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June 24, 2012
Visit to Danada Forest Preserve (Wheaton, Illinois)
Sites for more information:
In May of this year, I had the opportunity to visit Lombard, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago. This trip, I wanted to visit some of the parks in the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. On Sunday May 20, 2012, I visited Danada Forest Preserve in Oak Brook, Illinois. This beautiful park provides some great walking trails and a beautiful horse farm as well. From the Forest Preserve web site, we learn that Danada was the former home of Daniel and Ada Rice, Chicago philanthropists and the owner of the 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair, who lived there. The name of the farm is their first two names (Dan and Ada) pushed together. Today, the "...preserve is the home of Danada Equestrian Center, which is surrounded by 783 acres of rolling terrain that encompass wetlands, woodlands and prairies."
While the Danada Equestrian Center is wonderful if you have a horse, there is plenty to do there if you are on foot or bicycle. The grounds are beautiful and there are great trails to the east of the Equestrian Center. The Danada-Herrick Lake Regional Trail is a beautiful walk in the woods that nearly touches Rice Lake. The walk was wonderful and under shade for a good part. Be sure the follow the Nature Trail as it circles in the thick woods just east of the Equestrian Center. As you move closer to Rice Lake, you find yourself out in the open. At Rice Lake, there are numerous types of birds including Geese, herons, waterfowl, etc.
On the Sunday morning that I arrived, there were relatively few people at Danada. This made for a nice quiet hike on the grounds. This is definitely another great park to visit if you are in DuPage County, west of Chicago. There is ample parking and there is no cost for visitors to the park. The Visitor Gardens and Equestiran Center provide drinking water and restrooms, so that is a nice part of the visit.
Sun Breaking Through the Shaded Nature Trail
Shaded Portion of the Trails at Danada
Trail Signs are Well Marked at Danada
Squirrel on the Trail
Chipmunk on the Trail
Bird over by Rice Lake
Rice Lake
Wildflowers over by Rice Lake
Posted by cseeman at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2012
Visit to Crosswinds Marsh Wetlands Interpretive Preserve (Sumpter Township, Michigan)
Websites for more information:
- Wayne County Parks Website for Crosswinds Marsh
- Crosswinds Marsh page on MichiganTrailMaps.com
- Crosswinds Marsh Trail Map on MichiganTrailMaps.com
- Case Study from Smithgroup JJR who designed the wetlands in 1990s
- Corey's Photos on flickr
During the past two years, I have visited Crosswinds Marsh, a beautiful nature preserve located south of Detroit Metro Airport in Sumpter Township (Wayne County, Michigan). This is a fantastic jewel in Southeastern Michigan and one that I will visit over and over. Here is a background on the park from the Sumpter Township website (http://www.sumptertwp.com/Crosswinds_Marsh.html):
"Crosswinds Marsh is one of the largest man-made wetlands in the country. It was built to replace the wetlands that were going to be paved over to expand Wayne County's Detroit Metro Airport. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality required the airport to move away any threatened or endangered plants and animals and create one-and-a-half acres of new wetlands for every one-acre impacted by the construction."
I love this park and I will make sure that I am a regular visitor. I visited twice - on Saturday July 16, 2011 and on an unseasonably warm winter day on Saturday February 4, 2012. They have well laid out walking trails including many that cross the marsh. Waterfowl are abundant, including swans and geese. There are also eagles that are spotted down at Crosswinds Marsh. Both times I visited the Marsh, I walked on the Bluegill and Bald Eagle trails. These are well marked and very pleasant way to exercise and take in the beauty of nature in Southeastern Michigan. Next time I go, I will take in the Blue Heron Trail that circles to the north of the Marsh and some of the other smaller trails. While the trails are well marked - there are few maps once you are out on the trails. Even places just to be sure you know where you are. So it is definitely a good idea of print out one of the maps before you visit.
Speaking of being prepared - there are not many amenities there - the facilities constitute a 'porta-john' and not much else. Also, there is not much around the immediate area - so it is good to be prepared. Even without the amenities - plan on spending at least two hours here walking through the beautiful park.
Here are some photos from Crosswinds Marsh from my two visits there:
Barn Swallows on the boardwalk
Serpentine Boardwalks at Crosswinds
Deer in the Marsh
Trail Markings at Crosswinds Marsh
Boardwalk at Crosswinds Marsh
Eagle at Crosswinds Marsh (not cooperating - need to go back for a better picture)
Swan at Crosswinds Marsh
Posted by cseeman at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2012
A visit to Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve (Oak Brook, Illinois)
Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve (Oak Brook, Illinois)
Sites for more information:
In May of this year, I had the opportunity to visit Lombard, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago. This trip, I wanted to visit some of the parks in the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. On May 18, 2012, I visited Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve in Oak Brook, Illinois. This beautiful park provides some great walking trails that are great for getting out into Nature and bird watching. From the Forest Preserve web site, we learn that Fullersburg Woods first opened in 1920 and served as a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. The Visitor Center serves as the home for the Nature Education Center. The building was built by the CCC and provides nice exhibits that promote"... an understanding of humankind’s impact on natural ecosystems and the environment – on the local level and globally."
Fullersburg Woods Visitor Center
The beautiful tall trees provide nice shade for the hiking trails that circle the park. I concentrated on the trails north of the visitor center. The trail I walked was the Wildflower Trail, which "showcases many native species of wildflowers." The walk is very peaceful and level, making it accessible for a wide variety of visitors. Towards the west side of the Preserve, the terrain gets modestly hilly. While I did not travel south of the center, they have paths that lead to the Guaue Mill and Museum (on York Road).
Wildflowers along the trails
Wood Duck on Salt Creek
Birds a plenty at the Park (Gray Catbird - pretty sure)
It was a beautiful day at Fullersburg Woods and even with a fair number of people around, it was relatively quiet. This allowed us to view the wildlife and take some time during our walk for reflection. This is definitely a great park to visit if you are in DuPage County, west of Chicago. There is ample parking and there is no cost for visitors to the park.
Quiet Walk at the Park
Posted by cseeman at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)
Where is the Hospitality in Your Library & Patron-Driven Services (Farmington Community Library Staff Day 2012)
I have been working a lot on this idea of hospitality in the library over the past year. I am very excited that I get to present on this at the Farmington Community Library's Staff Day on Friday June 8, 2012. This presentation gave me opportunity to explore and expand the topic. This is all moving towards publications somewhere down the road, as the idea gets formed.
What I am excited about also is the notion of the Patron-Driven Services. This is an idea that I have been kicking around and will write about it this summer. So much has been written about Patron-Drive Acquisitions (or Patron-Drive Collections), but this might be a better way to connect with the communities that we work with. Without naming it before, I began to realize that this is what I have been doing at Kresge for the past six years. I have been solely focused on the user experience and the user needs since becoming director here in 2006. With each passing year, I feel more and more confident that we are going to good to great (or Great to EVEN Greater).
Here are the slides & handouts:
Where is the Hospitality in Your Library? (expanded presentation for Farmington Community Library Staff Day 2012)
ABSTRACT: Presentation given for the Staff Day at the Farmington Community Library on Friday June 8, 2012 (Farmington Hills, Michigan) by Corey Seeman. This is an expanded version of the presentation given elsewhere. In an increasing self-service environment, we will explore the Kresge Business Administration Library at the University of Michigan has used methods from the hospitality and service industries to reinvigorate the way that we connect with our community. We have established a service ethos to ensure that we are not only meeting the information needs of our patrons, but also being available to assist them whenever it is needed. In this presentation, we will discuss the role of public service in the library and how the lessons on the hospitality and service industries can improve our interaction with the patrons. In addition to discussing hospitality, I am also using this to introduce the concept of Patron-Driven Services, a adaptation of Patron-Driven Acquisitions (or Collections) which has been very popular in academic circles.
If you have any thoughts on the topic, please let me know at cseeman@umich.edu.
This entry was posted in the following categories: LibrarianshipPosted by cseeman at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)