orders, scouring leaves for mites, scanning monitors for protozoans. All the while, soil invertebrates, projected on the ceiling of the tent, danced for all to see.

"Where should I put this?" cried a volunteer, holding a bluegill in a jug. "Can we have some more alcohol?!" called another from across the tent. "I'm never going swimming in a lake again," declared another, picking through a dish of tiny creatures taken from Wolf Lake.

Mark Bee, a scientific illustrator with the University of Illinois who volunteered to cover protozoans — one-celled organisms — returned from Eggers Woods with vials of blackish-brown water. "It was nasty, smelly, black, oily material — which of course is my favorite place to go — but it was mostly dried up," he said.

Right photo by Jim Flynn, Root Resources.

"It's like "Planet of the Apes,'" remarked Paul Marcum, botanist with the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS), as one of the vascular plant teams picked its way through vegetation surrounding a large cement pillar left over from a decommissioned Nike Missile Base.

Marcum has been studying this region with other INHS researchers over the past two years. So far, the scientists have found seven threatened or endangered species, including the early lady's tresses orchid. Marcum has also noticed an increase in the invasive Eurasian millfoil here. He momentarily disappeared in a thicket of purple loosestrife and reemerged to declare he'd found the high-quality swamp loosestrife.

Corinne Chengary, who lives just down the block in Hegewisch, brought her family to the BioBlitz. "We walk out here all the time, and come fishing. But today, we can learn about what really goes on here."

Unofficially, the BioBlitz counted 1,815 species — some rare and unexpected — but the final tally will likely be higher as scientists continue to analyze specimens. Look for more results in our winter issue.