Moraine Hills State Park has rare woodland. Volunteers are needed to help protect it and other plants

Deep inside Moraine Hills State Park near McHenry, there is an oak woodland that most people have never seen – but that still needs protection.

There is no direct trail to this 40-acre woodland of white and burr oaks, said Ali Fakhari of the organization Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.

“You can’t see if from the main trail and you have to have permission to go off the trail to access it,” Fakhari said.

Since early June, he and volunteers have been in working in the woodland and elsewhere across the park to protect native trees and other flora as part of a new Friends of Moraine Hills State Park initiative. Each Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, volunteers are invited to help remove invasive species, clear brush, collect seeds and otherwise protect the space for future generations.

Sixty-six people joined Fakhari and others for the first work day there in June. They’re working in conjunction with The Friends of Moraine Hills State Park group.

It isn’t just Saturdays either, Jacob Karkowski said. He also works with Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves.

“There are people meeting there on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. At some point throughout the week, they are there, meeting for different things,” Karkowski said.

Volunteers are needed because funding – from both federal and state sources - cannot fix the problems facing these nature areas on its own, advocates say.

“Even if professionals do their jobs perfectly ... this woodland is the last of its kind in Illinois. You won’t find this ecosystem anywhere else,” Veronica Timble, also with Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, said.

Hanna Danecker volunteers with Friends of Moraine Hills State Park, including writing its newsletter. She also ensures volunteers know about work days via email alerts.

One project volunteers worked on recently was “girdling” trees in the park. “We cut off the exterior layer of the bark in a ring around the tree” to prevent it from growing and crowding out – or over-shading – the native trees.

Girdling is a technique to curb the population of faster-growing trees. They may be native to Illinois, too, but they crowd out the savanna of white oak.

“It is a slower process that starves the tree,” Danecker said.

Not every workday involves cutting down brush or girdling trees. Some days, the group makes cages to protect native plants or collect seeds from those plants. Caging plants with metal fencing helps prevent them “from being trampled or eaten by deer,” Danecker said.

Volunteers, particularly for the Saturday morning events, do not need to register ahead of time and can just show up, Karkowski said.

But to get on the email list and receive the newsletter, there is a Linktree site to add contact details: linktr.ee/savemoraine.

“Everyone and anyone” can come out to help, Karkowski said. “It can be their very first time doing this. We are all learning this together.”