Mettawa Open Lands Association:
Promoting quality open space in and around Mettawa, Illinois.
Mettawa is a small rural village in Lake County, Illinois. MOLA is a community organization which strives to maintain the rural use of land, and encourage the protection of our area’s beautiful public and private open lands. Our efforts include social and educational events, community workdays, and collaborations with the Village of Mettawa, local businesses, and other conservation organizations.
As a non-profit group, we welcome everyone! Please join us or donate today.
2017 Fall Social: Booze and Butterflies
October 1, 2017
3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
North Shore Distillery
13990 Rockland Road (Route 176), Green Oaks, IL
Spring Social Wine & Cheese
May 21, 2016
4:30 – 6:30 a.m.
Always Faithful Stables,
855 N. Bradley Rd.
MOLA Workday: Spring Cleanup
April 23, 2016
8:30 – 11:00 a.m.
at Whippoorwill Farm
Come help us with buckthorn removal and other activities. Bring your energy, enthusiasm and chainsaws (if you have them. RSVP to larryfalbe@aol.com. At Whippoorwill Farm (NE corner of Route 60 and Riverwoods Rd.), park across the street in the hotel parking lot.
Before MOLA began working with the Village to restore Whippoorwill Farm, the land was choked with buckthorn (see above, right). After restoration, the view opened up and native plants and wildflowers began to thrive (see above left).
Click to download the flyer below and email it to your friends!
Conservation Award
The prestigious 2010 Conservation and Landscaping Award from Chicago Wilderness and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was awarded to MOLA and our partners for a groundbreaking research project on invasive buckthorn at Whippoorwill Farm.
SOCIAL & EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
Get to know your neighbors, and enhance your understanding of our environment too! MOLA’s fun get-togethers are specifically designed for Mettawa residents and friends.
Fall 2015: MOLA Fall Social
This wine and cheese party held at Deerpath Farm on October 18th, 2015, featured a interesting discussion of the endangered blue spotted salamander by naturalist and landscape designer Cliff Miller.
Fall 2014: Festival of Oaks
This wine and cheese party, held at Deerpath Farm on October 5th, 2014, featured a brief presentation by Andrea Dierich of The Morton Arboretum on the invasive Emerald Ash Borer and its impact.
Spring 2014 Forum: The Undesireables, and How to Keep Them Away
This breakfast forum on Saturday, March 8 2014 featured speaker Jay Womack, the Director of Ecology and Landscape Architecture at WRD Environmental. His lively talk, entitled “Cause and Effect: What Landowners can do to encourage indigenous/desireable wildlife and how inaction can attract pests,” gave attendees valuable information about the roles that deer, coyotes, mosquitos, bats and bees play in our environment, and how land management practices can encourage or discourage various species to visit or reside in our community.
COMMUNITY WORKDAYS
Community volunteer workdays are a part of MOLA’s ongoing efforts to help protect the biological integrity and natural beauty of Mettawa’s open spaces.
Thank you to the volunteers who join us to help spread native seeds and fight invasive plants, such as buckthorn and teasel (left).
