LaBagh Woods/North Branch Restoration Project

Habitat restoration takes time and it is often many years before desired impacts are readily apparent. After almost a decade of diligent restoration work, it is time to evaluate the work that volunteers have undertaken at Labagh. So with that in mind, we are proud to share the first ever Migratory Bird Feature Usage At LaBagh Woods report. This pilot study is a comprehensive look at the work that hundreds of volunteers have conducted over the years and, we’d argue, a validation of their work as succeeding at the mission restoring habitat for migratory birds.

About the Project:

When the program was funded to remove invasive buckthorn from LaBagh Woods with no money to replace the understory, COS swung into action. COS recognized that a habitat with only a canopy and ground plants would make LaBagh less inviting to the more than 215 bird species seen there. Fortunately, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County was sympathetic to COS’s concerns. COS was given the green light to begin a unique restoration at LaBagh: one that is completely avian-based. COS would purchase native shrubs, grown from seeds collected along the North Branch of the Chicago River and specially selected for their usefulness to birds in providing food and habitat, which would be planted at LaBagh.

There were only two obstacles to realizing this vision: money to purchase the shrubs and volunteers to plant them. COS has tackled the funding issue head-on. It has held fundraisers on a biannual basis since 2015 and has raised money from grants. Every cent raised by COS has been used to purchase native shrubs and subcanopy trees, along with the fencing needed to protect them from browsing deer and the equipment to plant them. The results so far: Nearly 4,000 native plants have been put into the ground at LaBagh on 40 planting days!

Volunteers to plant the native shrubs arrived initially under the umbrella of Centennial Volunteers, a group established by a coalition of organizations to conduct ecological restoration projects along the Chicago and Calumet Rivers. Over the years, LaBagh’s volunteers have trained and stepped up to take on leadership roles, so that the volunteer group operates independently of the Centennial Volunteer program and as part of the North Branch Restoration Project. The LaBagh restoration has been wildly successful not only in replacing acres of buckthorn with native plantings, but also in engaging the community. Community involvement has raised awareness of the importance of restoring LaBagh and has built a camaraderie among the team of restoration volunteers.

The LaBagh restoration is a long-term project. Human intervention will be required for many years to get LaBagh back to a mostly self-sustaining native ecosystem. COS and the restoration team are committed to this effort!

LaBagh Workdays and Events