The Madison Club is a residential community located in Burr Ridge, Illinois. It is known for its upscale homes, beautifully landscaped surroundings, and desirable location. The community often features luxury homes with high-end finishes and amenities. Residents enjoy a quiet, suburban lifestyle with easy access to shopping, dining, and entertainment options in the surrounding area. Burr Ridge itself is a well-regarded suburb of Chicago, known for its affluent neighborhoods and excellent schools. To match the beauty of the homes, the outdoor spaces within the community needed to be restored showing the natural beauty of surrounding landscapes while highlighting the wetland area.
Madison Club involved the restoration of an oak-hickory savanna and wetland within a subdivision setting with ongoing stewardship since 1998. The development includes preservation easements along every house lot that either wraps around the lake or through designated natural corridors. The restoration included eradicating invasive species along with restoring native wetland and savanna plants to ensure soil containment and water filtration from on-site run-off.
During restoration highly invasive forbs such as Cattails (Typha speciosa), Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea), and purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) were removed from the wetland manually and chemically with low-impact herbicides to provide space for native seedlings. The oak savanna was cleared of all invasive species including Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), Boxelder (Acer negundo), and Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata).
Stewardship consists of mowing, selective herbicide and controlled burns to control excessive growth of weedy species on land with an algae and aquatic weed control program on an as needed basis. Annual Monitoring Reports, required by the DuPage County DEC, consist of meander surveys, transect and quadrat survey data and repeatable photo points to document project compliance.
At restoration completion, ecosystems developed into highly prized mixtures of native plants creating habitat for blue birds, osprey, waxwings, and other fauna. The entire watershed is protected by the wetland, which provides a place for storm water to sit and neutralize before entering the watershed creating high water quality and almost no trace of algae. Additionally, the extensive root systems of native plants hold the soil in place, preventing erosion.
Founded in 1988, Pizzo & Associates is one of the Midwest’s largest ecological restoration firms with over 170 industry awards. We have the experience and know-how to restore natural environments.
We work with a large variety of public and private landowners on habitat restoration projects of all sizes. We help with everything from installations to ongoing management, which is needed for optimal results.
We invite you to attend our annual Summer Solstice event. A day filled with engaging tours, presentations, industry discussions, and networking focused on ecological restoration and native plants.
