Whippoorwill Farm

Mettawa Open Lands

Encouraging Quality Open Space

	Whippoorwill Farm a Mettawa Gateway Preserve Mettawa Open Lands Association (MOLA) is partnering with the Village of Mettawa to natively restore our village's historic Whippoorwill Farm. Seven acres of highly dense buckthorn will be transformed into an oak and hickory savanna harboring native flowers and grasses with the Mettawa trail and resting benches meandering throughout. The farm is located on the NW corner of Riverwoods Blvd. and Rt. 60.
PHOTO OF CDW IN FEBRUARY 2007 Restoration Update February 6, 2007 buckthorn demolition began with contractors Integrated Lakes Management (ILM) and Tallgrass Restoration. As prescribed by MOLA, each contractor is using a different demolition method and the success of each method will be monitored closely over several years. De Paul University Professor Liam Heneghan will be evaluating and monitoring the site using scientific methods to validate the project success. Buckthorn removal ended in early April 2007. It was quite a challenge to get rid of 20 to 30,000 buckthorn trees per acre. In late spring Tallgrass Restoration turned over the soil, incorporating the chipped buckthorn into their 3 acres of soil. ILM let nature take it's course with no soil disturbance and follow-up summer herbiciding of buckthorn resprouts on its 3 acres. For both contractors, the weather played havoc on seed germination, so reseeding will occur over the winter and into the spring of 2008. In Sept., Liam, from DePaul University, harvested corn from his corn plots, and continues to test the soils for all of his test plots. MOLA board members are actively (Oct. 07) creating a draft site plan to include the village trail, spots to rest and trees.	The Farm in early fall 2007 after buckthorn removal and light seeding.
Tim Town and his crew installed the Preserve sign on March 25, 2007.	Whippoorwill Farm History Whippoorwill Farm can be sited on a 1939 aerial photograph. The restoration site was used as a riding arena and for livestock grazing then and remained such until the early 1990's, when the farm was left fallow. What followed was the growth of an infamously thick stand of young buckthorn.