2021 Restoration Technicians

By Connor Ross
Nachusa Restoration Technician

After the 2020 fire season was cut short due to the pandemic, the burn crew came back strong in 2021, helping prevent woody encroachment (and making hiking a bit easier on the crew).

​Rebounding from the unusually short 2020 field season, the Nachusa restoration crew hit the ground running in 2021. It’s amazing what you can do when you have a couple extra weeks and a full crew on hand! Each year presents its own challenges. Last year I wrote about how the infamous (and unfortunately, still ongoing) pandemic disrupted the burn season. A record fire regime this year ensured the crew didn’t have to trek so much through unburned plots of land – that’ll really put your knees and hips to work! I also discussed the extremely wet spring of 2020. In a reversal of fortune, we ended up working during a drought year for 2021. Creek levels in late May were as low as they should’ve been in August, and most storms conveniently split to the north or south (often both) before they could supply Nachusa with some much-needed water. This drought meant the crew faced a mixed bag of effects: a lower invasive plant population and some seemingly confused natives. These “confused” natives often seemed to bloom and go to seed earlier than expected from previous years. New England asters started blooming at the very end of June! 

Trusty bucket in tow, Matthew works on collecting seeds.

​As we face the transition to fall, the focus of the crew has been mainly on seed collecting, as weed killing season drew to a close. We swept certain units no less than four times this season for birdsfoot trefoil, tore sweet clover out of the ground on remnant knobs, plucked king devil heads before they could go to seed, and even patrolled the roadside ditches, spraying yellow iris and scything parsnip. 
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​The crew feels incredibly lucky to have the new Morton building to process seed. Because of this, we’ve been able to collect and then subsequently mill record amounts of seed, blowing our 2020 numbers out of the water. As of this writing, we currently have milled over 250 pounds of seed from over 40 species. We’ve been able to collect some seeds we missed last year, such as the seed pods of blue flag iris, which explode and shower seed everywhere in the vicinity when ready. We’ve seen all sorts of seed diversity: sticky catchfly seeds as small as a grain of sand, hairy beardtongue seeds that smell like roadkill, delicately fluffy dwarf dandelion seed, black-eyed Susan seed that digs into your skin like fiberglass. They’ve been harvested from every part of the preserve and in any sort of environment: golden Alexander from a classic mesic prairie, sedges that require a good pair of muck boots to collect, and fameflower from the sandy, desert-esque remnant knobs of Nachusa. As the fall season kicks into gear, the crew will continue collecting even more species from all across Nachusa in preparation for future restoration projects. 

Molly and Matthew work to untangle a cliff swallow from some twine caught on its feet.

​The crew has worked hard this season in all sorts of conditions. We can attest to some bone-rattling days in May where we wore two layers under our rain jackets. And we’ve also labored through unusually hot June and August days with heat indexes topping 115 degrees Fahrenheit. We’ve killed sweet clover during rainstorms and been blasted with 40 mph gusts as we picked seeds. At times, the restoration technician position can be physically demanding and exhausting; hauling a two gallon herbicide pack for eight hours on the prairie is no joke! But time and time again it has proven incredibly worth it. We’ve seen the 2020 planting come to life this year, and already some of the seeds we collected last year have sprouted up: black-eyed Susan, white wild indigo, partridge pea. It has proven especially worth it through our wildlife encounters. A mink on her morning pond patrol on a cloudy day. Rescuing a cliff swallow with twine wrapped around its toes. Listening to sandhill cranes uttering their melodious primeval cries. Scaring up more frogs in a few minutes than you could count on your hands and toes. We even found an endangered Blanding’s turtle whose radio tracker had died. And of course, we’ve had plenty of encounters with bison. As rut season begins, the roars of the bull bison almost sound akin to lions on the Serengeti.  We’ve watched adult bulls size each other up, and yearling bulls jostle each other around in imitation of their elders. We’ve also seen a more tender side to the bison, as one crew member, Zach, was lucky enough to come upon a cow that had just given birth in late June. The calf couldn’t even stand up yet!

Throughout the summer, the crew saw a lot of the Nachusa bison, including this pair of calves wallowing near a pond.

All in all, it’s been an incredibly successful summer at Nachusa that has proven worth the hard work. Nachusa is truly a place like no other, and we all feel lucky to be a part of it. 

Meet the Crew

Anna Scheidel is from Westmont, Illinois and finished her MS in conservation biology from Illinois State University earlier this year, studying root hemiparasitic plants at Nachusa. This is her third year as a restoration technician, second year as the Nachusa Resident Fellow and crew leader, and first season on the burn crew. She plans to continue building her conservation management experience during her last year with the technicians and is excited to work with a full-person crew once again! When she's not killing weeds or picking seeds, you can find her out curled up with a true crime book, baking, or out hiking looking for frogs.

Matthew Nugent is returning for his second year from Orland Park, Illinois.Matt has just recently graduated from Illinois State University, and received a B.S. with a double major of Conservation Biology and then Crop and Soil Sciences. He hopes to continue his career in conservation and is enjoying his current position as Assistant Crew at Nachusa Grasslands. Matt’s hobbies include hiking, fishing, tending to his prairie garden at home, and just generally enjoying the outdoors.
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Riley Miller is a senior at Loyola University Chicago in the 4+1 dual degree program earning his bachelor's in environmental policy and master's in environmental science with a focus in environmental assessment and planning. Riley hopes to use what he learns at Nachusa to continue his career in conservation and land management. In his free time he enjoys playing rugby for Loyola and hiking.
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Connor Ross is from Grand Detour, Illinois, and is excited to continue restoration at Nachusa this year. He is currently enrolled at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a history major and a planned minor in environmental sciences. His hobbies include reading, drawing, and hiking. 






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Molly Duncan is from Polo, Illinois and is currently pursuing a B.S. in crop sciences with a minor in natural resource conservation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is back for her second year on the crew and is excited to continue to build on her knowledge of native ecosystems and natural areas management. Molly hopes to take what she learns at Nachusa and apply it to conservation efforts within agriculture in the future.
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Zach Storc is from Naperville, Illinois and earned his BS in Environmental Science from North Park University in Chicago in 2014. He originally served as Nachusa's crew leader for the 2014 field season and has since worked a variety of positions within the green industry. He is excited to be back at Nachusa for this spring and summer before he begins his masters in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at The University of Kansas this fall. He is passionate about anything relating to plants and enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking and gardening.
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