IRVING PARK — The Horner Park riverbank restoration project was the subject of highly public protests in 2013 — remember "holocaust on the trees" — but the actual work on the shoreline, under way since early 2014, has taken place largely out of view.
Access to the area, normally restricted to protect plantings from being trampled, was opened up Saturday during tours conducted as part of Horner Fest.
DNAinfo tagged along on one of the walks, led by Brook Herman, restoration ecologist with the Army Corps of Engineers.
What did we see?
Not a whole lot, as was to be expected.
The restoration project is only in the second year of a five-year process. Year one involved excavating and grading 2,600 feet of shoreline, which was nearly vertical in some places. Herman explained that the steepness of the slope, when combined with gravity, had caused trees to continually fall over and the resulting uprooting had led to erosion.
Year two has been about introducing the native trees, shrubs, grasses and other plants aimed at stabilizing the riverbank.
Herman noted that hundreds of pounds of native seeds had been planted and were waiting on hot weather to germinate. She'd also ordered scores of plant "plugs" (apparently the pros' term for seedlings) to fill in greenery quicker.
Members of the tour group would need to use their imaginations to picture a landscape lush with several varieties of milkweed (particularly good for monarch butterflies), wild rye, sedges (a popular lawn replacement), prairie dropseed (great for garden borders), wild ginger, buttonbush (loves wetlands) and anemone.
"We're using our warrior species" to put down deep and sturdy roots and absorb fluctuations in river levels, Herman said.
More readily identifiable were the dozens of mature trees saved from the buzz saw after 2013's protests.
The original thinking behind the $6 million restoration — 65 percent funded by the Army Corps, 35 percent by the Chicago Park District — was to create an extremely gentle slope connecting Horner Park to the river. Trees well upland were slated for removal as part of this process, sparking community outcry.
A compromise was reached, and though the new bank is steeper than initially planned, Herman said, "I'm glad we listened. I'm glad we adjusted."
One unexpected surprise construction crews encountered during excavation was the discovery of a naturally occurring upswelling of groundwater at one point along the bank.
"It shot out like hydrant," Herman said.
The feature was incorporated into the project, with the water being directed back into the river.
Herman also pointed out the offshore fences, which had some tour members scratching their heads.
It seems humans aren't the only threat to the still fragile restoration, which stretches along the bank from Montrose Avenue to Irving Park Road. Common carp, abundant in the river, are known to root out young plants.
"They have decimated entire wetland areas," she said.
Aside from tours like Saturday's, the restoration area is likely to remain off limits through at least year four, Herman said.
If plants are well-established at that point, fencing will be removed, but if foliage needs more time to acclimate, their welfare takes precedence.
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