As our organization’s Director of Development, I have the pleasure of presenting opportunities to people to invest their time, treasure, and talent in the work we do. I ask people to invest their financial gifts to keep our operations going and I’ll soon be asking people to help fund the renovation of the former clubhouse at Prairie’s Edge into Wild Roots Nature Center. I ask people for their talent when I consult members of our board of directors on investment matters, legal questions, and networking opportunities. But the best ask is when my colleagues and I ask people to give up their time to help Severson Dells (soon to be Wild Roots Nature Center ) provide hands-on, science-based nature education. We simply cannot operate without our volunteers ! Imagine a school field trip without the smiling adult faces who help kids howl like coyotes, touch a toad, or smell wildflowers for the first time. Our Science Saturday Hosts bring science to life at our activity stations and engage intergenerational visitors with fun and intriguing STEM education. Our Conservation Crew volunteers get their hands dirty when they pull up and destroy invasive species, collect prairie seeds, and install native plant gardens in the community. It’s my pleasure to wrap up the month of April with a big thank you to all the people who volunteer for Severson Dells Nature Center. You are special people and deserve to be recognized. I would be remiss if I didn’t ask anyone reading this to consider volunteering here with us . I promise we will welcome you with open arms and you will feel connected to other like-minded people and a very special place. You’ll make a difference in your life and in the lives of others. And that’s my lowdown.

City Nature Challenge is Friday, April 24th- Monday, April 27th As spring becomes in full bloom, every naturalist's favorite time of the year returns: City Nature Challenge! City Nature Challenge is an annual, global, 4-day bioblitz at the end of April, where cities compete and collaborate to document plants and wildlife in and around cities throughout the world and help fight biodiversity loss! Every observation you make of WILD nature is a data point that helps scientists and researchers understand and protect nature for all of us. This event first began in 2016 as a friendly competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with the goal of engaging residents and visitors in documenting nature to better understand urban biodiversity. Since then, it has turned into a worldwide competition that over 100,000 people participate in! The goals of this now global event is to engage the public in the collection of biodiversity data, with three awards each year for the cities that make the most observations, find the most species, and engage the most people. Participating in the City Nature Challenge is easy, and it’s accessible to people of all ages and education levels in the sciences! All you have to do is download the free mobile app iNaturalist , take photos of wild flora, fauna, or fungi, and share the photos to iNaturalist to document your observations. If your plant ID isn’t too sharp, don’t worry! iNaturalists automated species identification feature can often help you identify what you're spotting, as well as the community of users on iNaturalist that includes professional scientists and expert naturalists. The observation period is followed by several days of identification and the final announcement of results. In Rockford, we are part of the Rock River Valley City Nature Challenge Team. The Rock River Valley Team is coordinated by Severson Dells Nature Center and includes multiple partner organizations. Any post made in Winnebago, Boone, Ogle, DeKalb, and Stephenson counties counts toward the Rock River Valley Team's total. This means anyone who makes posts in this region is part of our team! Partner organizations include Rockford Park District, Nature at the Confluence, Byron Forest Preserve District, Northern Illinois University, Boone County Conservation District, Forest Preserves of Winnebago County, Natural Land Institute, DeKalb County Forest Preserve District, and Atwood Nature Center.