Is anyone going to the clean-up on Saturday? We will have a group out there from the Jeep club, and it looks to be a really nice day to be outside... Not to many days like this left before it gets snarky out!

"Snarky"?

Snarky. Whaddareya, simple?

I'll be there for at least the first hour...gotta go cheer for 'dem XC girls, dontchaknow?!

Well?

Tony was there.

And?

It was fun. A lot of stuff was hauled out of the woods and the scrap-hauler that cam was thrilled with the amount of old metal he left with. With the going price of scrap, I'd bet he had a $300 day just from Ackerman woods.

About 40-50 volunteers I would say. Daily Herald and Suburban Life newspapers were both there also.

And my boys had a blast. They are both excited to go back to school and brag they helped "clean up the environment" as opposed to just sitting in a classroom reading about it.

Cool..even though I wasn't on board with the whole save the trees thing, it is nice to see the follow through for a change. Maybe I will make the time for spring.

A big thank you to everyone who came out to Ackerman Woods on November 1 for our first clean up! About 50 people came to remove garbage from the woods. Volunteers dragged lots of garbage out of the woods, sorted it for recycling and loaded it into trucks. Take a look at some of our photos from the clean up!

We filled the Park District's truck with the two and a half loads of garbage. One lucky scrap metal recycler drove by towards the end of the clean up and filled his truck with scrap metal that we had pulled out of the woods. We also had many boxes of cans and glass that we recycled.

What did we find in the woods? A bike, a mailbox, a lawnmower, several tires, remains of a burned-out cabin, 200lbs of sheet metal from an old pool, 50 ft. of tubing, a giant net filled with a huge amount of upholstery-type foam, a steel barrel, mattress springs, fencing, and lots of odd concrete, building materials and metal scraps.

Mark your calendars for the Spring clean-up at Ackerman Woods! The Park District is hosting an Eco-Restoration work day on March 14, 2009. Check saveackermanwoods.com and the Park District web site for more information on this cleanup.

—Melissa Creech

Cleaned up the woods..great. Saved the trees..great. One thing though calling this area the "historic Babcock Grove at Ackerman Woods" is ridiculous. Makes the Preservation Group look silly.

Agreed. I have pictures showing this area as nothing but low prarie just 30 or so years ago.