FIELD NOTES BLOG

A Grateful Look Back—and an Inspiring Path Forward

Ann Wasser
January 1, 2026

A Grateful Look Back—and an Inspiring Path Forward

As 2025 comes to a close, I find myself filled with gratitude—for our community, our partners, our donors, our volunteers, and every individual who chose to spend time learning, exploring, and caring for the natural world with us this year.

Your support and engagement made 2025 a year of meaningful connection. From school programs that served over 4,100 students and public hikes to restoration workdays and quiet moments on the trails, you showed up. You brought curiosity, generosity, and care—and because of that, Severson Dells continues to be a place where people and nature grow together.

Every program attended, every membership renewed, every gift made, and every conversation shared helps advance our mission. The impact of this collective effort is visible in all of the  inspired learners and stronger sense of belonging across our community. Thank you for believing in this work and in the power of nature to shape a better future.


Looking ahead to 2026, there is so much to be excited about:


Soon to be Renamed Property Update

We will continue making steady progress on habitat restoration at the former Elliot Golf Course- new name to be announced this spring. After removing all of the non-native trees in November, the first 50 acres of prairie is ready for seeding later this winter, once there is snow to seed onto. Restoration is long-term, patient work, and each year brings us closer to realizing the full potential of this remarkable place. We hope you can join us on Saturday, January 31st for the Fore the Prairie event to participate in the restoration by hitting seed bomb golf balls into the prairie, learn about the restoration process and see what the long-term plans are for the property.

We are also looking forward to gathering community input to inform the site master plan. This process is essential. We want this place to reflect the hopes, values, and ideas of the people it will serve. By listening closely and inviting broad participation, we can ensure the new property becomes a space where the community feels a true sense of ownership, connection, and possibility.


Improvements to The Grove

In The Grove, we are preparing for significant improvements after 11 years of being well loved by tens of thousands of children and exposed to the elements. Thanks to the generous support of the Kjellstrom Family Foundation and Elizabeth Crown and Bill Wallace, we will be investing in replacements and enhancements that will engage children in nature play, safely for years to come. 


50th Anniversary

Perhaps most joyfully, we will be celebrating 50 years of Severson Dells with the community on Saturday, June 27. This milestone is a testament to decades of dedication from staff, board members, volunteers, educators, donors, and supporters who believed that nature education matters. This milestone is also a testament to the value and impact of a nonprofit public partnership and our decades long partnership with the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County. We look forward to honoring our history, celebrating the present, and sharing an inspiring vision for what lies ahead.


Fifty years in, Severson Dells is still growing—still learning, adapting, and imagining what’s possible for nature education across the community. 


Thank you for walking alongside us in 2025. I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together in 2026.


RECENT ARTICLES

Lowdown with Linda: Volunteering

By Linda Sandquist • April 27, 2026
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 2026

April 22, 2026
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.

Spring Wildflowers

By Caedyn Wells, Lauren Bonavia, Olivia Price, Caroline Pacheco • April 15, 2026
April showers bring May flowers… and they're already beginning to appear! These newly emerging wildflowers remind us that the season is changing and that soon the lands around us will be in full bloom. With all of the excitement, let’s dive into some of the things that make flowers so incredible! In this month’s blog, we’ll be learning how to ID wildflowers, talk about the shape and arrangement of certain flowers, their benefits to wildlife, and lastly about their colors and anatomy!