[Communications] [Education] Chicago native plant parkway restoration project

[Marsha Wyatt]

Hi Adam !

I lived in Lakeview for 8 years on Halsted just south of Addison.  Totally
agree about the wear/tear due to heavy foot traffic in many areas.
Have you approached Bennett Lawson, the alderman, about access to city
resources (like woodchips, etc) ?   Bennett is a pretty good guy and I'm
sure that he or someone in his office might be able to direct you better
than 311.  Also, you and your neighbors can call a tree trimming company (
Davey Tree, Bartlett Tree etc and request donation of wood chips though you
will need wheelbarrows, pitchforks and people to move the woodchips quickly
after delivery.  Streets and San may be able to supply some of the tools on
a loan basis  the same as they did for this past weekends clean-up efforts
around the city.  I believe that the Aldernan's offices coordinated that
with the community groups who were out cleaning up.   Caution -- wood chips
from tree services are usually from living trees and should not be put
around plants or shrubbery.  The wood is still "green" and it takes several
months for the energy (heat) to cure out of it.  The heat will kill plants,
though it's great to put on areas that are muddy and worn that you want to
cover up -- and should be laid at least 4 inches thick.

Good luck getting your community members aligned to help -- and perhaps
even the North Halsted Merchants Association and the CUBS front-office for
the areas immediately surrounding the ballpark.

Marsha Wyatt
Maxwell Street Community Garden
CCGA Steering Committee
630-210-1589

On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 1:08 PM Adam M via Education <
education at chicagocommunitygardens.org> wrote:

> Lorraine,
>
> Thanks for getting back to me. We are in Lakeview near Wrigley Field, so
> unfortunately we do have a lot of uphill battles to regenerate the soil
> (gameday foot traffic, dogs, and winter salt).
>
> I 100% agree the first step is to regenerate the soil to make it more
> fertile and need to talk to more community groups about ways to add
> compost/leaves etc. into the soil and would love to use stuff that is
> already in our system to divert away from landfills.
>
> I think our neighbors fall into groups that 1) take really good care of
> their parkways but maybe don't prioritize native diversity and rental units
> where there is a great opportunity, however many buildings still hire
> "landscapers" who come by once in a while to use their gas blowers to
> remove any organic material.
>
> But I think if I can reach out to more of my neighbors we can work
> together to achieve these goal and I'd love to continue the conversation
> with groups around the city like yours.
>
> Thanks!
> Adam
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:10 PM Lorraine Kells <lxkells at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Adam,
>>
>> The photos you sent are all too common in our parkways in Chicago. The
>> Streets and Sanitation, Bureau of Forestry dept has stated a goal to plant
>> 75,000 new trees in the city of Chicago. We know that has fallen short and
>> what's worse, the trees we do have in our parkways are not maintained.
>> While four public agencies are responsible for planting and maintaining
>> trees in the parks and on parkways, resources are limited, so the burden
>> falls to residents. You'll find page 7 of the Guide to Urban Tree Care,
>> states that the city relies on us to care for our urban street trees.
>>
>> While your photos are familiar, you did not indicate any location or
>> group for supporting the parkways with these trees.  Are you willing to
>> contact residents, homeowners or local businesses to get out to manage
>> these parkways and street trees, to do the regenerative work?  Before more
>> beautification can take place with the addition of pollinator plants,
>> the dirt which no longer resembles healthy soil may need amendment. The
>> trees need mulching.  So do you have a plan?
>>
>> Best,
>> Lorraine Kells
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 3:13 PM Adam M via Communications <
>> communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Lorraine,
>>>
>>> I would love to work on a project in our neighborhood (and hopefully
>>> expand from there) about restoring some of our parkways with native plants.
>>>
>>> Would love to discuss more and also help close the loop with composting
>>> and other regenerative measures.
>>>
>>> I've attached a couple of photos as a reference point.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> Adam
>>> --
>>> Communications mailing list
>>> Communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org
>>>
>>> http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/mailman/listinfo/communications_chicagocommunitygardens.org
>>>
>> --
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> Education at chicagocommunitygardens.org
>
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>
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