Stewardship Saturday at the Woodland Sanctuary at Lemont Township

This past Saturday marked the very first 2026 Stewardship Saturday for the Woodland Sanctuary Advisory Committee and our amazing volunteers — and what a fantastic turnout it was! Members of the Lemont Junior Women’s Club, the Garden Club, Lemont Library, Township Trustees, and staff all came together with residents to make a real impact.

Volunteers rolled up their sleeves to pull weeds and cleaned up the fireplace area and outdoor classroom. Our younger volunteers jumped right into learning about seed harvesting and even collected milkweed seeds for the butterfly garden.

Both new and longtime residents worked side by side to refresh and beautify planting areas and walking paths. Everywhere you looked, there were happy faces helping to care for our open space. We made great progress prepping our native garden areas too — edging, turning the soil, and getting everything ready for our next volunteer Saturday.

The next 2026 Sanctuary Saturday is scheduled for May 16, 2026. The plan for this next volunteer day is planting native seeds and plugs to add color and variety to the prairie and our butterfly trails.

More information can be found on the Township website here: https://lemonttownship.org/woodland-sanctuary/