Field Notes Blog - Severson Dells Nature Center

Spring Wildflowers

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:52:03 GMT

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!

Wildflower ID:

By Caedyn Wells

Identifying plants, especially flowers can be daunting and overwhelming when starting out. To our luck, plants have some key features that help us distinguish them.

Leaf Arrangement

Our first key feature to note when identifying flowers involves looking closer at the plant's leaf arrangement, often categorized as opposite vs alternate. Opposite arrangements have two stems branching outwards from each other in a Y shape, while alternate arrangements instead have branches rotating opposite sides up the stem.

Leaf Shape

Shapes of the plant's leaves additionally help during identification. These shapes fall into 3 categories: toothed, lobbed, and smooth.

Toothed : Pointed or jagged with serrated edges
Lobed : Pointed with round smooth edges
Smooth : Having a singular smooth blade

Flower Color and Structure

Color also plays a major role in helping us distinguish between species. Color isn't always a reliable identifier though, as color can vary within the same species of flower based on environmental and genetic factors. This is why it can be helpful to look closer at a flower's structure. Structures of flower petals are important indicators when identifying them. Flowers are often arranged into two groups called dicots (flowers with groups of 4 to 5 petals) and monocots (flowers with groups of 3 petals). Looking at an accessible physical difference can help us narrow down species with more ease.

Sources:

Native Plant Trust- Go Botany

Montana State University Extension- Plant Identification Basics

Flower Shape and Arrangement:

By Olivia Price

A flower is the part of some plants that allows them to reproduce. More specifically, flowers are the reproductive structures of plants called angiosperms, which are plants that reproduce by making fruit (app. 80% of all green plants are angiosperms!). A fruit is essentially the fully developed internal reproductive part of a flower.

On flowers, the petals are a kind of modified leaf which help to protect the internal reproductive organs of a flower and to attract pollinators that can aid fertilization of the “eggs” stored in these reproductive organs.

Some flowers grow in solitary arrangements, with just one flower coming off of one stem. Sometimes when we look at a flower, though, we may actually be looking at many flowers . In angiosperm plants, the amount of and manner in which their flowers are arranged are referred to as their inflorescence.

For example, the regionally native purple coneflower has something called a composite inflorescence . Although it may look like one large flower, it is actually made up of a bunch of smaller flowers, or florets . Each petal-like structure on a purple cone flower is one individual flower called a ray floret , and the top dome-shaped “disc” is made up of many small disc florets . All of these florets or small flowers together on the stem (or peduncle) make up the inflorescence. Many other types of inflorescences are pictured here .

There are many other characteristics of flower form to classify, including habit (the way a flower hangs), petal arrangement, shape, color, etc. All of these variable features of flowering plants make them unique members of their ecosystems.

Sources:

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign- Digital Flowers

Britannica- Angiosperms

National Library of Medicine- Evolution of petal patterning: blooming floral diversity at the microscale

The Seed Collection- A Brief Guide to Different Flower Types, Shapes, and Growing Patterns

Florida Native Plant Society- What is a Composite Flower

Friends of Flowers: benefits to wildlife

By Lauren Bonavia

In the spring and summer, wildflower nectar feed insects and birds that double as pollinators as they stop at each flower for meals. Some animals rely on nutrient dense-buds, leaves, or roots for food, too. After the blooms are gone, the seeds and other fruit left behind are important food for small mammals, rodents, and songbirds. Seed producing purple coneflowers are one example of important winter forage when not much else is available - think of it as nature’s birdfeeder!

If we shrunk down the size of a shrew, the prairie grasses, wildflowers, and leaf litter would provide excellent cover from becoming a hungry raptor’s lunch, and we would see a city teeming with insects, microscopic life, and other soil-inhabiting organisms. This miniature canopy layer provides pockets of shade and cool in the beating sun (think heat islands and how trees shade and cool urban areas). Over winter dormancy, pollinators sleep and lay eggs in native plant stems, so this is a good reason to leave your dead flowers in the wintertime! Leave your leaves, yard waste, and other spring cleaning tasks until the temperature is steadily above 50 degrees F.

Native berries, nuts, and other flowering and fruiting plants provide wildlife food with high nutritional value. Invasive or non-native plants tend to be tasty to animals, but have very little health benefits compared to native forage. Native plants and animals have developed together over time and are built for each other anatomically and biologically. We can’t have one without the other.

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Anatomy of a Flower and Why they have Colors:

By Caroline Pacheco

There are 2 major classifications for plants: angiosperms and gymnosperms. Angiosperms are flowering plants, and they are the largest and most diverse group in the plant kingdom. Flowers are the structure where plant reproduction occurs. To reproduce, many flowers require pollination. Sometimes they need the aid of pollinators for pollination, so flowers make sure to ‘dress’ for the occasion. Pretty to admire, flowers have evolved over time to attract the ideal pollinator. Everything from the scent, color, shape, and size of flowers is specially crafted. These are called “pollinator syndromes”.

Not every animal can see the same colors, and flowers take advantage of this. Bees and butterflies look for bright colors, bees look for white, yellow, blue, or even ultraviolet and butterflies land on flowers with bright purples and reds. Nocturnal pollinators, like bats and moths, are drawn to pale colored petals, obvious in the darkness, and are swayed more towards heavily scented flowers. As the pollinators fertilize the wildflowers they are rewarded with nectar.

Flowers are far more than what meets the eye! To learn more about wildflowers, and to see what is in peak bloom, join us for our wildflower walkabouts ! From April to June, Severson Dells and Natural Land Institute staff lead exploration of many of the local wildflower hotspots. Wildflower Walks showcase what is currently in bloom at various woodland and prairie preserves around Winnebago, Boone, and Ogle Counties. All walks will begin at 6:00 p.m. There is no fee for the walks, but membership in Severson Dells and/or the Natural Land Institute is encouraged.

Sources:
National Park Service: Wildflower Anatomy

Alabama Wildlife Federation: Investigate Plant and Flower Anatomy

United States Forest Service: Visual Cues of Plants

United States Forest Service: Pollinator Syndromes

Making it Easier to Volunteer

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:02:42 GMT

Removing obstacles to connect you to causes you care about!

If you found this blog post, it’s very likely that you care about the natural and human community around you. I don’t have to convince you that volunteering is important because it provides an average value of $34 an hour of services to an organization , statistically leads to a longer life , and increases outcomes like a sense of purpose and connection . You likely appreciate these benefits and want to support causes you care about through volunteering, but have some obstacles that keep you from service. In this blog, I’m going to explore common obstacles potential volunteers face and ways Severson Dells can make volunteering easier for you!

I don’t want to make a big commitment.

More than ever, people are leading busy lives. Keeping up with jobs, friends, family, and daily tasks is enough to fill anyone’s plate! We understand that it can be hard to commit to a recurring or standing volunteer opportunity. That’s why all of our volunteer opportunities have no minimum requirement and allow you to select shifts that work for your schedule, including weekends! Some opportunities are as short as an hour.

If signing up for shifts still sounds daunting, we have an option for you that requires no registration! You might be interested in our drop-in Restoration Workdays, where folks can show up to Severson Dells at 9:00 am on the second Saturday of each month and help us restore our native habitat through invasive species removal or native seed collection. While prior registration helps us communicate with you to prepare for the workday (or let you know about weather-related cancellations), registration is not required. You can evaluate your capacity that day and join us if you are able!

It is hard to find childcare for my kids

As a parent or caregiver, it can be difficult to carve out time for yourself. When you do get some precious moments of alone time, you deserve to use it for rest and relaxation! Instead of waiting for rare moments when you can volunteer alone, we invite you to consider volunteering with your children!

Severson Dells offers multiple volunteer opportunities that work well with families. Volunteering together helps instill values of service and community care for your children, provided intergenerational learning opportunities, and is a fun & free way to spend meaningful time together! Here are the age ranges we recommend for volunteering together as a family

Community Science: any age.
Restoration Workdays: Elementary age and up, able to follow safety instructions and use hand tools with adult supervision.
Science Saturday: Elementary age and up, able to follow activity instructions and maintain interest in hosting activity station for a shift.
Front Desk: Upper Elementary and up, able to help guests and self-entertain between active service moments (usually volunteers will read, birdwatch, sketch, etc).

:We do welcome volunteers aged 16 and up to volunteer on their own for these service opportunities given their parent or legal guardian completes our volunteer waiver

I love Severson Dells, but it is so far away

We recognize that our community is big and spans the region. Many of you like the idea of volunteering with us but have a hard time making the drive. Fear not, we have many remote volunteer opportunities through our Community Science program! Through our partnership with Rockford Park District, we have plant and wildlife monitoring opportunities spread throughout Winnebago County. You can pick a site that is close to where you live or work to visit and collect valuable information on local species! Our trainings for these programs are virtual, and we are happy to come to you for a field session to show you the protocol at your chosen monitoring location.

I like nature, but I am not very mobile or active

We welcome people with various support needs to volunteer, and recognize how important transparency is in determining whether a volunteer opportunity is a good fit. That’s why we outline some of the essential skills required for our various volunteer opportunities on our volunteer page. You’ll notice that many of our volunteer opportunities- like Front Desk and Science Saturday- don’t require any walking! Our building is wheelchair accessible and our team is always open to conversations about accommodations and accessibility.

Ok, I think I want to start volunteering! What’s next?

I hope that this blog was able to acknowledge the real challenges potential volunteers face. We appreciate our volunteers deeply, and are always willing to work with volunteers to find opportunities that are a good fit for your interests, schedule, abilities, and preferences. If you are ready to jump in and try volunteering with us, I encourage you to explore our various volunteer opportunities over on our volunteering page: www.seversondells.org/volunteer . There, you can see our handy flow chart to help match you with a service opportunity and a button that will take you to our volunteer application.

We’ll connect with anyone who fills out our volunteer application (or reaches out to me directly at andrea@seversondells.org ) to share next steps and get you started.

Thanks for your interest, and we look forward to having you on our team of change-makers and earth-savers!

Carbon Sequestration at Prairie's Edge

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:30:46 GMT

As we begin the process of rewilding the former Elliot Golf Course, now named Prairie’s Edge, one of the first steps is to gather baseline data so we can track our progress over time. One of the biggest changes we expect to see as the land transitions from a golf course to native habitat is how much carbon it can store. To understand why this matters, it helps to start with carbon itself.

Carbon Sequestration

Carbon is a fundamental building block of life. It’s in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and what makes up you and me. It also plays a major role in regulating Earth’s climate. Carbon is constantly moving through what scientists call the carbon cycle , a system that includes plants, animals, soils, oceans, rocks, the atmosphere, and us.

You can think of the carbon cycle as a kind of planetary recycling system. As carbon moves through this cycle, it shifts between different reservoirs, or places where it can be stored for varying amounts of time, before it is changed and transformed into a new iteration. Some of these movements happen quickly, like when plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis or when animals eat plants. Other processes happen incredibly slowly, such as when carbon is stored deep underground for millions of years.

Most of Earth’s carbon is locked deep within rocks and sediments and does not move easily through the cycle. That long-term storage is where fossil fuels come from. Coal, oil, and natural gas are all formed from ancient plants and animals whose carbon was buried and transformed over geologic time. Under natural conditions, this carbon would return to the atmosphere very slowly, through geologic processes like erosion or volcanic activity. However, human activities have dramatically sped up this part of the carbon cycle, and this is where problems begin.

When we burn fossil fuels or alter the landscape, we release large amounts of stored carbon back into the atmosphere in a relatively short amount of time. Because this amount of carbon is more than natural systems can absorb it, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen rapidly. Today, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is higher than it has been in the last 3.6 million years . This matters because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas , meaning it traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. As more of it accumulates, more heat is retained, and this is referred to as the greenhouse effect . The greenhouse effect, ultimately, drives the process we know as global warming.

One way to help rebalance this system is through carbon sequestration , the process of capturing and storing carbon so it stays out of the atmosphere. Many natural ecosystems do this automatically. Forests, wetlands, grasslands, and especially soils can act as carbon sinks, meaning they absorb more carbon than they release. While oceans are the largest carbon sink globally, soils are incredibly important, and often overlooked.

Plants help drive this process through photosynthesis, where they convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into sugars that build their leaves, stems, and roots. When plants grow, shed leaves, or eventually decompose, some of that carbon is transferred into the soil as soil organic carbon (SOC) . Over time, healthy ecosystems build up large reserves of this soil organic carbon. In fact, soils around the world store more carbon than the atmosphere and all plant life combined!

However, not all landscapes store carbon equally. When land is simplified into a single species, known as a monoculture, it often loses its ability to store and retain carbon effectively. Highly managed landscapes, like agricultural fields or golf courses, tend to fall into this category. This sort of land management can disrupt natural soil processes and reduce long-term carbon storage. This carbon deficit, however, creates an opportunity. By changing how land is managed through rewilding, we can rebuild soil carbon and improve ecosystem health.

Rewilding Prairie’s Edge

Prairie’s Edge is being transformed from a highly managed golf course into a biodiverse landscape dominated by native ecosystems, including prairie and oak savanna. This process, known as rewilding, doesn’t just change what the land looks like, it also fundamentally changes how the land functions.

One of the biggest differences lies underground in how the land stores carbon. Unlike the turfgrass typical of golf courses, which has relatively shallow roots, native prairie plants grow deep, complex root systems that can extend several feet into the soil. These roots continuously add organic material belowground as they grow, die back, and regrow each season. This steady input of organic matter helps rebuild soil structure, and increases the amount of carbon stored in the soil over time. In prairie systems, much of the carbon is stored underground in roots rather than aboveground in leaves and flowers, making them especially effective at long-term carbon storage. As restoration progresses at Prairie’s Edge, we expect to see these processes gradually rebuild soil organic carbon that may have been lost under previous land use.

Measuring Carbon at Prairies Edge

As restoration begins at Prairie’s Edge, researchers at SeqSolutions have collected baseline soil carbon data across the site. This baseline data tells us how much carbon is currently stored in the soil, and gives us a baseline to compare against in the future. Over time, these measurements will help us track how restoration efforts are changing carbon storage. In April 2025, SeqSolutions analyzed 23 soil samples from the property. Researchers measured Total Organic Carbon (%TOC), bulk density (g/cm³), and pH, comparing soils from three different habitats: wet prairie, upland prairie, and forest edge.

Soil Organic Carbon:

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) is a measure of how much carbon is stored in soil organic matter. This organic matter is made up of decomposed plant and animal material, compounds released by roots, and microscopic organisms like bacteria and fungi, which is essential for healthy soil. SOC helps soils hold water, retain nutrients, support microbial life, and maintain structure. Because of this, it is widely used as an indicator of overall soil health. Higher SOC levels generally point to a healthy, well functioning ecosystem, while lower levels can signal degradation or past disturbance.

SOC is measured as follows:

Illinois, and much of the greater Midwest, is known for its fertile, highly productive soil. We owe this to thousands of years of prairie ecosystems, where deep-rooted prairie plants built up layers of organic matter as they grew and decomposed. Glacial deposits from long ago also helped shape a nutrient-dense, loamy soil that holds moisture while still draining well, making it ideal for agriculture. Because of this history, our soils have traditionally been high in soil organic carbon.

However, when native prairies are removed or degraded, that long-built carbon can be lost over time. Restoring prairies and other native habitats helps reverse this trend by rebuilding soil organic matter, capturing carbon, and supporting healthier ecosystems. Even though SOC levels at Prairie’s Edge are relatively high, there is still significant potential to restore the land closer to its original capacity.

Bulk Density

Researchers at SeqSolutions also measured bulk density of the soil sampled. Bulk density measures how tightly packed the soil is, and it is another indicator of soil health. This measurement helps us understand how well soil can function, such as whether it can support plant roots, whether water can move through it, and whether it can provide enough air for microbial soil organisms.

Low bulk density means that the soil is loose and porous, and has plenty of space for air, water, and roots to move through it. These soils typically contain more organic matter, and can support more plant growth. In contrast, high bulk density indicates compacted soil with fewer spaces between soil particulates, making it harder to absorb water and for roots to grow through it.

Compacted soils often develop after years of pressure and compaction from machinery, vehicles, or livestock. When bulk density is too high, plant roots struggle to push through the soil, limiting growth and reducing overall soil and ecosystem health. This is why in agriculture farmers will till soil to temporarily reduce compaction and loosen it for planting. However, frequent tilling can damage soil structure over time by breaking apart soil aggregates and disrupting the communities of microorganisms that help keep soil healthy. In general, lower bulk density is a sign of healthier soil, especially in natural systems like prairies, where deep roots and organic matter help maintain a loose, well-structured soil.

Soil pH

Soil pH measures how acidic or alkaline the soil is, and it plays a major role in how easily plants can access nutrients. In soil science, nutrient availability" refers to how much of essential elements, like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, are actually accessible for plants and microbes to absorb. These nutrients are critical for a healthy, functioning ecosystem. However, even if these nutrients are present in soil, they aren’t always available for plants to uptake. Soil pH controls how soluble these nutrients are, which determines whether plants can take them up through their roots.

Most nutrients are easiest for plants to access in soils that are slightly acidic to neutral, typically with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0. When soils become too acidic or too alkaline, those nutrients can become locked up, making it much harder for plants to grow and thrive.

Results

Below are the results from our sampling, along with key insights into what they tell us about soil conditions at Prairie’s Edge.

Restoration Potential

Based on our initial soil data, and what similar restoration projects have shown, we have a sense of how Prairie’s Edge may change over the next few years.

Soil structure (bulk density) is expected to improve as native plants become established. Deep-rooted prairie species help break up compacted soil and create pathways for air and water. As a result, bulk density may decrease by about 5–10% over the next three years in well-managed areas, indicating healthier, less compacted soil.
Soil pH may also shift gradually. As vegetation cover increases and plant material (like leaves and stems) returns to the soil, microbial activity tends to rise. This can slightly lower soil pH, typically by about 0.1 to 0.2 units, especially in areas that are currently more neutral or alkaline. These small changes can make nutrients more available to plants over time.
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is where we expect to see some of the most meaningful gains. With active restoration, such as planting native species and improving water management, SOC levels in the topsoil could increase by about 0.2–0.4% per year. Over three years, this could translate to roughly 1.2 tons of carbon stored per hectare each year, which aligns with estimates from similar Midwestern restoration efforts.

Overall, the Prairie’s Edge shows strong potential for both ecological recovery and long-term carbon storage. While current soil conditions vary across the property, the data suggest that targeted restoration efforts can lead to measurable improvements in soil health.

Future

Projects like the restoration at Prairie’s Edge also raise exciting questions about the future of conservation. Studies have found that one acre of prairie can store up to one tonne of carbon per year. In some cases, restored landscapes that capture significant amounts of carbon may qualify for carbon credit programs, which financially support projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Although current carbon credit markets focus on larger tracks of land, we are continually exploring carbon credit markets for this project.

Definitions:

Carbon Credit: A carbon credit is a tradable certificate representing the removal or avoidance of 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) or equivalent greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. They allow companies to offset their unavoidable emissions by funding verified environmental projects, such as reforestation or renewable energy.

Carbon Cycle: The series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.

Carbon Sequestration: a natural or artificial process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form.

Carbon Sink: A forest, ocean, or other natural environment viewed in terms of its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Greenhouse effect: The trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere, due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface.

Greenhouse Gas: A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation, e.g., carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons.

Global Warming: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants.

Sources:

Interpreting Soil Health Test Report: A Guide for Missouri Farmers - University of Missouri

Basics of Soil Bulk Density - Oklahoma State University Extension

Supplement to the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative – Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) Methodology Determination 2021 - Australian Government, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Scientific Analysis and Carbon Sequestration Potential of the Elliot Golf Course Restoration Site- Seq Solutions

General Relationship of Soil Bulk Density to Root Growth Based on Soil Texture - United States Department of Agriculture

Environmental Information Series - State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Soil Quality Indicators - USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Tallgrass Prairie and Carbon Sequestration - Tallgrass Ontario

NOAA Mauna Loa Laboratory

Birding for Tots: Your Child's First 'Big Year'

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:32:42 GMT

People are increasingly taking up birdwatching as a hobby - and it’s for good reason. Some even aim for a ‘Big Year’, or seeing as many birds as possible in one calendar year. Regardless of your level of commitment, one thing is sure: spending time in nature, off screens, and meaningfully interacting with the people and world around us benefits our health, society, and the environment.

Biophilia: Engaging With Nature is a Basic Need

Studies show that noticing one thing in nature makes people more hopeful in their everyday lives. Biophilia is the widely accepted theory that engagement with nature is a basic psychological need, and correlates with wellbeing. It supports the idea that children are inherently fascinated by nature. So, what better time to start engaging with nature than with young children?

We know the benefits that nature provides, and we can use this to build resilient, hopeful, and aware members of society - our future scientists, teachers, politicians, and neighbors. Children are inherently fascinated and affiliated with nature, and this has direct links to health, education and eventually environmental protection when this desire is nurtured.

Educational and Developmental Benefits

Birdwatching provides opportunities to learn and exercise skills for young children in different developmental stages. Birds have observable characteristics you can discuss with your child, like colors, patterns, shapes, and numbers. Their frequent movement, noise, and colors make birds spottable and attention-grabbing.

Other skills to build include matching, object permanence, active listening, intentional observation, auditory localization and discrimination, fine motor skills, empathy, emotional regulation, and other life and science concepts.

Birdwatching is for Everyone

Birdwatching can be accessible for everyone in terms of resources, equipment, location, and skill, making it a family-friendly activity to be shared across generations and abilities*. People of all ages and interests love collecting things, and birds are like real-life Pokémon! Hundreds of species live in Illinois alone, so don’t worry about exhausting them all at once.

What You'll need:

While fancy equipment certainly isn't necessary, you may invest after getting hooked! Families are welcome to borrow free Adventure Packs from the Severson Dells front desk - equipped with binoculars, books, and fun activities to enjoy on site. Or, make your own following this guide ! Check out bird guides and nature-themed books from the nature center library , or your community library! Additionally, there’s an array of free online resources, including Merlin Bird ID , an app that detects birdsongs, suggest birds in your area, and tracks the birds you've seen already! Plus, you are contributing to community science and conservation efforts.

Where to Go:

Birdwatching can take you far and wide, or as close as your neighborhood! You don’t have to take a long hike or have a big yard - just a window or outdoor space. You can even birdwatch from a vehicle! You can find an abundance of species thriving in urban spaces like parking lots, roadside easements, parks, backyards, and even represented on TV or social media. While quiet helps, birdwatching can be very forgiving of noise from cars and children, and some birds won’t care at all.

Come watch birds at our birdfeeders, contribute to our bird board, and enjoy our trails, open from sunrise to sunset daily. Keep an eye out for Guided Hike programs, too!

Low Stakes, High Rewards

Like any new hobby, birding can be intimidating to get into, but birdwatching is a spectrum, and you do not need to be an expert. Apps like Merlin help make identification easy, but it's not necessary either. ‘Northern cardinal’ or simply ‘red bird’ - there are no wrong answers when you are engaging with the world around you!

However, the point is spending time outside with your child, intentionally interacting with nature. Nurture their innate fascination with the world. This not only benefits your child, but also provides parents time to slow down, ground, and be present with yourself, and your little ones.

Birdwatching is for everyone, and nature is for everyone! Welcome to the world of birdwatching!

*Visit Birdability to explore accessible birdwatching options near you!

Sources

Holli-Anne Passmore, Alissa Yargeau, Joslin Blench: Wellbeing in Winter: Testing the Noticing Nature Intervention During Winter Months

Giuseppe Barbiero and Rita Berto: Biophilia as Evolutionary Adaptation: An Onto- and Phylogenetic Framework for Biophilic Design

Giuseppe Barbiero and Rita Berto: From Biophilia to Naturalist Intelligence Passing Through Perceived Restorativeness and Connection to Nature

Five Nature Books You Should Know

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:45:10 GMT

If you’re a reader interested in learning more about nature, then you’ve probably browsed a few book lists looking for recommendations and quickly got overwhelmed by the sheer amount of nature books that exist. There are certainly some classics such as Silent Spring or Walden , but it can be hard to decipher what to read when selecting more current publications. At Severson Dells, our staff is full of voracious readers (seriously, three different people got books about octopi in the holiday gift exchange) and are happy to provide some recommendations!

These recommendations are more recent publications, within the last ten years, and have all been read and enjoyed by at least one member of the staff here at Severson. They vary in topic, but all share the common thread of getting people engaged in the nature around them.

These books aren't ranked or listed in a particular order, but all are great jumping off points for different topics under the broad umbrella of nature. If you’re interested in any of these books, check to see if they’re available at Rockford Public Library or Rockford's local book shop, Maze Books !

Happy Reading!

Climate in the News: Coastal Sea Levels Are Higher Than Previously Thought

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:45:53 GMT

A new study published in the journal Nature, titled Sea Level Much Higher Than Assumed in Most Coastal Hazard Assessments is making headlines around the world. In case you missed it, researchers have recently found that coastal sea levels are, on average, 8 -12 inches higher than many maps and models have previously suggested. This discovery means that many coastal areas are at an even greater risk from rising sea levels than we previously believed.

So, what went wrong? And how did researchers discover this gap? Let's break it down.

The discrepancy between the previously estimated sea levels versus the Earth's actual sea levels comes from an error in the modeling methods used to predict them. Measuring global sea level is much more complicated than you may initially think, and it’s challenging to accurately measure because it requires averaging a constantly moving, non-spherical ocean surface, which is only further complicated by factors such as shifting landmasses, inconsistent gravitational pulls, and regional differences such as melting ice sheets and ocean currents. For all of these reasons, it’s impossible to use a simple ruler method to measure our oceans' depth.

To combat this, researchers commonly rely on a method called g eoid modeling to measure Earth's coastal sea levels. A ‘geoid’ is an irregular shaped model of the Earth that is based on where gravitational forces on Earth are stronger and weaker. Using a geoid model of the Earth then allows scientists to estimate average sea level based on Earth’s gravitational field. This type of modeling is used to measure sea level because it provides a gravity-based, uniform, "zero elevation" surface that represents where water would settle without tides or currents that accounts for the Earth's irregular shape, uneven mass distribution, and variable gravity– all factors that make this calculation so challenging.

Though geoid modeling has been widely used and accepted in the scientific community, it hasn’t captured all contributing factors influencing sea level like we once believed, failing to accurately account for regional ocean currents, winds, sea water temperature, or salinity. As a result, time-average sea-surface height can deviate up to several meters from the predicted sea level of a geoid model. Without accurately accounting for these variations, scientists have unknowingly been over and under estimating the sea level in certain areas of the world.

The study found that geoid modeling works relatively well at measuring the coastal sea level in the Northern Hemisphere (read: The United States, Canada, and Europe), where sea level changes are more predictable. However, the model falls short in other regions of the world, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere where ocean dynamics are more complex, particularly in South East Asia and Oceania. In these areas, sea levels are actually several meters higher than previously estimated. As you can imagine, this finding has serious implications for hazard assessments and coastal vulnerability predictions that we use to estimate how sea level rise may affect nations around the world. Currently, 90% of hazard assessments, which are assessments that help policymakers anticipate the impacts of sea level rise, are based on geoid model data rather than actual sea-level measurements. As a result, these assessments have underestimated the risks to coastal populations, and failed to capture the full extent of the threat of sea level rise . This study estimates that if sea levels were to rise by one meter, using measured sea-level data rather than geoid-based assumptions, this would place 31–37% more land and 48–68% more people below sea level. In total, that could mean 77–132 million more people living in areas vulnerable to sea level change.

It’s important to note that although the findings of this study are shocking and change our understanding of coastal vulnerability predictions, they do not fundamentally change what we know about the risk of rising sea levels. Sea levels are continuing to rise globally, and coastal communities around the world remain at risk. This has not changed. What this study does change, rather, is our starting point when making coastal vulnerability prediction and risk assessments, as the threat of sea level rise is actually already closer than we thought in many regions of the world.

Sources

The New York Times: Sea Levels Are Already Higher Than Many Scientists Think, New Study Shows

Nature: Sea level much higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments

Spring Community Science

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:35:15 GMT

Explore Community Science

What do you think of when community, nature, and science come together? Community Science here at Severson Dells Nature Center! Where great moments and memories are made through connecting people with our environment.

What is Community Science , and how can you take part?

Community Science is a great way for volunteers to get involved with engaging science driven programs and activities within your community! Programs are hosted by Severson Dells and partnering organizations, based on the specific program. Joining us is free to attend, with different training events available for desired opportunities.

What's coming up?

Spring is a great time for Community Science, here are some ways to get involved!

Restoration workday (every second Saturday of the month)
Science of The Seasons Hike (every second Saturday of the month)
General Community Science Information Webinar (March 11th, 6pm to 7pm)

Engage with your community on restoration workdays by helping to remove invasive species! We provide everything you may need such as gloves, eyewear, clippers, and snacks! Science of the Seasons is a monthly hike focused on real community driven science! We will learn about plant and wildlife ID, seasonal Phenology, and different monitoring techniques. Lastly, get excited for our webinar training series! Starting with our general informational webinar March 11th at 6pm, where we will go over important information on our community science programs coming up!

Programs include:

Budburst
March 18th (6pm virtually)
Beespotter
April 15th (6pm virtually)
Bat Monitoring
April 22nd (6pm virtually)

What next?

If any of these programs caught your interest or you're simply wanting to learn more about what Community Science is, RSVP for our community science general informational webinar . If you’re interested in other opportunities or have further questions, please reach out to communityscience@seversondells.org for more information on how to get involved!

The Grove - Low Down with Linda

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:45:37 GMT

I’m a grandma. I have four grandchildren who I assume are the most perfect children in the world. If you’re a grandparent, I know you have perfect grandchildren too. It’s nice to be part of the same club.

If you’re like me, you probably worry about your grandchildren and what our technology-heavy future holds for them. Admittedly, times have changed and children are changing too. They are not outside playing “until the street lights come on” like we did. Things are more organized and structured. Children are involved in organized sports, organized lessons of all sorts, and homework on tablets take up their afternoons and evenings. Games are happening on screens with gameboxes, people feel less trusting of their neighborhoods, and children are not seen engaging in outdoor play, tag, hide the flag, or simply riding their bikes around the block.

That’s why I’m so proud to be here at Severson Dells Nature Center. Our mission is to create a connection between people and nature. We focus on hands-on, science-based activities designed to inspire a love for the natural world and the stewardship of it.

For children specifically, Severson Dells is home to the only free nature playscape in the area. Called The Grove , this nature playscape is a playground strategically built without traditional swing sets, slides, jungle gyms, and other apparatuses. Children get to use their imaginations to explore natural materials in a playful way.

There is a block lab with wooden blocks and tree cookies that children use to build, stack, and create. A covered shack allows children to hang out, play house, school, or store, and display treasures on the shelves inside. Kids can paint with water from the rain barrel just outside the shack or play on the sand table. And there are logs that children can climb on, rearrange, and use to make up whatever adventure stories they want.

Rules for the playscape are simple: get messy, touch it all, be respectful of others, explore, pretend, and make friends. Have fun and leave electronics at home. For parents and grandparents: bring a book, something to sit on, a waterbottle, sun screen, and maybe some bug spray. If your kids are like my grandchildren, you’re going to be here a LONG time!

The Grove Nature Playscape is located just inside Severson Dells Forest Preserve. It’s open every day from sunrise to sunset and admission is free. Climbing features are intended for ages 5 - 12, but fun for all ages, from 0 to 99 is guaranteed.

Elliot Update: March 2026

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:51:32 GMT

As many of you know, Severson Dells acquired the former Elliot Golf Course in the fall of 2024, and we are excited to have begun rewilding efforts! We kicked off this year by seeding the first 50 acres, both with help from the community during our Fore the Prairie event, and a commercial seeder. 1,380 pounds of native prairie seed were spread across the site, including the seed of more than 120 species of native prairie grasses and wildflowers!

If you visit the site this summer, however, you might be surprised to not see a prairie right away. Prairie restoration is a long-term process, and it can take several years to begin to see prairie establishment. This is because the majority of native prairie plants are perennials, which means that they spend their first years exerting their energy growing underground. Although perennial seeds will germinate the first year they are planted, the young seedlings’ root growth is 2 to 3 times their above-ground growth. For this reason, many prairie plants won’t flower until the second or third year after planting. Even though we are not seeing much on the surface, these plants are busy developing deep root systems that can reach up to 15 feet or more into the soil!

You may also notice that much of the former golf course has been planted in corn and soybean, and not yet prairie. Don’t be alarmed, this is actually an important step in the restoration process! Decades of mowing and golf course maintenance left the soil full of turf grass seed. If we seeded prairie across the entire property immediately, these invasive turf grasses would quickly outcompete the slower-growing native plants. By temporarily farming portions of the site, we encourage those turf seeds to germinate, essentially “emptying” the seed bank before prairie planting begins. For more information regarding our use of conventional agriculture, please visit our website!

Over the coming years, our community will begin to see the landscape change. The short-mown fairways will gradually become prairie, providing habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, while simultaneously improving soil health, water infiltration and carbon sequestration. We’re grateful to everyone who has volunteered, attended events, and supported this project so far. Restoration takes time, but each season will bring new plants, new wildlife, and new reasons to visit. We can’t wait to watch this prairie grow with you!

If you are interested in receiving periodic updates about the progress of the restoration, please sign up for this project specific email list at https://www.seversondells.com/growing#ContactUs

Wildlife at Elliot

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:28:55 GMT

Rewilding the Former Elliot Golf Course

Throughout the restoration planning of the former Elliot Golf Course, one goal is providing high-quality habitat for native wildlife by restoring prairie, hardwood savanna, and wetland ecosystems. Doing so provides benefits to wildlife, waterways, and humans.

Prairie Restoration

The previous state of the golf course was a turfgrass monoculture, requiring expensive and timely maintenance for little biological payout. To prepare the land, Severson Dells partnered with a local farmer to use commercial agricultural techniques to ‘reset’ the landscape. Planting corn flushes undesirable non-native plants, and primes the soil for its transition to prairie.

Prairie habitat has faced steady declines in Illinois, so we aim to increase this available habitat to wildlife. Seeding native grasses and wildflowers will benefit animals like mice, voles, songbirds, and pollinators by providing food resources and protective shelter, and in turn, feed animals like raptors, foxes, and snakes!

Wetland Restoration

To control flooding, humans often channel and culvert water in urban areas, as was the fate of Manning Creek. Unfortunately, this reduces the benefits of the creek as habitat and a natural filter. To reverse the disruption of this system, we are daylighting , or unburying the creek. We will encourage meandering, or the S-shaped curves that follow a stream channel, to increase the amount of bank available for plant growth. The vegetation will stabilize bank soil and provide shelter and clean water for waterbirds, fish, amphibians, and other animals at Elliot - not to mention the entire Kishwaukee Watershed!

Celebrity sighting? A beaver has been documented in Manning Creek! This is exciting because beavers have important roles as ecosystem engineers and keystone species. Beavers are called ‘ecosystem engineers’ because of their instincts to control flowing water and create wetlands, and ‘keystone’ is a designation given to species that disproportionately impact their environment by creating habitat for other animals, like the wetland-loving Wilson’s Snipe!

Savanna Restoration

Similar to prairie, a savanna is a grassland with scattered hardwood (deciduous) trees. Initial restoration actions included the removal of non-native tree species, with plans to plant native oak and hickory. These masting trees will support the diets of squirrels, deer, songbirds, and turkey, among others. Over time, holes in these trees will make homes for cavity-dwelling owls, bats, wood ducks, and lots of other birds and mammals!

The Big Picture: Addressing concern, Coming together, and Sharing the Land

It may be scary to think about sharing your neighborhood with predators like coyotes, snakes, and owls; However, these are important players in a healthy ecosystem. Animals search elsewhere when their resource needs aren't met, so by providing high-quality habitat, we are effectively containing animals to an area. Animals should not be dependent on human resources and should fear people, so please refrain from feeding wildlife for both human and animal safety and well-being. Biodiversity in your neighborhood is a trophy - not something to fear.

Parting thoughts

This project is intended to benefit wildlife, waterways, and humans. Severson Dells’ goal is to provide habitat for wildlife already living here, and to draw in new species in, because everything benefits from biodiversity and green spaces. Increasing available habitat (particularly in urban areas) combats habitat fragmentation, a looming threat to many wildlife species.

At our inaugural Fore the Prairie event in January, attendees awed at a juvenile bald eagle soaring over the launching of prairie seed golf balls, its presence symbolizing what's to come in rewilding the site.

Sources

Why Conventional Agriculture at Elliot Golf Course?

Tallgrass Prairie - Illinois National History Survey

Daylighting Streams: Breathing Life into Urban Streams and Communities - American Rivers

Beavers: Nature’s Wetland Ecosystem Engineers - National Resources Defense Council

Keystone species: Ecological architects of biodiversity and stability: Review - International Journal of Science and Research Archive

Organisms as Ecosystem Engineers - Oikos

(Re) Introducing Emma!

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:47:03 GMT

For those who may not know me, I previously spent two wonderful years here at Severson Dells working in environmental education and community science, helping our community connect with the land in meaningful ways. I am so excited to announce that I am back at the nature center for the next few months! In this role, I’ll be leading all things Science Communication, so be on the lookout for educational blogs, behind-the-scenes restoration updates, and social media posts that (hopefully) make ecology feel a little less intimidating and a lot more exciting.

In my 6 months hiatus from Severson I got up to some exciting things! I traveled to Denmark to work on a sustainable farm with Sydney, another former AmeriCorps member! We learned about regenerative agriculture, practiced living with less, and gained a new perspective on how communities can support climate-forward living. After our work away, we backpacked for a bit through Europe, and I visited 6 new countries! Oh, and I also got bangs.

Now I’m back, but in a slightly different role. While I’m stepping away from leading education programs, I’m leaning fully into science communication. That means translating research into stories, turning restoration updates into accessible explanations, and helping connect our community to the “why” behind the work we do. I’ll be authoring blogs, contributing to newsletters, and sharing updates across our platforms to keep you informed about what’s happening on the land. There are especially exciting things unfolding with the rewilding of the former Elliot Golf Course. This restoration is a process, and I’m thrilled to help document and share that journey with you!

I am so grateful to be back in a place I adore, surrounded by passionate staff, volunteers, and community members who care deeply about this land. If you find yourself at the Nature Center, please swing by and say hi! I’d love to catch up, hear what you’ve been up to!

The Power of Prairie Roots

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:56:16 GMT

Have you ever looked around and wondered about grass? It may not seem like there’s much to notice about the common golf course, front lawn, sidewalk adjacent sort of grass we see everyday, but if you look below the surface there’s a whole world and history.

These often monochromatic, sprawling green landscapes are planted with what is referred to as turf grass, such as Kentucky blue grass, a plant imported to the United States from Europe and North Africa. This style of lawn design was brought to the U.S. from Europe during the 1700s, where long expanses of short green grasses were associated with the manicured country estates of the wealthy and upper social classes. The popularization of this cultural import co-occurred and played a role in the development of U.S. suburban culture in the late 1800s, strengthening through the mid-20th century when it became more widely actionable for people in the middle class. Turf grass now covers app. 40 million acres across the country(an area larger than the whole of Illinois).

The planting of monoculture grass areas like this, where there are long stretches of only one kind of plant, came in contrast to the landscapes that grew for millenia on the place we now call the United States. These ancient landscapes were full of biodiversity, and in many areas housed ecosystems where humans functioned as just one part of a balanced set of biological processes.

In Illinois specifically, native grasslands–in this region called prairies–used to cover 21 of Illinois’ 36 million acres on their own. Prairies in Illinois formed (and the .01% that still remain still form) unique and powerful living systems. Not only do they create a safe home for many animal species to go about their lives, their root systems push through soil to notable depths, with an average length between 5-15 feet, whereas the turf grass lawns discussed above have roots not digging more than 3-4 inches into the earth. The impact of these root systems is profound, creating long pathways for water absorption, microbial and mycelial growth, and the draw down of excess carbon from the atmosphere back into the earth. One acre of restored prairie can sequester(take out of the air and store in root systems) 1 ton of carbon a year, and absorb 65% more stormwater–or water left on the ground after it rains–than turf grass.

The transformation of turf grass back to prairie has profound positive impacts on surrounding ecosystems. The restoration project at Elliot golf course will provide a prime example for residents of this region to watch as the land begins to come alive with the myriad colors, animals, and landscape benefits of a prairie in just a few years.

Sources:

https://www.sustainablewoodstock.org/a-history-of-the-american-lawn/

https://blog.nwf.org/2024/04/why-we-have-lawns/

https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/midewin/natural-resources/forest-management

https://www.chicagobotanic.org/blog/plant-science-conservation/lowdown-prairie

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/water/supp_info/conservation/green_design/natural_landscaping.html

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/nrplanning/community/roadsidesforwildlife/putdownroots_poster.pdf

https://www.onlyraindownthedrain.com/kids/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46991-5?fromPaywallRec=false

The wonder of the moving earth: what to look out for in the sky during 2026

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:30:59 GMT

Rivers move and snow falls and hillsides weather while tectonic plates settle snugly across the crust of our earth. The wind blows and trees bow down on stormy days, and deep under our feet the molten parts of our planet’s body flow, as above our heads we see the wispy clouds marking the flow of airs of our sky swirling just the same. Just beyond these skies we see the moving pinpricks and round splotches of light which cross our eyelines through each daily cycle, marking just one of the myriad multiscale rotations of our planet, solar system, and galaxy.

All of these movements and visions remind us of our place in the universe, sailing through space on our planet, in relation to the many other bodies that are floating around us, some of whom we know like close friends. The dance of these cosmic forms in and out of our skies measuring for us, and many living systems on this planet, the cadence of our lives—the most immediate being of course our spinning round our own axis in front of the magnificent sun, which lights each day and heats our entire solar system.

Solar Eclipses

During one of these remarkable series of movements—earth’s impending full rotation of our sun (the year 2026)—a particularly awe inspiring phenomena will occur as our moon glides between the star and our planet, blocking our usual open view. This event, called a solar eclipse, will happen twice this year, once in July and another time more fully in August . Although they won’t be visible in the United States this time, it will be in totality, or fully darkened, over parts of Spain, Iceland, Greenland, and the Arctic on August 12th. During this movement, the sun will cast, at its peak, an eerie and wonderful sort of false sunset around the entire horizon for viewers.

Blood Moon

The moon will alter the color of our skies earlier in the year. On March 3rd, it will slip from the sun’s light into our earthly shadow, putting on a shocking red, caused by sunlight sparkling onto its surface through only the very edges of Earth’s blue-light-scattering atmosphere, on the day of the full moon. This will be visible from Northern Illinois: here you can see an estimate of what time of night to look up and see this wonder known as the Blood Moon or Worm Moon.

Lunar effects on natural cycles

The moon’s movements not only have visual effects, but also physical, its gravity tugging at the tides of our oceans, and even the great Lake Michigan not too far to the East. Although Lake Michigan’s water levels are more affected by wind and barometric pressure changes, designating it a nontidal body, it still does experience water level changes twice a day from the strong gravitational pullings of both sun and moon. The moon’s movements are both theorized and mythologized to have many other cyclical effects on Earth’s living systems, too, like research that shows it structures reproduction in some living organisms , affects human sleep , and causes changes in plant growth . There have also long been beliefs, wonderings, and experiences of the human menstrual cycle syncing to the rhythm of the moon, and recently there has been more scientific exploration of its movement’s effects on human bodies in this way. Although there is too little and inconclusive inquiry to show a clear link, it is an interesting, emerging body of research .

Full moons

The full moons in an earth year come each time the satellite (a word used to describe any celestial or human made body rotating earth) moves to a position in its orbit which gives us the entire view of its lit, rounded face. This upcoming rotation around the sun will also bring us a blue moon, this particular one designated a monthly blue moon because it will be the second time a full moon appears within one Gregorian calendar month. This means that we’ll get 13 chances to see the moon’s full phase in 2026, a cadence of months actually reflected in some cultural and religious calendars locally and across the globe, like those of some Anishinaabeg , Mayan , and Ethiopian traditions.

Although it may seem from its name that the moon would don a blue tint at this time, really the term “blue” denotes an extra full moon, either within one month(such as the one we’ll be able to view on May 31st, 2026) or within what is called an “astronomical season”, the time between one of the four equinoxes and solstices in each year. An equinox is when, as the earth traces, tilted at 23.4 degrees, its path around the sun, neither the south nor north poles angle toward our star, marking a change in daylight and nearly equal lengths of day and night. A solstice marks a shift in sunlight as well, by denoting twice a year the moment that one of Earth’s poles is most angled toward the sun. NOAA provides this concise visual and explanation mapping the astronomical and meteorological seasons of the Northern Hemisphere, as well as the equinoxes and solstices, along earth’s yearly orbit of the sun.

Meteor Showers and More

On our big yearly orbit, we use all these positionings of our planet in relation to our moon and sun to divvy up our time and govern loosely or formally many of our human social structures. Modern humans have been attentive to these movements for a long time, as evidenced by ancient astronomical texts , and also from archeological findings of carved bones which appear to track the movements of the moon, thought to date back 30,000 years (for context the estimation of when the Homo Sapiens emerged as a separate species is between 550,000 and 750,000 years ago). The Sun and Moon are not the only things that we’ve been watching for millennia, though: the multitude of other stars, planets, and meteors, etc. that dot the dark night have been and are still an important part of our human experience, too.

In 2026, we’ll be able to see some of these phenomena, such as the Perseids meteors from July 17th to August 24th. Many other showers will be visible this upcoming year, with the Quadrantids ringing in the new year January 2-3rd, and the Geminids rounding out the year from December 4th through 17th. Some of these showers can be seen with the naked eye. Additionally, here is one local observatory with regular free public night sky viewings.

Planetary Alignment

Come February of this year, another special event will happen in our solar system as six planets align themselves. This alignment(although from Earth it will appear more like a scattering) will be most visible in this region’s skies on the evening of February 28th, with Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury able to be seen without binoculars or a telescope.

A Year in the Sky

Our upcoming trip around the sun will light Earth’s night sky with many celestial experiences, reminding us of our planet’s unique place in outer space. All of these ongoing movements of bodies in space affect Earth in special ways, and observing them can make us aware of the scale of our own human bodies in the universe, bringing new awe and wonder each year.

Sources

https://starwalk.space/en/news/what-is-planet-parade#where--when-to-see-planetary-alignment-today

Cold Stratification: Prairie Plant Strategy to Success

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:09:46 GMT

What Are Plants Doing During the Winter Months?

As we move into February, it is becoming easier to see Spring on the horizon. For some of us, ideas of blooming flowers and growing plants are getting us through these darker months. However, these plants are still focusing on surviving this cold, brutal winter, and the way they do so is absolutely fascinating.

Before these plants begin to bloom, they’re often in seed form waiting for the right time to trigger growth. Many seeds native to Illinois prairies have adapted to only germinate when their environment reaches a certain temperature. Cold temperatures often trigger germination (the process in which a plant begins to emerge from its seed) and this process can last a few days or take several months. This entire process is known as cold stratification. If you enjoy shopping for seed packets for your garden, you may have noticed that some packet instructions suggest you plant the seed contents in the fall to bloom the following year. Now you know that these plants need cold stratification to be successful. If you miss the fall deadline, don’t worry! You can help your seeds along by simulating cold stratification by placing seeds in a cold place (like the fridge) to help them begin germination. Learn more about simulating cold stratification here: https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2022-01-27-seed-stratification-what-seeds-require-cold-treatment

The prairie at our new location will depend on cold stratification as we further our restoration. We’ve already begun seeding the section of prairie that is to bloom this spring. For this process, it is important that we started seeding early because if the seeds miss their cold stratification deadline, they’re much more likely to get outgrown by woody plants, grasses, and invasive species. By spreading these seeds in the winter, we can give the plants an advantage and have greater success restoring the prairie. Learn more about this project at https://www.seversondells.org/growing

Resources

Prairie Moon Nursery https://www.prairiemoon.com/how-to-germinate-native-seeds.html

Illinois Extension https://publish.illinois.edu/tallgrass-prairie/prairie-restoration/

Wellfield Gardens https://www.wellfieldgardens.org/post/stratification-and-scarification-a-seed-s-path-to-germination?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1041455689&gbraid=0AAAAADMGsCB_wZHE0aJqtPwMMLYGqBfrh&gclid=CjwKCAiAssfLBhBDEiwAcLpwfk5c0QaBt8o7suDEdiySygp4Aoxwi7oYUIIHMfbaumVNrIzZUiW8ZBoCE8IQAvD_BwE

Let It Snow: 2025-2026 Snow Report

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:41:52 GMT

Snowfall Conditions, Trends, and Expectations for this season

As most midwesterners know, our weather varies greatly year to year - even day to day. We are no stranger to dramatic 50+ degree swings in temperature, and it's not all that uncommon to wear an insulated coat one day and sandals the next. Similarly, snow amounts vary annually, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. This season we have already experienced more snowfall than previous years, but are still far behind regional records.

Fortunately for researchers, the Chicago-Rockford International Airport is home to a NOAA National Weather Service station that measures and shares climatological data like precipitation, temperature, wind speed, among many other variables. Today, we are focusing on precipitation, namely: snow.

Patterns and trends

First, let’s bring it back to Earth Science class to talk about the La Nina and El Nino weather patterns. You can read all about it in a previous blog here: https://www.seversondells.com/blog/laninawinter. La Nina is the pattern that we are currently experiencing, and can explain the damp winter we have had thus far. Contrarily, El Nino is the weather pattern that causes more mild, dryer winters.

Before talking numbers, it's important to preface that minute, hyperlocal changes in temperature can mean the difference between no snow or lots of it in a specific area, and conditions may differ just a few streets away. Snow can be difficult to predict. Climatologists and Meteorologists use different models to attempt predicting the future, but these are just models .

The cold, hard data

For the purposes of this blog, I looked at snow accumulation data from November through March, as these are the most consistent months we receive snowfall.

The AccuWeather exclusive forecast predicts 32-38” of snowfall for this season, which is in line with the 30 year average (38.4” between 1991-2020), but is significantly higher than last year’s cumulative snowfall totalling only 17.6”. As of the first week of December , Rockford had already recorded as much snow as the entire previous winter at 17.1”. In fact, this has been the snowiest start to winter since recordkeeping began 120 years ago around 1905. While there is no long-term trend in snowfall in Illinois, the last decade has shown more variability, accounting for the big changes we see year to year.

While researching, I noticed that January and February tend to be peak snowfall months, so don’t be fooled by the lack of snow right now because the worst may be yet to come.

Other (not-so-technical) Prediction Methods

For as long as humans have existed, we have searched and invented ways to measure, tell, and document time, including anticipating the future. Natural phenomena can provide an ecological calendar for our reference.

One common anecdote of winter severity involves a frequent backyard visitor: the wooly bear caterpillar. Folklore suggests that the wider the black bands on a wooly bear caterpillar, the more bitter the upcoming winter will be. Contrarily, a wider brown band indicates a milder winter ahead. Some people also note the thickness of the wooly bear’s ‘coat’ as well as the direction of travel (i.e. headed south to escape the winter!).

Another famous animal we turn to for wintertime answers is Punxsutawney Phil on February 2nd for Groundhog Day, where the presence of his shadow predicts how many more weeks of cold winter are yet to come.

In more fun and potentially predictive animal news, there is speculation in the bird world that this may be an irruption year for Arctic birds like the snowy owl. An irruption year (different than volcanic eruptions) describes an ecological event where suboptimal conditions in the arctic circle drive wildlife populations further south in search of food. Humans sometimes use the presence of snowy owls as a cue for winter severity: Colder conditions in the arctic translate to colder conditions elsewhere as well. You may have already heard about a pair of snowy owls hanging out around Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary on the Chicago lakefront back in November. Other notable occurrences in recent years include 2011-2012, 2013-2014, 2018-2019, and 2021, which typically coincided with other high snowfall years.

Regardless of what the future weather may look like, winter provides great opportunities for us to spend time outdoors. Whether you build a snowman, make ephemeral art in your backyard, watch birds, volunteer at a conservation workday, or just take a walk in your neighborhood - the most important thing is getting outside ! And you’re in luck as we have plenty of programming this winter to enjoy. View all of our programs here: https://www.seversondells.org/events

Sources:

Winter Outlook 2025-2026, National Weather Service

Winter forecast 2025-26: Snowy season ahead for parts of the US, AccuWeather

Snowfall Trends, Illinois State Climatologist

Roaring Start to 2025-2026 Winter Snowfall Season, National Weather Service

Rockford, IL Temperature Records, National Weather Service

What is an irruption?, Project Snowstorm

Snowy Owls Are Back in Chicago - Why These Arctic Visitors Are Thrilling Birders This Winter, Birdwatching Daily

Woolly Bear Caterpillar - Winter Predictor Or Not?, National Weather Service

Take a Walk with All Your Senses!

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 21:14:19 GMT

Have you ever gone on a "Senses" walk?

When you hear the words “senses walk”, a lot of things probably come to mind. There are countless articles about things like forest bathing or mindfulness walks , but when you use those bigger words, it can feel intimidating. And something that is intimidating isn’t something we as humans typically want to try. However, when you truly break it down, a mindfulness walk is really just tuning in to all your senses while you are out in nature, and using simple activities, you can turn any walk into a senses walk!

There are five basic human senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste. Each sense is associated with a different organ that transmits information to our brains to help us make sense of the world around us. By working together, these senses clue us in to our world–what is good to eat, what is dangerous, what is calming, what attracts us, etc. Research has also shown that those without one of the five senses, for example those that are born blind, have brains that create new connections to enhance their sense of hearing, smell, and touch.

Did you feel that?

Touch is thought to be one of the first senses that humans develop . Through touch, we can sense pressure, temperature, vibration, pain, and pleasure. Touch conveys compassion as well as survival. Through this sense we are able to tell the difference between a soft cuddly kitten and a prickly porcupine!

Activity Ideas: When out in the woods take a moment to allow your sense of touch to take over. Run your fingers through the grass. Touch a leaf of a prairie dock. Hold a smooth stone in your hand. Feel the breeze and the sun on your face. Focus on what the ground feels like under your feet (with or without shoes if it is safe!).

Wow, did you see that?

Sight is a very complex process involving our eyes. Using reflected light, messages are sent to nerve cells at the back of our eyes which are sent as electrical signals to our brain telling us what we are seeing. Different parts of our eyes use the light to interpret color (cones) and the amount of light entering (rods). Putting that all together helps our brain form a picture of what we are experiencing.

Activity Ideas: Scavenger hunts are a great way to dial in your sense of sight. You could try by seeing how many “orange” things you can see in one walk. Or maybe try seeing all the colors of the rainbow. Use your sense of sight to discover patterns in tree bark. For a different kind of sight experience, take a night hike with Severson Dells and allow your night vision to take over!

What was that noise?

Our sense of hearing is quite complex. And I don’t mean in the way that children, pets, or partners sometimes have “selective hearing” where you know they hear you, but just aren’t listening! Complex in the way that a sound wave has seven steps to process before making it to the brain! It starts with our outer ears where the sound wave is caught and funneled into the ear canal. The wave then reaches our ear drum where a thin sheet of connective tissue vibrates when the waves strike it. This vibration causes three small bones (in fact the stapes is the smallest bone in the human body!) in the inner ear to vibrate. These vibrations are sent to the Corti organ, which is covered in tiny hairs. These hairs turn the vibrations into electrical impulses which travel to the brain!

Activity Ideas: While out in the woods, try creating a “sound map”. Sit still in one place and on a piece of paper, make a mark around you every place you hear a sound. Try listening for the closest sound you can hear and then focus on what the furthest away sound you can hear is. If you want to deepen your understanding of the impact on sound in nature, consider attending a “sound walk” with the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology , based in the Chicagoland region.

What is that smell?

Did you know there is a specific word for the smell of soil after it rains? That is called petrichor and it is one of my favorite smells! To get from the ground to the brain, perceptions of smell begin on the roof of the naval cavity. Nerve endings transmit signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain, where they are interpreted as smells. It was often thought that humans were only adequate at smelling compared to other mammals like dogs, but new research is emerging that shows humans might be just as smelly…I mean, might be just as good at smelling as dogs!

Activity Tip: One of the reasons why dogs were long thought to be the better smeller is due to their wet nose. Moisture allows a better activation of those olfactory receptors, so try dampening your nose just a bit before smelling something delicious like bergamot, or gray headed coneflower!

What a delicious taste!

Taste has long been associated with our survival as a species. Things that taste bitter are often poisonous, things that are sweet might be high in nutrients. Taste is sensed by clusters of taste receptor cells called “taste buds”. Adults have between 2,000-4,000 taste buds, and they are not only on the tongue, but also in the throat, your uvula (the flap of skin that protects your windpipe), and in your nasal cavity. It has been disproven that your tongue has specific zones for each taste, but each taste bud is “programmed” to have a different level of sensitivity to the different tastes. Our sense of taste can be broken down into 5 main categories of perception: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, savory. Smell is also very important to taste through a process called oral referral.

Activity Tip: The biggest tip here is: don’t taste something in nature unless you are 110% sure of what it is! Many edible items have almost identical lookalikes to things that can make you sick. Follow educators like Black Forager , or learn with a nature guide before venturing out to taste anything in nature.

Finally, in addition to the traditional big five senses we just read about, there is another sense that is called “proprioception” which is the sense of determining where your body is in space. You can see how important this sense is by trying to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed! It is a combination of all of our senses working together to create a working body in the world around us. To work on enhancing your proprioception you can close your eyes and balance on one leg. Brush your teeth with the opposite hand. Or my favorite, roll down a grassy hill!

In conclusion, our senses are what enhance our world around us. Next time you are out in nature, try focusing in on one of your senses and see how it changes your experience! If you are interested in learning more about Sensory Science, consider attending Severson Dells Science Saturday on February 7th from 10-2pm! This event is free for the community!

Sources and Links:

Clinic, C. (2023, December 6). Forest Bathing: What it is and its potential benefits. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-forest-therapy-can-be-good-for-your-body-and-mind

Brain “rewires” itself to enhance other senses in blind people | Department of Ophthalmology. (2017, March 22). https://eye.hms.harvard.edu/news/brain-rewires-itself-enhance-other-senses-blind-people

Sutton, J., PhD. (2025, July 28). Mindful Walking & Walking Meditation: a restorative practice. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/mindful-walking/

Bremner, A., & Spence, C. (2017). The development of tactile perception. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 52, 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.12.002

Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology. (2026, January 16). Home | Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology. Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology | Exploring the Role of Sound and Listening in Natural and Cultural Environments. https://mwsae.org/

Rutgers University. (2017, May 11). The Human Sense of Smell: It’s Stronger than We Think. https://www.rutgers.edu/news/human-sense-smell-its-stronger-we-think

Black Forager: https://www.instagram.com/blackforager/?hl=en

Harvey, A., Bradford, A., & Cooke, E. (2024, June 10). The 5 human senses — and a few more you might not know about. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/60752-human-senses.htmlNew Paragraph

Join us at Fore the Prairie!

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 21:59:53 GMT

Resting up from the NFL playoffs and getting ready for the Super Bowl? Looking for a unique event this weekend? Join us at Fore the Prairie , a family-friendly event focusing on the restoration of the former Elliot Golf Course with a golf twist.

In 2024, Severson Dells Education Foundation purchased 168 acres of the shuttered Elliot Golf Course for the purpose of transforming it into a natural preserve that will serve the community with nature education for all ages. Since then, turf grass and non-native trees have been removed and now it’s time to plant a prairie.

We will be bombing 50 acres of tilled soil with golfball size prairie seed balls. The balls can be hit with a golf club or shot from a three person sling shot. The seed balls will lay dormant and, as the soil warms up, they will come to life and be the first seedlings on the new prairie.

This is only one of the events happening at Fore the Prairie . You can play in a golf simulator, participate in tabletop miniature golf, learn about our restoration of the golf course, and enjoy some hot cocoa and roast some s’mores. You’ll also be able to participate in a ticketed silent auction and see the plans for our Buy an Acre project which will allow you to purchase part of or an entire acre to support the rewilding project.

Free and open to the public, activities will be ticketed at an affordable price with all proceeds going toward the restoration of the former Elliot Golf Course. For more information on how to support Severson Dells go to SeversonDells.org/ForeThePrairie

Positive Nature News in 2025

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 17:25:24 GMT

It is easy to get caught up in the endless cycle of negative news. Our society's focus on what is wrong in the world clouds over the bits that are good in the world. To us, there is good happening in the world everyday. These moments deserve to be recognized and celebrated.

We've compiled a collection of Positive Nature News from 2025 in hopes of inspiring our community to join us in our mission to strive for more environmental protection, restoration, and discovery in 2026.

Local News Local to Illinois and neighboring states

Bison Return to Kane County Prairies

"Bison" by Keith Ewing on Flickr. CC by-nc 2.0

Kane County Forest Preserves has introduced American Bison to its prairies for the first time in 200 years through partnerships with the American Indian Center of Chicago to bring these amazing grazers back to vital Illinois ecosystems they once roamed freely. AIC co-executive director Jay Young mentioned in a statement “ Bison have carried our stories, our teachings, and our responsibilities for generations, and welcoming them home is an important moment for our people and generations who will come after us ” Though communities all around are excited and eager about the Bison’s warm welcome, the public is asked by Kane county to allow time for the Bison to acclimate before visiting the preserve. Officials working on the project have goals for the bison to be acclimated by the end of winter this year!

Source- https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/bison-make-incredible-return-to-kane-county-prairies-after-centuries/3861476/

New Invasive Species Regulations

"Garlic Mustard" by Ashlyn Rogers.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources updated the Illinois Exotic Weed Act on October 1st 2025, to release a new list of invasive species you can no longer purchase, sell, plant, or own in Illinois! Chris Evans from University of Illinois Extension says: "Invasive plants can crowd out native species, reduce wildlife habitat and forage, change the soil chemistry, and even limit the growth and regeneration of native trees." The addition to the invasive species list further protects not only our Illinois natural areas and habitats, but the wildlife that lives within them.

The plants added are:

Callery Pear Trees, Garlic Mustard, Sericea lespedeza, Japanese Stiltgrass , Tree of Heaven, Amur Corktree, Leafy Spurge, Black Swallowwort, and Pale Swallowwort.

Source- https://extension.illinois.edu/news-releases/nine-new-invasive-species-regulated-illinois-expansion-exotic-weeds-act

Piping Plovers Success

"Piping Plover" by Jim Nelson on Flickr. CC by-nc 4.0

Piping Plovers make a comeback! The 2025 breeding season for these impressive birds was remarkable with a new record high including 88 paired birds, 7 more than in 2024. This year was incredible with 110 nests found and 72 wild broods hatched successfully. Breeding rates have been on the rise since being listed as endangered in 1986, a reflection of work done by conservationists, volunteers, and community members. Great Lakes Piping Plovers have now broken the breeding record for four consecutive years, continuing to grow in numbers and inspire communities. Goals for future Piping Plover numbers are expected to grow to 150 paired partners sustained over the course of five years.

Source- https://www.audubon.org/news/comeback-continues-fourth-record-breaking-year-great-lakes-piping-plovers

National News

Federally endangered species on the road to recovery

In a new enclosure at the Memphis Zoo an adult pair of the endangered dusky gop her frogs st arted naturally breeding after years of unsuccessful in vitro fertilization. This led to the release of thousands of tadpoles into two ponds in Mississippi and in years since researchers have discovered frog eggs in this area indicating a sustainable population has returned. Also this year the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has officially changed the status of the green sea turtle to least concern on their red list. Green sea turtles have been considered critically endangered since the 1980s and are under threat largely due to bycatch, turtles accidentally getting caught as a byproduct of fishing. This threat has been reduced by efforts to implement Turtle Excluder Devices in fisheries and restricting trade with countries that permit bycatching of green sea turtles.

Sources: https://wildlife.org/dusky-gopher-frog-reintroduction-sees-initial-success/ ; https://www.npr.org/2025/10/16/nx-s1-5573174/green-sea-turtles-no-longer-endangered-as-global-population-rebounds ; https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/green-turtle/conservation-management

Artificial wetlands, referred to as floating islands, could be the key to restoring America’s waterways

Initially started in Chicago with the ‘Wild Mile’ conservation organizations are working with cities around the country to create eco-parks to help remove pollutants from waterways. These floating islands provide benefits both above and below the water, plant roots remove excess nitrogen and put oxygen into the water and above they provide new habitat for wildlife inviting keystone species back into the area. These restoration projects also provide thriving green spaces for the human residents of these cities which now include Baltimore and Cambridge.

Source: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/artificial-islands-are-turning-industrial-wastelands-thriving-ecosystems

Hopeful future for California’s kelp forests a year after new marine sanctuary designation

In November 2024, the first indigenous led national marine sanctuary was designated off the central coast of California near Santa Barbara. The Chumash Heritage Marine Sanctuary has hopes of using Chumash oral history and modern DNA sampling to track how populations of marine wildlife have migrated over the years. With the new designation the nation can also restrict offshore drilling and allow for restoration of once diverse kelp forests that resided in the area. Kelp forests can absorb twenty times more carbon dioxide than their terrestrial counterparts and provide habitats for a myriad of marine species including sea otters.

Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/underwaer-forests-return-life-coast-california-might-be-good-news-entire-planet-180987639/ ; https://share.google/n7cyxCKsFGLCGlrSO

Global News

UNESCO listed 26 new Biosphere Reserves

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is the intergovernmental agency overseeing the World Network of Biosphere Reserves - a program that identifies natural areas of holistic excellence. Reserves are selected because of their environmental and socio-economic initiatives, and they serve as models for sustainable development and ecological coexistence in an ever-changing world. A few exciting things happened at this year’s conference in September: 26 new reserves were named - the most in recent history; 6 countries were designated their first Biosphere Reserves: Angola, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Iceland, Oman and Tajikistan; and São Tomé and Príncipe was the first full territory to be named a Biosphere Reserve. Participating countries share resources, contribute to best practices, and promote protection of these amazing places. Today, there are a total of 784 reserves covering 8 million km2 (or the size of Australia), at the benefit of an estimated 300 million people.

Sources: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/26-new-biosphere-reserves-unescos-continues-unprecedented-expansion-its-global-network?hub=701 ;

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/biosphere-reserve

Beavers released in England for the first time in 500 years

In March, scientists released two pairs of Eurasian beavers in Purbeck Heaths Super National Nature Reserve - the first wild release since they were driven to extinction from overhunting in the 1500’s.The animals were relocated from Scotland, and mark the beginning of a new story for beavers in England. Some have raised concerns over flooding of farmland and roads, but much preparation has gone into this project to reduce conflict, including site selection away from a densely populated area. Organizers promote coexistence between humans and beavers on the landscape because these ecosystem engineers provide critical (not to mention costly) services to humans, including flood mitigation, combatting drought conditions, and slowing down and cleaning water. Known as a keystone species, beavers significantly impact their environment by transforming wetland habitat that supports other plant and animal life.

Sources: https://beavertrust.org/historic-first-official-wild-beaver-release-in-england/ ; https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwygxvzpkevo ; https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2025/02/28/beaver-wild-release-a-milestone-for-nature-recovery-in-england/ ; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wild-release-and-management-of-beavers-in-england/wild-release-and-management-of-beavers-in-england

Ecotourism is supporting Colombian swamp restoration

In Barranquilla, one of Colombia’s fastest growing cities, work is underway to restore a critical swampland - the Ciénaga de Mallorquín. This site lies at the mouth of the Magdalena River, and has been the victim of pollution and erosion due to its urban nature. However, restoration of mangrove trees will provide coastal protection to reduce flooding and erosion, as well as promote wildlife habitat. Good algae will promote toxin removal in the water from industrial processes nearby. Implementation of green energy initiatives like biofuels, solar power, and improved waste management contribute further to long term sustainability in the region. The ecopark serves as a site for community and heritage resources, like public programming, and is expected to empower people and drive the local economy.

Sources: https://www.weforum.org/videos/how-ecotourism-helped-transform-this-barranquilla-swamp-8a8fd4dd3a/ ; https://www.iadb.org/en/blog/urban-development-and-housing/mallorquin-swamp-natural-treasure-will-become-jewel-world-ecotourism ; https://nbi.iisd.org/report/savi-restoring-mallorquin-swamp-colombia/ ; https://aiph.org/green-city-case-studies/barranquilla-colombia-cienaga-de-mallorquin/

Space News

NASA Webb Telescope Captured Earliest Supernova Recorded So Far From Early Universe

This year, imaging taken by the James Webb telescope helped document one of the earliest observed supernovas following the big bang. Evidence of these fantastic events is rare from within the first billion years of the big bang, and this one was only from 730 million years after the universe formed. Since supernova explosions contribute to the spread of materials across the universe, through the formation of new elements that they create and the force with which they expel materials, they are important in tracing the evolution of all our universe, including to the formation of life on earth.

Sources: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/topic/supernovas-remnants ; https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-identifies-earliest-supernova-to-date-shows-host-galaxy/#hds-sidebar-nav-5 ; https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/topic/neutron-stars-and-white-dwarfs

Shorter Duration and Smaller Coverage Area of 2025 Hole in the Ozone Layer

The Ozone layer, one of the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, absorbs much of the ultraviolet light that hits our planet from the Sun. It keeps us safe from the damage this type of light can cause to the DNA and bodies of living organisms on our planet, from plants to human beings. Certain chemicals used by humans can cause this layer to thin, and in the 1980s this seasonal thinning, referred to as a hole in the Ozone layer, began to be observed and discussed more widely. Work to ban the chemicals that contribute to this thinning is showing progress, with this year marking one of the smallest and most fleeting appearances of the hole since its largest emergence in 2006. This year was the fifth smallest that the Ozone hole has been since the one in 1992, and 30% s maller than the one seen in 2006. This shows that the seasonal Ozone thinning is trending toward recovery.

Sources: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/world-of-change/ozone-hole/ ; https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-nasa-2025-ozone-hole-is-5th-smallest-since-1992 ; https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-early-ozone-hole-development-and-high-variability-2025

New Imaging Changes Understanding of Black Holes in Early Universe

Another extraordinary discovery in space was aided by the James Webb telescope this year–a super old, supermassive black hole. As the James Webb telescope has been imaging our universe over the past few years, it has illuminated never before noticed bits of the spatial landscape including what are called “little red dots.” These dots are possibly black hole stars. What is significant about this huge black hole is that there are hardly any stars circling it, which would show it may have formed from the collapse of a star as time passed. This one, though, doesn’t look like it sits at the center of its own ancient galaxy, instead it could have formed along a different timeline–even, perhaps, at the moment of the big bang. The true significance of this find is still yet to be determined, but this discovery makes space for theories about what the form of the earliest moments in our universe were, and the possibility of black holes developing before a surrounding galaxy.

Sources: https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-single-naked-black-hole-rewrites-the-history-of-the-universe-20250912/ ; https://www.science.org/content/article/early-universe-s-little-red-dots-may-be-black-hole-stars

A Grateful Look Back—and an Inspiring Path Forward

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:00:08 GMT

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.

Algae and the Midwest

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 19:21:53 GMT

Algae in Our Waterways

Who enjoys fishing? I know I do! Though, there is something almost every fisher or outdoor lover might have had cross their mind, “why is this water so full of algae?!” Algae can be both valuable and extremely frustrating for our environment. These diverse organisms are commonly green in color, with some forms being red or brown. Algae is a micro organism and lacks distinct cells and tissues. You can find algae growing on fresh water and salt water surfaces, damp walls, tree bark, and soil.

What’s so frustrating about algae? It’s a complicated relationship!

While algae is a staple organism within aquatic ecosystems, it can have varying effects on our environment around the world. Each one's effect on water ecosystems will vary with the types of species and amount present. Let’s first talk about single celled algae ! Made up of phytoplankton, this algae is commonly found to be a source of food for fish, zooplankton or other salt and freshwater organisms. How else can algae benefit our environments? Photosynthesis, Oxygen is essential to all life here on earth, and we wouldn't be here without it. An estimated 50% to 80% of oxygen on earth is produced from algae photosynthesis. That's outstanding, producing more air than all rainforests combined, talk about a fresh breath of air!

How does algae become harmful

We're at the point where you might be wondering “If algae is this good, then what is so complicated about it”? Good question, let’s talk about harmful algal blooms (HABs) . Here in the midwest we have varieties of algae providing food and habitat for many of our aquatic organisms. Unfortunately, algae aren’t always this amazing; algae can be very harmful to our environment and to ourselves when in large quantities.

Harmful blooms in the midwest can be formed of a certain type of algae called Blue-Green algae, containing bacteria called Cyanobacteria . Cyanobacteria is a type of bacteria that can gain biological energy through photosynthesis, and its overgrowth caused by nitrification can lead to toxic algal blooms. These damaging algal blooms create byproducts during oxygen consumption that are toxic to wildlife and humans labeled as Cyanotoxians . But what makes this byproduct so toxic? When algae grows and produces at excessive rates, the byproduct “Cyanotoxians” becomes more concentrated within the water. High concentrations of these toxins can lead to harmful situations for wildlife including low water oxygen levels Hypoxia, and water acidification that can be fatal for even the heartiest species.

How do these blooms occur, and what forms can they take?

Algae blooms can form for many different reasons. For example, our midwestern blooms can be caused by excess nutrients or pollutants available to the algae. Elevated levels of nutrients present is commonly referred to as “nitrification”. Nutrification happens when nutrients and pollutants make their way into our water systems upstream moving downstream, sourced from storm water and wastewater runoff, human activities, fossil fuels, and infiltrations. Ultimately, these nutrients feed the algae and bacteria causing the overgrowth. Blooms are not identical and can vary in type, size, and color, though commonly are pea soup-like, as if the water were dyed green and made thick like paint.

Midwestern Algae blooms

Focusing back onto the midwest, during August 2014, scientists noticed a Blue-Green algal outbreak on Lake Erie. High levels of Cyanobacteria caused Toledo, Ohio officials to enforce a total ban on drinking water to over 400,000 of its residents . Toledo grocery stores found themselves servicing residents who have driven hours from their homes to find bottled water, with some residents finding empty shelves! Lasting three days, this situation caused national guard involvement, lasting water insecurity, and news headlines. Lake Erie’s story is not one of coincidence, midwestern waterways that are at high risk of blooms are the totality of our Great Lakes “Erie, Michigan, Huron, Ontario, and Superior.

Blooming events like these beyond the Great Lakes have since become increasingly more common in rivers, creeks, and ponds. Residential neighborhoods and parks with waterway access have seen increases in environmental damage caused by these toxic algal blooms, becoming costly to states, residents, and our environment.

Hitting close to home, a major river at risk of rising algal blooms is the Mississippi River. One of our largest rivers here in the United States, connecting 32 states to the Gulf of Mexico’s Dead Zone . Dead zones are places where bacteria use oxygen to consume excess nutrients, causing low oxygen levels (hypoxia). Rises in nutrients ( Nitrification ) can lead to the rise of harmful algal blooms, both in the midwest and coastally. Midwesterners are seeing outbreaks along the Mississippi River , including the Upper Illinois River upstream from Starved Rock dam in 2018 and 2020. Other locations branching off of the Mississippi river are also seeing rising blooms, such as the Rock River. 27wkow released an article July 25th 2023 stating the Rock County Public Health Department found Blue-Green algae in Rock County waters, our very backyard! This led to Rock Co Health issuing warnings for affected water and sensitivities, additionally increasing testing of local aquatic areas.

Algal blooms around the world

Often blooms in the midwest occur in shallow, warm, pollutant and nutrient rich water. Tropical algal blooms are different in comparison forming in various depths. However, global saltwater blooms are caused by Cyanobacteria present in both scenarios. Differences do exist for oceanic environments, with the addition of nutrients carried from the Sahara desert into the North Atlantic. Oceanic algal blooms are unique and can be caused by sargassum, a seaweed labeled as a brown algae which floats in large masses across the ocean. Sargassum is different from Blue-Green algae. Oceanic blooms are present through symbiotic relations held by both the sargassum and cyanobacteria present. Increased phosphorus available to cyanobacteria is caused by strong atmospheric winds sargassum is exposed to in open ocean, in return bacteria capture atmospheric nitrogen and convert it, using a process called nitrogen fixation. Cyanobacteria in return further colonize the Sargassum, where then sargassum will benefit from additional nitrogen produced.

You may have noticed Sargassum washed up on beaches when traveling to tropical environments. These blooms are becoming more common, causing major issues during decomposition. Sargassum that is decomposing is not only a horrible smell, it's an accumulation of nitrogen, sulfur, and ammonia caused by the decomposing Cyanobacteria that can ultimately lead to dead zones. Oceanic dead zones are important to monitor and mitigate due to marine life health and loss of fish populations that hurt our environment and fishing industries.

Algae bloom Interventions

Harmful blooms cost the government an estimated $64 million per year on restoration, conservation, surveying, data analysis, and mitigations. Involving state and federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Public Health, which act as resources regarding blooms. The Environmental Protection Agency monitors and reports data regarding blooms having report forms and data publicly available, while the Department of Public health works with algal safety concerns and procedures.

NASA is another agency hard at work performing algal research and mitigation, utilizing satellite imaging to monitor outbreaks . NASA’s goals to transfer data into a mobile application will allow the public, officials, and scientists to track water quality on a national scale. Satellites will work to obtain data by detecting chlorophyll and fluorescent light emitted by cyanobacteria in these harmful blooms, where scientists will then have the job of analyzing the data to be submitted into a mobile app called Cyan App . NASA Admin Charles Bolden commented on this success in 2023 mentioning “We're excited to be putting NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration to work protecting public health and safety". Years after NASA’s statement, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) released a statement regarding harmful bloom variabilities, noting that the upper Mississippi River is at highest risk. Additionally, while mitigations are in place, there is still no consistent monitoring approach present in the U.S., especially in rivers.

NASA satellite captured image of toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie on August 3, 2014

What can we do in the meantime?

When big issues arise it's normal for us to feel overwhelmed on how we can help, but there’s much we can do! Individually, we can begin to be mindful about the products we use and activities we do in the environment, checking a product or activities environmental safety is a huge step in keeping waterways safe. Some farms across the midwest have even implemented efforts to improve community water quality such as filter strips, grassed waterways, wildlife planning, and nutrient management plans. While our governments and scientists begin to introduce water safety management plans, and further research of bloom benefits. Positive benefits being researched include uses in biofuel, superfoods (spurlina), fertilizers, oxygen farming, and carbon sinks.

Even with mitigations in place, these blooms are still occurring and happening fast. Here are some great ways to keep you and your family safe if a bloom occurs near you!

Avoid contact with discolored water often layered with scum or foam, if contact occurs wash yourself off as soon as possible. Note children and pets are at high risk.
Be mindful of your water intake source, and never drink untreated water from any waterway or eat fish from affected bloom areas, and be alert of new updates on your waterways.

Our waterways both locally and globally are unimaginably valuable and vulnerable, affecting and shaping our environment, economy, and communities worldwide. Knowledge of how algae is a powerful plant is important for both its’ poor and adequate ways it interacts with our ecosystems. Rising issues such as (HAB) blooms, are a clear indication of our local and global waterway health, that we as a community can and are doing something about together!

2025 in Photos

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 20:01:02 GMT

At the end of each December, I always find myself reading article after article detailing a "Year in Photos." In a world currently plagued by AI created content, these photos are raw examples of the human experience this year has offered to us.

Here at Severson Dells, we collect photos of our human experience in nature. For some, nature is a place that allow us to develop deeper human relationships through a shared love of the natural world. For others, it is our own personal experience with nature that provides definition to our own sense of humanity. Either way, these photos hold the memories we all have made in this beautiful space.

In the spirit of reflection, I've asked staff to submit their favorite photos from 2025. Below are their submissions.

"I love this picture because it captures the heart of the curiosity and interest kids innately bring to natural spaces, reminding us all to wonder about even the smallest things." - submission by Olivia Price, AmeriCorps Environmental Education

"I took this photo on our fall colors hike - I didn't even realize the bee was facing the camera until later on! Liz had spotted the two bees sleeping on some flowers as we were walking through the prairie. It was a great evening with practically perfect weather and the group we went out with were awesome too." - submission by Caroline Pacheco, AmeriCorps Environmental Education

" To me, there is immense power in multi-generational learning. This photo perfectly describes just that. The wonder in the eyes of these Science Saturday attendees is all the reason we need to keep offering nature education programs to our community." - submitted by Becca Rankins, Community Engagement Manager

"I chose this picture because it reflects the exciting connections students form with nature at Severson Dells, and experiences like this help shape the future scientists of the world!" - submitted by Lauren Bonovia, AmeriCorps Environmental Education

"Pastries and Perseids was one of my highlights of the year. Spending the pre-dawn hours with folks was a magical time--especially because we had never tried a program like this before. Watching meteors, watching the sunrise over the prairie, and forming connections with folks over an early morning pastry was really special." - submitted by Liz Wiener, Public Programs Coordinator

"This is my favorite image from this year. I enjoy this image because the snake is laying on a cloud made of algae, and looks so comfy. Snakes , to me , bring the meaning of perseverance. Existing both on land and in water this organism shows growth, bravery, and adaptability across different challenges and environment's posed." - submitted by Caedyn Wells, AmeriCorps Community Science

"These are two of our Restoration Workday volunteers who helped us plant hundreds of native flowers and grasses in the Rockford Public Library Pollinator Garden. We all shared a sense of exuberance that day! Strangers coming together to restore land that is right in the heart of Rockford, next to the iconic Rock River, on display for thousands of people to learn from an enjoy? You can't get much better than that!" - submitted by Andrea Wallace Noble, Education Programs Manager

" This is my favorite photo because it embodies so much about what makes summer camp so special at Severson. The kiddos were totally engaged in this 'ephemeral art' activity where they made art based on things they find in nature then let it blow away once they finished! I loved watching their creativity run wild while still being so connected to nature." - submitted by Elly Salazar, School Programs Coordinator

"I love this picture of Severson Dells because it reminds me how peaceful and calm nature is. It also reminds me that the light will return as we pass through a dark season." - submitted by Linda Sandquist, Director of Development

Each photo submitted is a different experience we each had at Severson Dells this year. With 13,000 people served this year (and presumably many more who we weren't able to add to our count) , we're sure each one of you have your own Severson Dells experience, your own moments, your own connections with the natural world.

We're so grateful you've chosen to create memories with us this year, and we hope you'll join us in the years to come.

Let's Go! Getting Teens Outside

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 14:39:28 GMT

I grew up with stories from my parents about how they would spend their teenage years out until the streetlights came on, and that at ten o’clock a celebrity would come on television to ask adults, “Do you know where your children are?” I spent my own teen years riding my bike everywhere: the library, the pool, playing chicken with four lanes of traffic to go to the ice cream shop. I could easily walk to the park and meet up with friends and not worry about anything but a sunburn. But as technology advances, the cultural prevalence of true crime heightens, and urban sprawl increases, teens are spending less time outside interacting with nature.

What is stopping teens from exploring the outdoors?

Daily life has become inundated with technology and social media and it can be harder to find time (or the will power) to go outside. Part of growing up is an increased desire to spend time with friends versus family as you develop a stronger sense of identity. Social media is an easy means for teens to reach out to their peers and seek validation and camaraderie. Teens also desire a higher level of independence as part of their brain development. A need for independence and increased time spent with friends does lead to a general drop off of time spent in nature.

There are many factors that go into whether or not your teen wants to spend time outdoors. Access to the outdoors or nature plays a big part. Unless teens are able to have a means of transportation, it can be hard to access genuine outdoor spaces without relying on others (and your teen wants to be independent so asking for a ride from a parent is so unappealing). This issue increases for teens in urban areas where green spaces are a limited commodity, or neglected by the community, and they may have to travel to other neighborhoods to access quality spaces.

Why is the outdoors beneficial for teens?

Adolescents are going through a lot socially, physically, and cognitively. This is around the age where people really begin to understand abstract concepts and start being able to understand other people’s perspectives. Because this time is when a teen starts noticing people and their thoughts, it’s also when teens start becoming very self aware particularly of what others think of them. Spending time outside and away from the pressures of ‘being your best self’ allows teens to find stress relief; the physical distance between their problems and them leads to a mental distancing as well. This independent time in nature also allows your teen to practice dealing with risky situations, leading to them building skills to handle adversity, stress, and advocating for themselves.

Studies have shown that teens do think that going outside is beneficial to their physical and mental health, and that most think they should spend more time outside. Teens have reported several barriers to their time outdoors including academic and social schedules constraining available time. When teens do find themselves in green spaces, which they most commonly defined as having trees, 51% of participants in a study said that it brought them a sense of peace and 30% said it made them feel happier and refreshed. Spending time outdoors naturally leads to more movement which can improve physical health and build a strong foundation of physical activity into a teen’s adult years.

How do I get my teen outside?

The type of activities teens are interested in also have an impact on the time they spend outdoors. If your teen likes swimming, but doesn’t have access to an indoor pool in December, there’s a big chance that they’re not going to be as active as they would be in the summer. Making sure that teens have access and opportunity to do the activities they enjoy is key in motivating them to get outdoors. If your teen isn’t the sports type, encourage them to do whatever it is they like and do it outdoors - reading, art, listening to music, playing on their Nintendo Switch - even a small change in location of their activity can shift your teen’s mindset to spending more time outdoors. The important part is to be outside - the first step is always the most significant and further habits can be built from there.

Dealing with teens can feel like an uphill battle. The key to understanding them is knowing that teens want independence and that they are very aware of what others think of them, even total strangers. Encouraging teens to spend time outdoors, by themselves or with others, is a great way for teens to get experience in taking risks and understanding natural consequences. Through this teens can build resilience and good habits that will follow them into adulthood.

Sources Used:

Robinson, J. M., & Barrable, A. (2023). Optimising Early Childhood Educational Settings for Health Using Nature-Based Solutions: The Microbiome Aspect. Education Sciences, 13(2), 211. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13020211

Riikka Puhakka (2025) Effects of an Outdoor Adventure on Adolescents’ Well-Being and Nature Connection—a Comparison With a Drama Workshop, Leisure Sciences, DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2025.2493833

Fromel, K., Kudlacek, M., Groffik, D., Svozil, Z., Simunek, A., & Garbaciak, W. (2017). Promoting Healthy Lifestyle and Well-Being in Adolescents through Outdoor Physical Activity. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(5), 533. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14050533

Wang, B., Zhao, B., Han, C., Tang, Y., Jin, C., (2024). Harnessing the power of nature exposure to mitigate adolescents' Internet addiction: A chain mediation model. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 42(4), 566-582. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12516

Callahan, Alice (2023). Improving Teen Lives with a Breath of Fresh Air. University of Oregon. https://news.uoregon.edu/improving-teen-lives-breath-fresh-air

How a Walk in the Woods Can Change the World

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 22:16:28 GMT

The Profound Power of Aesthetic and Sensory Delight in Natural Spaces to Change Our Relationship to the Environment

On the week of the first snow of the season I walked into the woods during the middle of the day, the sun high and the trees bowing, snow bright over the undergrowth and white up the trunks, the faint musty smell that hangs above the grounded late fall leaf decay still lingering.

I craned my neck upward to see the branches dance, responding to the strengthening sound of those brown leaves which still remained hanging moving against each other, spurred on by the wind, the same wind I felt sharp and cold and strange against my fingers. I had been held in quiet attention to the sound since I walked out the door of the nature center, practicing without effort what is sometimes known as involuntary attention, which is thought to be engaged by time spent immersed in natural spaces ( Kaplan ; Schertz, Bergman ). There is support, in fact, for contact with nature such as this generally strengthening attentive capacity, and improving cognitive ability in a variety of ways, such as memory recall ( Schertz, Bergman ; Bratman et al. ).

As I continued my walk, looking up at these nearly wintering trees, I curiously followed the spindly paths of their bare branches, which progressed into small and smaller brown iterations(versions) of their central, sturdy trunks. These progressions of patterned forms into smaller and smaller scales, also known as fractals, are abundant in dense natural ecosystems, and have been shown to soothe stress in humans when we gaze at them (“ Fractals in Nature ”; “ Fractals in psychology and art ”; Taylor et al. ).

Recent theories suggest that they create such aesthetic enjoyment due to their compatibility with the patterns of human visual processing in the brain, saying essentially that our bodies may have evolved to feel comfortable and relaxed by having fractals in our environment. There is now even research suggesting that these effects may go beyond the visual, and that naturally occurring fractal forms are present in some of the sounds we can hear or objects we can touch in our natural ecosystems as well, providing a myriad of calming sensory effects (“ Fractals in psychology and art ”; Taylor et al. ).

As my gaze fell back down eastward, it caught for a moment straight out, at the places between the fuzzy textures of the tree tops and forest floor, enjoying the windows created between trunks. Being in a place with trees positioned just so, with their bark-split brown bodies placed an average of 3 meters away from each other (called medium-density) has been shown to relax humans both physically and psychologically( Ramanpong et al. ).

I continued moving beneath their canopy down the path, looking down at my cold hands, flexing them, seeing through my chilly skin the fractal shape of my own blood vessels, becoming an object of my own natural observations. I recalled a child asking me some weeks ago on a hike, at about this same place on the path, if humans are a part of nature. Yes , was my answer, one often forgotten where it sits embedded at the roots of humanity’s modern relationship to the planet.

Anecdotally, I know many children and adults–myself included–have this question tumbling through our heads, as we all try to make sense of our physical realities (from rural to urban to everywhere in between) in places heavily altered by human activity, both active and passive

Just then I felt the sun hit my face through the branches, its bright rays touching my skin in warm patches, bringing a smile to my cheeks. I love the way the sun feels in any season. I reached down then where I stood and picked up a twig, its rich dark wood covered in circled patches of yellow and turquoise lichen, woven with vibrant green moss, moss which was soft under my fingers.

Staring into this small, tubed pile of life in my hands brought me such enjoyment, the chorusing colors satisfying something nameless in me. Such aesthetic and sensory joy I felt from these colors and textures seems akin to the one scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer writes of as being her impetus to study biology–her youthful staring at wildflowers kindling in her the question: why do the astor and goldenrod look so good together? (Kimmerer)

All of these sensory delights also brought to mind a discussion I’d had with students visiting the

nature center on a recent field trip, while they were building forts made of tree branches. One group commented that their fort was better than the other because it was designed to ensure primarily the security and safety of its inhabitants, in comparison to the goal of the other group, who explained the reasoning behind their construction choices as “because it looked nice”.

I chatted with the students about this comment, suggesting that maybe a difference in values, one of safety, and the other aesthetics, rather than poor design choices, were really what lie behind their differing fort designs.

Later, though, I reflected on how I knew, with such conviction to explain to kids, that aesthetics were a value just as deserving of that label as something so easily recognizable as important to effective human manipulation of our environment as safety. This reflection brought up a more fundamental one–why is aesthetic and sensory enjoyment worth indulging at all in regard to our natural places, especially when, in our time there are such visible scars of human whim cut into more-than-human living systems across the globe.

There are, as we explored earlier, obvious benefits to human immersion in natural ecosystems found in its profound positive impacts on our physical and psychological health. Why, though, does this time in nature, and within it our indulgence of seemingly frivolous aesthetic and sensory joys (such as staring gleefully at bright orange lichen, stopping to touch cool creek water, reflecting for a moment longer on how good the sun feels on skin, listening to faint bird song, running a hand over the messy forest floor) matter on more than the scale of an individual, self-focused pursuit of health? How could pursuing enjoyment in natural systems ever be beneficial to anyone or anything other than ourselves?

For one, it is, as Kimmerer imparts in her own indulgence of visual aesthetic delight looking at flower coloring, a new way of asking questions that can further collective ecological understanding.

Following our aesthetic and sensory enjoyment in nature can take us to other places, too. To better contextualize where we’re headed, let’s first take a moment to look at what joy really is. What does it mean for one to enjoy or take delight in something? According to the American Psychological Association, joy is “a feeling of extreme gladness, delight, or exultation of the spirit arising from a sense of well-being or satisfaction,” and enjoyment is “a perception of great pleasure and happiness brought on by success in or simple satisfaction with an activity”(“ Joy ”, “ Enjoyment ”).

What joy is and why it’s valuable is also something meditated on by many contemporary social thinkers, such as author and gardener Ross Gay. Reflecting on his writings in The Book of Delights , where he wrote a short essay on something which brought him joy each day for a year, he shared, “...to me, joy has nothing to do with ease. And joy has everything to do with the fact that we’re all going to die. That’s actually — when I’m thinking about joy, I’m thinking about that at the same time as something wonderful is happening, some connection is being made in my life, we are also in the process of dying. That is every moment. That is every moment”(“ On the Insistence of Joy ”). Gay believes joy is not out of reach during times of struggle, and may even be integral to our experience of it.

Joy is not taken in delusion to reality, but entangled within it–a particularly notable definition when considered in regard to our modern experience of natural systems, about which we are likely also experiencing a level of grief.

Another author, Adrienne Maree Brown, also thinks much about the profound societal shaping power of enjoyment: ““Laughter is important. Joy is important. It’s not a guilty pleasure, it is a strategic move towards the future we all need to create. One in which our children are laughing, our children are free. They can go wherever they need to go. There are no borders holding them. That is what I am living and loving for”(“ Holding on to Joy ”). The idea that Brown presents here, that taking joy can be a first step toward positive change, is connected to Gay’s: things don’t have to be going perfectly in the world for us to experience enjoyment within it, and in fact the joy itself can inform us–by teaching us what good, joyful existence feels like, looks like, acts like–about how to move through challenging times.

It does this by providing a direction toward an envisioned future, a vision learned through feeling sensory and aesthetic delight (for example, a part of the envisioned future I have imagined through my own joyful experiences is one where a child could leave for school in the morning and see the soothing shapes of dense, mature trees, and the sound of cars is quiet enough that they can hear the leaves in the canopy sway). The more we know what joy feels like, the more it becomes a part of how we understand our realities and imagine what’s possible.

These ideas are coming not only from philosophy and sociology–there is also emerging scientific research that supports the idea that sensory experience and enjoyment in nature is connected to our relationship to the environment, and subsequently our positive behaviors to care for it.

In one study, researchers in the Abancay area of Apurimac, Peru, demonstrated how sensory, and emotional experience (aesthetic perception included) are a part of people’s formation and description of their relationship to the natural world( Pramova et al. ). Other studies have found positive correlations between time spent in and exposure to nature and proenvironmental behaviors generally( Alcock et al. ; Whitburn et al .). Lastly, researchers in Badaling National Forest Park in China, found that people’s proenvironmental behaviors were positively correlated specifically to their sensory experience in natural ecosystems(sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). Experiences of nature, positive emotions, and feelings of attachment to the place all were a part of this sensory experience transforming into proenvironmental behavior( Yu, Zhou, and Tan ).

This body of thought and research points back to the idea that sensory and aesthetic experiences in nature are valuable, not just as a means for one individual to experience enjoyment or good health, but also as a critical foundation for proenvironmental behavior, the kind of behavior that has profound positive implications for all living systems.

To find what we enjoy in nature, to explore the natural world through our senses, can actually be the starting point for positive, collective restructuring of our relationship to the environment broadly. It can maybe feel frivolous or even harmful to get in touch with our sense of delight as a way to engage with natural places, or perhaps it feels like there is no point in being immersed in and getting to know a world already so affected by large-scale ecological changes. Learning how to care for and respect natural systems, though, is something that can only happen if we get to know them.

If we know them, we regain our understanding of how to be mindful of them. As humans, it is not our enjoyment of nature we have to fear for our long-term planetary health, but rather our forgetting that it is our birthright as living beings on this planet to take delight in and enjoy enmeshed relationships with all other life.

Bibliography

https://backend.production.deepblue-documents.lib.umich.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/5feb1395-53cb-4712-b82e-feaf75e81be0/content
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721419854100
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903
https://www.mindfulecotourism.com/fractals-in-nature/
https://blogs.uoregon.edu/richardtaylor/2016/02/03/human-physiological-responses-to-fractals-in-nature-and-art/
https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/e/12535/files/2024/04/978-3-031-47606-8_45-930c4fed1c89f1c2.pdf
https://dictionary.apa.org/joy
https://dictionary.apa.org/enjoyment
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266671932400058X
Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass . Milkweed Editions.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S161713812500281X#b0215
https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/521/holding-on-to-joy
https://onbeing.org/programs/ross-gay-on-the-insistence-of-joy/
Gay, R. (2022). The book of delights. First paperback edition. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10286
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019313492?via%3Dihub
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916517751009

Background Knowledge

Lions, Tigers, and... Waterbears? Oh, my!

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 02:07:01 GMT

Microscopic Nature at Severson Dells

When people think of nature and animals, our brains typically go to the big things we can see: mammals, birds, trees, plants. But what if we shrunk way down and looked a little (or a lot) closer?

What you will find is a world teeming with life, just like our own. A ‘soil biological community’ refers to all living things found in our soils. For the sake of this blog, we will break that down into 2 groups: macrofauna ( bigger small things) and microorganisms ( smaller small things). The different members of this community collectively improve soil health through processes like decontamination of pollutants and remediation, biological defense from pests and disease, soil aggregation or modification of soil structure, decomposition, elemental cycling, nutrient availability and mineralization, biofertilization, water filtration, gas exchange, carbon sequestration, and food web participation.

Soil macrofauna are things that we may be able to see with our eyes under the right conditions, such as earthworms, beetles, mites, springtails, spiders, as well as nematodes, and other microinvertebrates. Imagine what you might see when you flip over a rock.

Even teenier are microorganisms , or microbes : living beings that are too small for us to see with our naked eye. These include all sorts of funky things - such as protists, viruses, archaea, bacteria, and fungi. It is estimated that in 1 teaspoon of soil - specifically in highly productive soil like topsoil or around plant roots - you can find billions of microorganisms. This estimate is even considered to be low because we have only discovered a small window into this complex microscopic realm. These organisms live on nearly every surface in the world, including humans!

It’s a party! Humans have important ‘roommates’ that live primarily on our skin and in our stomachs. These organisms have very special jobs that keep our skin healthy and safe from bad germs, as well as help us digest our food by breaking it down further. Now, this may sound a little bizarre, but these guys have an important role in keeping us healthy and are necessary to keep around. The bacteria, fungi and other beings on our skin are referred to as our microbiota, and together they make up our microbiome. Sometimes microscopic organisms cohabitating with humans can make us sick . These include pathogenic parasites, viruses and bacteria - so remember to wash your hands well! Some can make plants and animals sick, too.

Each of these unique organisms has a unique role, and this can change drastically based on different conditions like temperature, moisture, pH, oxygen levels, nutrient availability, salinity , and soil texture. The types and relative amounts of different soil microbes can be a helpful indicator of soil condition and overall health.

Tardigrades

Nematodes

Fungi & Mycorrhiza

When most people think of mushrooms, they picture the classic stem and cap, or what makes up the ‘fruiting body’ of fungi. But do you know what’s happening beneath the surface? Underground, fungi have root-like strands called hyphae and mycelium that form a mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationship with the plant and tree roots around them. This is collectively called a mycorrhizal network, and this helps plants and fungi to share resources like nutrients and water. In that same teaspoon of healthy soil we were talking about earlier, it is estimated there are hundreds of yards or even miles of mycelium present. There is ongoing research into this network and its ability to help plants communicate with each other about disease, pests, and drought.

Not only does mycorrhiza help plants and fungi to share resources, but it improves soil health through aggregation of soil particles in its hyphal netting and the production of a glue-like substance called glomalin . Fungi are important decomposers of wood and other organic materials aiding in nutrient cycling and availability. Fungi encompasses a broad group of organisms like yeasts and molds that reproduce via microscopic spores.

Fun fact! The Illinois state microbe is Penicillium rubens , the species of mold that produces the antibiotic penicillin. It was found by Mary Hunt growing on a moldy cantaloupe in Peoria in 1928.

Moss & Lichen

To us, moss and lichen probably seem pretty small - after all most of them are. However, they make up a complex ecosystem of microbial life that resembles our familiar tree-filled forests and the wildlife inhabiting them. Mosses are functionally simplified plants , with roots and leaves, but lack some key parts that true vascular plants have, like the xylem and phloem. Still, they effectively regulate ‘surface microclimates’ - influencing soil temperature and moisture to support other life and improve soil health by ingesting water from the atmosphere. Mosses also aid in soil stability by reducing bare and exposed soil.

To compound their microscopic nature, mosses reproduce via spores so small that scientists measure them in nanometers and must view them under microscopes. These tiny particles, depending on the species of moss, can be released by the millions !

Take aways?

An abundance of microscopic organisms and unique lifeforms call Severson Dells home - from our pond, to the soil under our forest, to the rich prairie earth. Thriving ecosystems contain a myriad of life that promote plant growth, nutrient cycling, soil stability, and carbon storage, which in turn improves the overall health of the planet. These critically important creatures live right below our noses, and often go unnoticed and un-thought of, but all forms of life depend on the services they provide and scientists are learning more about them every day.

Healthy soils benefit everyone!

Sources:

Soil Macrofauna https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/soil-macrofauna

Soil Biota in Orchards

https://treefruit.wsu.edu/orchard-management/soils-nutrition/soil-biota/

Understanding Soil Microbes and Nutrient Recycling

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/SAG-16

Soil Microbiology in Nebraska

https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g2327/2020/html/view

Role of Nematodes in Soil Health and Their Use as Indicators

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2620512/pdf/161.pdf

Important soil microbiota's effects on plants and soils: a comprehensive 30-year systematic literature review

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10999704/

Michigan Extension: nematodes beneficial or harmful?

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/are_soil_nematodes_beneficial_or_harmful

Why mosses are vital for the health of our soil and Earth https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2023/05/why-mosses-are-vital-for-the-health-of-our-soil-and-earth

Mycorrhizal ecology and evolution: the past, the present, and the future

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.13288

Tree and Plant Communication: common mycorrhizal networks

https://www.nps.gov/articles/species-spotlight-tree-and-plant-communication.htm

Tardigrade

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/tardigrade

Tardigrades of North America: An Historical Collection from Kansas and Missouri

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20476313?read-now=1&seq=8#page_scan_tab_contents

Interview with forestry ecologist Suzanne Simard

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/04/993430007/trees-talk-to-each-other-mother-tree-ecologist-hears-lessons-for-people-too

Inter-plant communication through mycorrhizal networks mediates complex adaptive behaviour in plant communities

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4497361/

Plant communication: do trees really talk to each other?

https://www.interesjournals.org/articles/plant-communication-do-trees-really-talk-to-each-other.pdf

The secret society of soil

https://www.chicagobotanic.org/blog/plant-science-conservation/secret-society-soil

Soils & Organisms

https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/sidney-mt/northern-plains-agricultural-research-laboratory/nparl-docs/just-for-kids/soils-organisms/

What are Nematodes? Their role in compost, soil health, and farming

https://onlineentomology.ifas.ufl.edu/about/entomology-articles/what-are-nematodes-their-role-in-compost-soil-health-and-farming/

Secrets of Soil: Exploring the Microbiome and its Applications

https://www.sciencesocieties.org/publications/csa-news/Secrets-of-Soil?q=publications/csa-news/Secrets-of-Soil/

Soil Nematodes

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/soil-nematodes

Protecting Illinois Wetlands and Why It Matters

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 15:00:42 GMT

If you haven’t yet seen the news, there are some very significant pending policy shifts regarding the protection of wetlands in Illinois and across the United States. These are changes we must understand together, because they affect the limited fragile wetlands that remain in Illinois.

The Federal Shift: Narrowing the Scope of the Clean Water Act

At the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new rule that would dramatically restrict what counts as a federally-protected “wetland” under the Clean Water Act.

Here are some of the key elements:

The new definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) would confine protections to relatively permanent bodies of water (rivers, lakes, oceans) and those wetlands with a continuous surface connection to such waters. ( Federal Register )
Seasonal, intermittent, or groundwater-flow-connected wetlands would be excluded from federal oversight. ( Restore America's Estuaries )
The change builds on a 2023 Sackett v. EPA Supreme Court decision, which held that only wetlands with a continuous surface connection to navigable waters are covered. ( Natural Resources Defense Council )

Environmental groups warn that the change could strip federal protections from tens of millions of acres of wetlands nationwide , including many in the Midwest and Great Lakes region. ( WWNO )

Why this matters for Illinois:

Illinois has already lost an overwhelming share of its original wetlands — estimates show we’ve lost roughly 90 % of historic wetland acreage. ( Illinois Environmental Council )
With federal protection being narrowed, the remaining wetlands (many of which are small, seasonal, or connected via groundwater) face heightened risk of degradation, filling, or alteration.
Wetlands serve vital roles: filtering water, slowing storm runoff, providing habitat, and buffering against flood and climate impacts. This is why Severson Dells is restoring the creek and wetland at the old Elliot Golf Course.

The Illinois Response: A Proposed State-Level Bill

Recognizing the growing protection gap, conservation partners in Illinois are pushing a new state-legislation framework to fill in the gaps:

The Wetlands and Small Stream Protection Act was introduced by Laura Ellman (Senator) & Anna Moeller (Representative) in 2024 as a direct response to the federal rollback. ( Illinois Environmental Council )
Its aim: “to codify state-level wetlands protections and processes to safeguard these sensitive, but highly functioning ecosystems.” ( Illinois Environmental Council )
The proposed law would set state-standards for wetlands and small streams, especially those not covered by federal rule, and strengthen Illinois’ ability to regulate, restore, or offset impacts.

What this means for us and for future-looking conservation:

By closing the regulatory gap within Illinois, the bill ensures that smaller wetlands, many of which lie in and around our forest-preserve systems and natural-area corridors, aren’t simply left vulnerable.
It empowers local and state agencies, as well as land trusts, to take action even if the federal government steps back.

Why Illinois Must Act

As a community, here’s why protecting wetlands matters so deeply:

Ecosystem services : Wetlands act as natural filters, removing pollutants and sediments before they reach rivers and lakes. That benefits water quality for all residents. ( Environment America )
Flood resilience and stormwater control : Especially in Illinois’ flat terrain, wetlands absorb and slow down high-water flows. When wetlands are lost or degraded, downstream communities face higher flood risk.
Biodiversity and habitat : Many species we care about — amphibians, reptiles like the Blanding’s turtle, migratory birds — rely on wetlands. Protecting these places helps safeguard them. ( Environment America )
Climate adaptation : Intact wetland systems help landscapes adapt to shifting rainfall patterns, heavy storms, and seasonal extremes. Cutting protections now undermines that resilience.

What You Can Do

Here are some actions to take to protect wetlands:

Reach out to your legislators : Encourage them to support the Wetlands and Small Stream Protection Act in Illinois- HB3596 / SB2401 . A strong message shows elected officials this issue matters. Reach out to your legislators through the Illinois Environmental Council
Stay informed : The federal comment period is open for the new EPA rule redefining WOTUS. Consider submitting a comment on the EPA’s website . The public comment period closes on January 5, 2026
Educate others : Please share information about the EPA rule change and the pending Illinois legislation and help your community better understand how policy shifts will affect our local watersheds.

Looking Ahead

Wetlands aren’t “nice extras”, they’re foundational to healthy landscapes, resilient water systems, and robust wildlife communities. With federal protections narrowing and the responsibility increasingly shifting to states, it is important that Illinois have strong protections in place to protect the few remaining wetlands left across the state.

Our shared future in Illinois depends on the choices that are made now. If we allow this moment of regulatory transition to pass without asserting strong conservation leadership, we risk watching more wetlands disappear. But if we rise to the challenge, we can help ensure that Illinois’ remaining wetlands and the services they provide remain intact for decades to come.

Sources:

Holiday Sustainability

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 22:21:38 GMT

The winter holiday season is right around the corner. You may be seeing an influx of “BUY THIS” ads across your social media and talks of “50% off” while listening to your radio. Stores now have giant displays of wrapping paper with trending pop culture icons and entire quadrants dedicated to the newest, trendiest decor. All of these elements might have you thinking, “is this really sustainable?” The answer: sometimes, but there may be options for a different, more sustainable holiday season.

There are many ways to increase the sustainability of the holiday season, and often, these methods have more benefits than just being environmentally friendly. Shopping locally, considering alternative gifts, utilizing sustainable wrapping, and crafting decor can all make an impact.

Shop Local

section by Caedyn Wells

Shopping locally is impactful in environmental sustainability by reducing transportation miles, local animal preservation, food waste reduction, green initiatives, and even more. Through these actions not only are you giving back to your environment, you’re also giving back back to your community!

Here are some ways you can start shopping locally and support sustainable businesses! Next time you're shopping, think to yourself, "could I purchase that item at a local community owned store?” There are many great sustainable stores around not far from Severson Dells. Here are some options!

You can shop local here:

Rooted
Promoting sustainability with diverse products. Open Wednesday through Sunday with varying hours.
Rockford Art Deli
Sustainably sourced clothing, with apparel made partly of recycled water bottles .
Bushel and Pecks
locally sourced grocery store based in Beloit, WI with an added cafe open from 11am to 2pm. Hours range from Tuesday 10am to 6pm, and Saturday to Sunday 9am to 5pm.
Severson Dells Nature Center Gift Shop
Wide variety of locally sourced products sold at our amazing nature center gift shop. Open from 8am to 4:30pm Monday through Saturday.

Alternative Gifts

section by Caroline Pacheco

Giving gifts to people we care about can be hard, especially when you’re trying to keep ahold of all the considerations - budget, what the person likes, how much time you have left to get it, and, of course, is the gift sustainable or just another piece of junk that’s going to end up in a landfill at the end of the month. There are lots of options out there for sustainable or eco-friendly gift giving and you’re sure to check off everyone on your list. Alternative gifts are a great way to be sustainable this holiday season. Here are some things to consider:

If the gift recipient has a specific item on their list or isn’t environmentally minded, consider buying an eco-friendly version or a higher quality that will last longer.
Buying treats that people don’t usually get for themselves is a great option, this time of year there are lots of items that have a limited availability. Local sweets and treats or something you made adds a thoughtful or sentimental aspect to the gift as well. I whip out the family recipes that don’t get used very often and give those away and they’re always a hit.
As we’ve gotten older, my mom has switched to getting us experiences for gifts ; this has included gift certificates for spa days and tickets to theatre shows and concerts. Vouchers to the “fancy” car wash are also great especially for coworkers as our cars get coated in salt during the winter season.
For kids, consider buying swim lessons or a membership to a zoo or museum. As teens my sisters got passes for the rides at the state fair every year, they spent the whole week going on every ride with their friends and the passes were a great money saver. Season passes to a local amusement park or pool is also a great choice as they’re usually cheaper during the winter months.
If the kids you’re shopping for are more into the joy of unwrapping, another thing to consider is safety equipment, such as life vests or bike helmets, as it’s important to get high quality, but kids also quickly outgrow them.
DIY’ing your gifts this year may be the way to go.
Air dry clay is usually readily available - or can even be made at home - and can be used to make all sorts of things including jewelry trays, ornaments, candle holders, and more.
You can also make bookmarks or body scrubs with things you probably already have in the house.
If you are more craft inclined consider embroidering tea towels or making lavender sachets (using cotton or linen bags of course).
You can even paint a picture of the gift receiver’s pet or favorite flower.
Crafts are great regardless of your talent because they can be useful but also hold a deeper sentimental value because you also gave your time to the person receiving the gift.
If crafting, consider visiting The Scrap Jar in Rockford for thrifted craft supplies.

Sustainable Wrapping

section by Lauren Bonavia

Another way to reduce your environmental footprint this holiday season is by giving your loved ones a digital gift. You don’t even need to leave your house and brave the cold to finish your shopping this year! A virtual present cuts the distance you drive (=less emissions from your car), the cost of shipping, the energy used to transport your present, the packaging the item comes in, and the paper used to wrap said gift - but more on that later.

Here are some options for a digital gift:

Lots of retailers offer digital gift certificates , inc luding small businesses. Digital gift cards are great for long distance friends and family - ask them what their favorite coffee shop or boutique is (if you don’t already know). Or, pick a new spot for them to check out.
Like mentioned earlier, you could gift your loved one an experience ! Book tickets for a concert, museum, class, spa treatment, or show of some sort. This type of gift can be really thoughtful for couples or families to spend quality time together - or contrarily, to ensure much-needed personal time for those who may deserve a break.
Shopping for a bookworm? Other digital gifts include media like audiobooks, e-books and digital magazines . Bookshop.org and Libro.fm are great resources to support independent bookstores and avoid big retailers.
For the nature lover in your life - consider adopting them an animal to track online . These purchases contribute to conservation efforts for that animal, and the interactive component is great for kids. Plus you get a bracelet or stuffed animal too!
The greatest gift we can give is helping others. Consider giving a different kind of gift this year, and donate to a charity in your loved one’s honor. Ask what cause means the most to them this year.

Everything That Glimmers Isn't Gold: The Not-So-Shiny Truth about Wrapping Paper

Now that you have found the perfect gifts, it’s finally time to wrap them up before stashing them away. Each year, Americans spend over $12 billion on wrapping paper, and each year, 2.3 million pounds end up added to our landfills.

Unfortunately, most wrapping paper is not recyclable . This paper is often thin and coated with ink, dyes, and laminates that do not allow it to break down in the same way other recyclable paper products do. Decorative foil, glitter, and other non-paper elements also hinder paper’s recyclability - and they contribute to microplastic pollution .

Bows, ribbon, and tape are also not recyclable (or anything adhesive for that matter), but they can be saved and reused in the future! Depending on how civil or wild your family’s gift opening habits are, you may be able to save and reuse large pieces of gift wrap that have not been shredded to bits and pieces.

Look for products made with recycled materials or that specifically state the product is recyclable itself. If you are unsure if your wrapping paper is recyclable - just throw it away in the trash. Otherwise, you may be unknowingly participating in something called wishcycling , or the attempted recycling of non-recyclable materials, which can contaminate the rest of the batch. Better to play it safe than sorry!

Fortunately, there are so many alternatives to traditional single-use gift wrapping:

Upcycle paper shopping bags with hand painted designs to cover logos
Reuse wrapping paper, bows, ribbon, tissue paper, cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and gift bags
Save your cute holiday cards to cut and make into bag tags
For a chic presentation, wrap your gifts in scrap fabric, scarves, bandanas, tea towels, reusable tote bags, or use a basket (which you can find in abundance second-hand)
Learn more about Furoshiki, the ancient Japanese practice of wrapping items in cloth, here
Decorate kraft paper, newspaper, old maps, or other scrap paper to make one-of-a-kind gift wrap
Avoid glitter or other accessories that may make this non-recyclable
Shop second-hand for bags, cards, and wrapping paper tubes

Any action helps, and your commitment to a sustainable holiday this year makes a difference! Not only can you give an environmentally friendly gift, but the added thought, effort, and intention put into the delivery make it extra special.

Craft Decor

Help Natural Ecosystems While You Decorate for the Holidays

section by Olivia Price

As you think about how to brighten up your space for the holiday season, consider these ideas for how to decorate using things that are in overabundance or that are waste materials.

Plastic bags are something easily found lying around an apartment or house, buried at the bottom of a bag, or blowing around outside. Plastic bags (like the kind from most grocery stores) can be transformed from difficult to recycle waste to a variety of textile related items. For the holiday season, they can be turned into a twine-like cord to be used in garlands or other projects. Below is a project turning plastic bags into raffia cord , and then, using fabric strips cut from old t-shirts(you could use any unused textile or fabric item that is able to be cut into strips) turned into a colorful and textured holiday garland.

Another type of waste materials is organic, or living waste. This time of year offers a great chance to start addressing some of the invasive honeysuckle that may be found where you live. With the predominant brown, maroon, and yellow tones of our native ecosystems at this time of year, it is easily identified by its densely branching beige colored stems; slightly drooping, symmetrical vibrant green leaves; and bright red berries. Cutting down the honeysuckle is a great first step in slowing its harmful effects on our regional ecosystems. More information can be found here: https://extension.illinois.edu/invasives/invasive-amur-bush-honeysuckle

Once cut down, it's best to burn up the cuttings that fall so that no part of it (especially those bright red berries) spread around the forest. When you cut it, in tandem with burning, honeysuckle’s beautiful and pliable stems and branches can also be used to create holiday decor. One idea is to turn some of the mid-width stems into an adorable holiday house, making essentially simple stacking “logs”. All of this wood was cut and shaped using a handsaw you could find at your local hardware store. Although it may not need it, to make an easy and affordable glue for the pieces that could be burned with the house if it ever becomes unwanted, you can simply combine a little wheat flour and water in a bowl, and put it where the logs nest into each other.

The wood found at the end of honeysuckle is relatively pliable, especially toward the ends of its smaller branches. These branches can be used to form small wreaths, and decorated with other materials found outside, like dried leaves or berries, or in other creative ways. More wreath ideas can be found here:

https://www.seversondells.org/low-waste-holidays

The same sort of glue mixture could be helpful here if given enough time to set, and other methods like tying materials to the wreath could be used to put it all together.

The fun of using recycled or reused materials, whether manmade or organic, for your holiday decor is that you get to create beautiful things to brighten up your indoor spaces in winter, and also care for your local ecosystems.

So, this year, we challenge you to take a step towards sustainability, no matter how small or big your stride. Sometimes, the most sustainable way forward is just acting with intentionality. Sustainability helps us all have many more holidays on this beautiful planet we call home. We hope you and yours have a peaceful holiday season.

What Will You Give This Giving Season?

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 19:10:03 GMT

As the leaves change colors and fall to the ground and the temperatures dip below freezing, we can feel the calendar tumbling toward the end of the year. Soon the Thanksgiving feast will be just a memory, and we’ll bring out our menorahs, Christmas trees, Kawanza candles, yule logs, and whatever else we use to bring light into this season of shorter days and longer nights.

As the days swirl past Thanksgiving, many people observe other “holidays” like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday, December 2nd, gives us a reason to think about others and contribute to charitable organizations that support causes near and dear to our hearts.

As you consider your End of the Year giving and Giving Tuesday, we at Severson Dells encourage you to be generous to a fault. Political and economic uncertainty have negatively affected not-for-profit agencies and people’s needs have grown. If you are concerned about food insecurity, give to a food pantry. If you want to make sure someone has a roof over their head, give to a shelter or employment program. Education, animals, the arts, medical research – there are dozens of ways you can support a better community.

And, of course, if you believe that nature education is important, please consider giving to Severson Dells . We are living in a world where more and more time is being spent head down on screens and less time heads up in nature. When you give to Severson Dells, you invest in curiosity and creativity, and the many other benefits people receive by being in the natural world. You support the discoveries both children and adults make in the great outdoors. You help sustain environmental stewardship and a pathway to better mental and physical health. Your gift makes a difference!

Wishing you a delightful giving season.

Severson Dells is a 501(c)3 organization. Our EIN is 36-2985870. We accept DAFs, IRA gifts, appreciated stock, real estate, and cash gifts. You can also join our recurring giving club to make your giving easy and predictable.

Questions about giving? Call me at 815-335-2915 or email me at linda@seversondells.org

Why your Neighbors' Yards or Local Parks May Look Unruly (Hint: They're Not Just Lazy!)

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:40:44 GMT

The hidden benefits of leaving your yard waste this fall and winter

Have You Ever Wondered Where Bugs Go In the Winter?

Some insects, like the Monarch Butterfly , take off on their famous migration south to Mexico to find warmer temperatures for the winter. However, most bugs don’t go so far. In fact, they stay put in your backyard and enter a hibernation-like state called diapause . During diapause, insects take shelter and slow their metabolism to reserve energy, and then rising temperatures cue then their emergence in the springtime.

Adult insects (like lady bird beetles, wasps, butterflies, etc) take shelter and settle down for this winter nap, and then return to normal operations come spring. Insects not yet in their adult form overwinter in the larval, nymph, pupal, or egg stages , and emerge in the spring in the next developmental stage or as adults.

Depending on what species they are, these critters take shelter in leaf litter, logs and other woody debris, and the hollow stems of your flowers and shrubs (even better if the plant is native to your region). You may know that a diverse array of native wildflowers can help provide insects with food all spring and summer, but their benefits continue through the winter, too! Some tunnel- or cavity-nesting insects , like many native bees, wasps, moths, and spiders crawl inside stems and twigs to lay eggs or overwinter there themselves.

These backyard benefits don't just stop at insects. The seeds left behind from your blossoms also help feed birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. Turtles, frogs, and other small animals reside in your leaf litter and other yard waste, too, depending on the insulating and camouflaging effects as well as the food sources provided.

Let’s Talk Leaves

When it comes to the leaves raining from your trees, you may feel the need to rake, bag them up, and leave them on the curb to be collected. But where do those leaves get taken to after they leave your house? The answer: landfills.

In 2018, yard trimmings received by landfills weighed in at 10.5 million tons , making up 12.1% of American's municipal solid waste (MSW) for the year. When leaves get sent to landfills, they contribute to the release of heat-trapping gases like methane that negatively impact the Earth's atmosphere. By leaving your leaves, you can reduce the emissions created by their unnatural decomposition AND the emissions produced by your lawn maintenance equipment.

Instead of throwing your leaves away, there may be better options to consider for the sake of your checkbook, and for the wildlife that call your yard home. It's a win-win!

What Can You Do to Help Make a Difference?

First, it is important to understand that while every action (big or small) is important. This is not an all-or-nothing situation. Leaving any winter wildlife habitat is better than leaving nothing , even if that means this year you only leave a single pile of leaves behind your house and decide to remove the rest.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way... The best option for wildlife and their habitat is to leave your leaves . Simply put: don’t rake them this fall. Let the wildlife be your excuse to be lazy! Your yard waste will break down naturally all winter, fertilizing your lawn and flower beds with free compost, and then anything that is left over can be removed in the spring . Disturbing this habitat too early can reduce the effects of your hard work the rest of the year, so a good rule of thumb is to wait for temperatures to be steadily above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, (or when you start planting tomatoes).

It is best to avoid mowing, shredding, or using other heavy machinery to break down your leaves because it can harm the critters sheltering under your leaves. However, mulching your leaves and leaving them in place is better than removing them altogether. If you want to ‘declutter’, opt to rake your leaves into piles or spread them in your garden beds to act as mulch. If you are worried about your leaves blowing to your neighbors' yards, where they will be raked up, a light hosing of water should weigh them down enough to stay in place.

There are lots of great nutrients being released in decomposing leaves and then being transferred to your soil to make it healthier for next year. Plus, leaf mulch ac ts as an insulation, weed suppressant, and fertilizer to promote a garden that looks and functions well.

Standing shrubs or flower stems function as great nesting habitat , so this is another lawncare task you can erase from your list this season. If you decide to leave your standing shrubs and flower stems, or to stop mowing sections of your lawn, there are signs you can mount to establish your yard as wildlife habitat, as most cities have ordinances to keep lawns maintained to a certain standard. You can register your garden with the USDA’ peoples garden , i-Pollinate (Illinois Extension), and the National Wildlife Federation . BirdFeederHub has a list of state and national pollinator garden resources available if you are interested in diving in further.

If you’re not ready or able to make the big jump, here are some other ways to get started!

If you live in a Home Owners Association (HOA) or a neighborhood with similar resident guidelines, then it may be difficult for you to participate in some of these actions. If you still want to help, there are other options like mounting a bug hotel to provide winter homes for these cavity-nesting insects. You can buy one from commercial or local retailers, or you can make one yourself! Just make sure to clean it out in the spring (similar to birdfeeders) to prevent the spread of diseases.

Even if you don’t have creative control or decision-making power over your landscaping, you can still help spread awareness of global pollinator declines and inspire others to take action where they are able. Please feel free to share this blog with your neighbors and friends, or distribute this flyer (linked here) to help spread the word.

You may think that your small efforts don’t matter, but even small tracts of habitat in urban places can promote the thriving of wildlife. Threats such as habitat loss and pesticide use make life harder for insects every day, so creating safe havens for them throughout our cities can provide them with necessary resources. Healthy, diverse insect populations support all the life around us, including the agriculture we depend on for our food supply.

So, whatever your reason, leave the leaves this year!

A Day in The Life of a Restoration Workday

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:35:08 GMT

What does my restoration workday look like?

Here at Severson Dells Nature Center I have the pleasure of serving in an awesome position as Community Scientist! One of my favorite aspects about this job are our restoration workdays . My reasoning for this is that I believe community is extremely important here at the Severson Dells Nature Center, and is greatly important to myself as well. Connecting people to nature is not only a core value, but is also our bread and butter! I'm excited to tell you about a way I apply that core value as I bring you along on a day in my life at a restoration workday, and hope to see you at the next one!

7:20 am

Restoration workdays for myself start with a beautiful drive into Rockford at 7:20am, with the golden sun just peaking over the farmlands. These drives are great for noticing birds in the distance, usually Blackbirds, though recently I spotted an albino Turkey!

8:00 am

After arriving at the nature center, I always have to make some coffee. Coffee in my opinion is the best drink out there, with my preference being coffee that utilizes beans from Puerto Rico. While my coffee brews, I prepare workday materials based on the type of work being done that day. Restoration work here at Severson Dells can range from picking seeds in the prairie, making crafts such as seed balls, to cutting down invasive plants and setting them on fire! A favorite of mine to burn is the dreaded HoneySuckle! Only after preparing the materials for restoration work, I will then prepare another important item, my coffee! With all items being prepared I then wait for our amazing volunteers to arrive and begin the day.

Severson Dells Nature Center volunteers burning chopped down invasive plant species on a restoration workday.

9:00am

After our valued volunteers arrive, I guide everyone through check in and further explain directions for the restoration workday. When I give these directions they can always change based on the task for that day, though I always go over the importance of safety and when it’s snack time!

9:20am

Once everyone is ready to start the day, I will guide our volunteers on a beautiful hike through nature to the restoration location, often being our amazing prairie or woodland environments. Along on this hike I will bring a cart full of tools, PPE, snacks, and other misc items we may need.

9:30am

When arriving at the designated location I will repeat what the tasks are for the day, often involving showing volunteers target plant(s) and how to identify them. Worktime is filled with volunteers and myself not only destroying invasive plants or being creative with seed balls, though additionally building community and our connection to nature together! As I’ve mentioned before, restoration days have many valuable aspects to them and are filled with amazing conversations, laughter, and teamwork. Restoration workdays can all look a little different, though during the Honeysuckle season I have another awesome aspect to my job; herbicide and burning! Often on restoration workdays I will herbicide cut down invasive species such as Honeysuckle, this is done in order to limit new growth from forming from the roots of the plant. Burning the chaff “dry plant material” is another important aspect of my job on restoration days. This is done in order to rid the area of potential regrowth much like the herbicide. However, I find that these fires also make for an amazing conversation starter and a quick spot to warm up!

10:45am

After working for around an hour and a half we will have some amazing snacks to refill energy lost to the fight against invasive species or other tasks. Snack time is a perfect time for people to connect and build community! I often enjoy getting to know everyone, and their interests in nature!

12:00pm

Afterwards we will then return to finish up our workday, ending around 12pm. On the walk back myself and many other volunteers are left feeling rewarded, and accomplished with the work we all put into giving back to our community and environment. Volunteers then often refill water bottles and head separate ways. Conversations linger while I say goodbye to amazing people, I'm left feeling fulfilled, eager for more restoration, and ready to see you at the next one!

If you’d like to join us for the next restoration workday, meet us at the nature center on November 8th at 9am! Can’t make that time slot, but still want to help out? We typically host a restoration workday once a month. We’d also be happy to schedule other times for you or your group to help us out with restoration. You can contact our Public Programs Coordinator, Liz, at liz@seversondells.org or give us a call at 815-335-2915 to learn more.

Severson Dells Nature Center volunteers collecting seeds at a restoration workday.

Meet Lauren

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 22:29:08 GMT

Hi, everyone! My name is Lauren, and I am so thrilled to be serving AmeriCorps as an Environmental Educator here at Severson Dells Nature Center!

Growing up in Rockford, the highlight of my summers was the time I spent as a camper at Atwood Nature Center learning about the world around me. This experience certainly resonated with me because after graduating from Auburn High School, I followed my lifelong passions and got a degree in Wildlife Ecology and Management from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point.

Wildlife Data Collection: Sheridan, MT (left) and Grand Mesa National Forest, CO (right)

Since then, I have moved around several states working as a field technician for the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, where I collected data on birds, bees, frogs, mammals, and plants. My most recent job landed me in the rolling hills of rural Kansas studying Wild Turkeys and their habitats for a graduate research study.

As someone who loves traveling, my favorite part about this field of work is the opportunity to learn and connect - not only with the physical landscape of a new and spectacular place - but with the people who make the place what it is.

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, WY

While my previous experiences are a little different than my role at the nature center, the factors driving me have always been the same: I value conservation, environmental awareness, and connection to people and nature. I am eager to be back home learning from, connecting with, and giving back to the community that shaped me into who I am today.

When I am not at Severson Dells, you can find me playing volleyball, birdwatching, reading, or wandering around a park or museum!

I feel immensely grateful to be here, and I look forward to meeting all of the people who make Severson Dells such a special place.

Taking the Scary Out of Sustainability

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 07:00:33 GMT

So you’ve decided to start on a journey to help the planet. You can call it low-waste or sustainable living or what have you, but the end goal is the same - to decrease your impact on the environment. Like any other lofty goal you’re eager about it, you make a new Pinterest board, join a Facebook group, follow some Instagram influencers, and check out a few books from the library. Next thing you know, you’re staring at all this new information, all these people on social media showing off their thrift finds and how they’ve bought all their groceries from a local farmer and you’ve done it; you’re in overload. Just like that gym membership from your New Year's Resolution in January, your goal to save the planet begins to gather dust.

We’ve all been there. Starting any new habit can be hard and something as big as living sustainably can be intimidating as you strive for perfection. In this blog we’re going to take the scary out of sustainability and put you on the path to saving the planet (beginner edition).

The first thing to know is that you are not going to do it perfectly or even do all you want to right away. Low-waste living is both a learned skill and a habit, both which take time and patience to build.

The second thing might be harder to bear… Your Midwestern dad was right. A lot of sustainable living are the small habits such as turning off the lights when no one is in the room, making sure doors and windows are closed tightly if the air is on, throw on a sweater instead of turning up the heat, or turning off the faucet as you brush your teeth. If you already do these things, great, keep up the good work! If not, you can try to be more intentional about these habits. It really does help cut down the burning of fossil fuels and the amount of water used - and it is pretty great for saving money. So thanks, Dad, for apparently caring so much about the environment, but mostly your wallet.

Green living is currently a major trend. Lots of products are advertising about how green they are or that their products are made from recycled materials. This is great; we love to see companies lowering their impact on the environment. But here’s the thing, as great as all the shiny new, green, stuff is, it’s not going to be as good as just using what you already have. If you recall from your school days, you may have learned “reduce, reuse, recycle” and it was drawn in a triangle.

The triangle was a little deceiving because the phrase itself works as a sort of hierarchy, with reducing what you use being the best option. As great as it is to want to replace your current toothbrush with a bamboo one, if you’re just going to throw the current one away, you might as well keep using it until it's reached it's last breath. Keep that mindset with most of your things, if it’s still usable keep using it, because the goal is to reduce the amount of trash you’re producing. After that, invest in the green products as replacements.

Another way to reduce your waste is to enter your "DIY era". So if you’ve noticed a wiggly chair leg or that the knee on your pants is getting worn, don’t get rid of them...instead try to fix them yourself. A lot of things are pretty easy to fix and there are probably YouTube videos to guide you through the process. I will also suggest that all those socks you have that are missing a partner make for great (and sometimes funny) patches for clothes.

So, the key to saving the planet (for beginners) is to do what your dad told you to and turn off the lights and put on a sweater. Appreciate what you already have and use it until you can’t anymore, then fix it, and use it some more. Just like any other habit or skill, sustainable living happens in small steps and remember to be patient with yourself, everyone starts as a beginner.

Meet Caedyn

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 18:16:23 GMT

Hello! My name is Caedyn Wells, and I am beyond excited to be serving Severson Dells as the Community Science AmeriCorps member!

This May, I graduated from Beloit College with an Environmental Biology degree with a Geology minor. Before accepting my Americorps position, I managed the Beloit College boathouse for three consecutive years. During that time I connected college students to nature through canoeing, kayaking, and outdoor activities. Additionally before ending my college career, I took a field seminar in Puerto Rico. Throughout this seminar I studied and gained an understanding of severe weather events that affect the island and people. Taking a holistic look at the Geology, I made connections between tectonics, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology, in order to better understand earth history and ways Geology and sea level rise influences society.

I am passionate about connecting people to nature through my role in community science because it gives people unique insights into local ecosystems, and helps us better understand how to protect and enjoy our environments and others. Being from Beloit, WI I understand the importance of green spaces in thriving cities, and I am excited to work on a variety of projects with Severson Dells and partner organizations. I hope to see you all in the field, and exploring nature very soon!

Birds of Severson Dells and Northern Illinois

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 19:21:58 GMT

What birds can you see in Northern IL and at Severson Dells Nature Center?

Severson Dells Nature Center is a wonderful place for any bird watcher to visit, with a variety of habitats for different species to thrive. Diving into these habitats, Severson Dells offers prairie, wetland, and forested ecosystems. Our forests are valuable for providing important habitat for nesting and perching birds, while prairies here can offer important spaces for grassland birds. Finally, our amazing wetlands at Severson Dells allow Anseriformes to thrive, common waterfowl such as geese, swans, and ducks. These clusters of habitats are often referred to as habitat diversity, and make way for some amazing birds to call home. Another great area many people are aware of is the Elliot golf course, with restoration right around the corner we are already seeing many amazing species call this space home! Let’s dive into some of our common and uncommon bird species that inhabit Northern Illinois, and explain tips on ways you can spot them in your neighborhood or a local preserve!

Common Grackle

Let’s start with our amazing Common Grackle! These common blackbirds are a familiar sight here in northern Illinois, often appearing in open woodland, marshes, suburban areas, and agricultural fields. These birds have diets of omnivores, meaning they will forage for insects, seeds, and fruits. Some commonly mistake Common Grackles for Crows, though some physical differences between them are their size and features. Common Grackles grow to be 11 to 13 inches long with a wingspan of 14.2 to 18.1 inches in length! Features of these birds have an amazing iridescent hue in light, often appearing a deep blue or purple. Grackles are known to breed in the central and northeastern regions of the United States and Canada, with males establishing territory in spring. Breeding season for these birds range from early spring to late fall, during this time males will become territorial with identifying calls or chirps. Males during the breeding season will additionally perform stunning elaborate dances for female Grackles in hopes of securing a mate. You can best see these birds scanning the ground, low bushes, and mid trees where they may be foraging food. Another great way to see Common Grackles are in murmurations, which are amazing clusters of blackbirds often appearing cloud-like. These birds, though plentiful, are beyond a doubt an amazing pleasure to watch! Learn more about Grackles at allaboutbirds.org !

Adult male, © Jack & Holly Bartholmaie, eBird S44299158, Macaulay Library ML 93138231

Red-winged Blackbird

One of my favorite birds is the Red-winged blackbird! But what makes these birds so special? For starters these amazing birds have brilliant red shoulders called epaulets, followed by a coat of beautiful black feathers. Females tend to look dramatically different, with brown feathers, streaks of creamy white, and mini brown epaulets. These blackbirds range in smaller sizes compared to our Common Grackle, ranging at 7 to 9 inches long and wingspans of 12 to 16 inches in length. And it's not just looks that distinguish them! Male Red-winged blackbirds are extremely melodic, with territorial songs including loud and musical sounds of “conk-la-lee” that are difficult to overlook. Red-winged blackbirds are breeders in Canada and year round residents within the United States, with males setting territories in spring much like the Grackle. Breeding season can range from April through early July for these birds. What's interesting about their breeding habits is that they are highly polygynous, with some males having 15 mates! Another similarity between the recently mentioned Common Grackle is that our Red-winged blackbird is also an omnivore, relying on foraging insects, seeds, and fruits for food. These birds enjoy wetlands, marshes, and shrubs where they can best forage and nest. When searching for these birds it's best to watch for beautiful red epaulets, and melodic songs within brushes and trees. Red-winged blackbirds are great for seasoned bird watchers or someone just starting out, and are always a pleasure to see in our wetland habitats. Learn more about Red-winged Blackbird at allaboutbirds.org !

Breeding male (Red-winged) © Connor Charchuk, eBird S56169389, Macaulay Female (Red-winged) © Andrew Simon, eBird s58906957, Macaulay Library ML Library ML 158001791 172808941

American Robin

Robins are one of our most common backyard neighbors, everyone at one point or another living in the United States has seen one before. These birds may not be most people's favorite, though they are extremely important and valuable birds. American Robins are recognizable by their red breasts and brown backs, commonly being sighted in backyards, parks, and woodlands. Robins are intelligent and adaptable birds, often having been observed using tools for foraging for food, and nesting in a variety of spaces. Nesting locations can include dense leaves, gutters, eaves, and on or in buildings. During the breeding season of April to July females will start preparing their nests, constructing cup shaped bowls made of twigs, grasses, and mud. Due to their adaptability and excess of human materials, we are seeing some robins use plastics and other manmade materials for nesting. Actively being territorial birds, they can defend their nests from predators larger than themselves. You have most likely heard an angry robin mom chirping at you taking the trash out. Though on the other hand they can be extremely social birds often preferring to travel in flocks, they can't decide on one. Diets for robins consist of opportunistic omnivores, meaning they “take what they can get”. Often this includes insects, seeds, fruits, and some misc foods; with earth worms being a staple in their diets. When hunting for worms, robins have an interesting technique of running several steps and abruptly stopping to search for prey. These birds are often recognized for motivating the saying “ early bird gets the worm” during the 17th century. Though common, these birds have a lot of unique habits and features that are a thrill to watch, whether it’s in your neighborhood or your local forest preserve. Learn more about the American Robin at allaboutbirds.org !

Adult male, © Alex Eberts, eBird S67047805, Macaulay Library ML 222821411

While it’s been amazing to hear about our common feathered friends, not all of us know about some unusual and infrequent birds that call Severson Dells home or pass through! Whether it’s year rounders or migratory birds, let us take a different trail to learn more about our not-so-familiar bird species that can wonder these parts of the region!

Yellow-throated Vireo

Our first uncommon bird to see here in northern Illinois is the Yellow-throated Vireo! A forest bird breeding in central and eastern regions, migrating from tropical areas in the Texas and Florida regions, while nonbreeding in parts near the equator such as eastern Mexico. These birds are small, ranging in sizes of 4.3 to 5.1 inches long, with wingspans of 7.9 to 8.7 inches in length. When it’s quiet listen for their song, Yellow-throated Vireos fill the air with beautiful melodies of “see-me, see-me” sounds. Breeding for these birds happens in the months of early April and ends by mid September, preferring areas to nest within Oaks and Maples along creeks and streams. Pickiness exists in the world of these birds, and often that includes these nesting spaces needing to be under a canopy of trees for cover. This makes foraging easier for these birds who have a diet of mostly insects, where they will forage by hopping from tree to tree. When spotting these birds, head to old forests with deciduous trees, meaning trees that lose their leaves at the end of each growing season. Scan the upper canopy of the trees mid sections during spring and fall periods. They tend to be busiest foraging in the early mornings and late afternoons! Learn more about Yellow-throated Vireos at allaboutbirds.org !

Adult, © Todd Fellenbaum, eBird S36652605, Macaulay Library ML 130575411

Hooded Warbler

Hooded Warblers are a stand out bird species! Having amazing feather patterns, males showcase black hooded heads and throats, with females having brilliant yellow cheeks, and an absent hood, with some cases appearing olive green. Size ranges smaller with these birds at 5.1 inches long and a wingspan of 6.9 inches in length, making them a harder species to spot out when birding. Though they live in the eastern regions of the United States, they can visit a few parts of the central midwest, such as Northern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. Reasons for this are that these birds are migratory, often relocating to tropical regions such as Florida and eastern Texas for winter much like the Yellow-throated Vireo. Habitats can include forests, spice brush, and mountain ranges of up to 3,660 feet above sea level! Great times to spot Hooded Warblers are during the breeding season in May throughout July. But why? Breeding season is when you will hear their mating and territorial calls! These unique birds sound like soft ringing, and often build nests in shrubby clearings. Another great way to spot Hooded Warblers are by searching in partially covered vegetation, and foliage where they might be hunting for food. Diets for them are heavily reliant on that of an insectivore, often eating insects, spiders, and other small arthropods. Even though they can be a tough species to spot, they are a stunning find here in Northern Illinois. Learn more about the Hooded Warbler at allaboutbirds.org !

Adult male © Evan Lipton, eBird S18074296, Macaulay Library ML 2796504 1 Adult Female, © Luke Seitz, eBird S8897755, Macaulay Library ML 61066941

Henslow’s Sparrow

Henslow’s Sparrows are an interesting migratory bird that have patterns of tan and black, with greenwashed faces. These birds are consistently moving across the central, east, and southeastern parts of the United States. Breeding in the north central midwest, and migrating from the mid south region near Tennessee. Populations of Henslow’s Sparrows were densely located within central prairies of the United States and Atlantic coastal marshes; as land disappeared for agriculture they then moved to newly restored grasslands. Henslow’s Sparrows thrive in native or restored habitats consisting of wet meadows, lowland prairies, and pastures. Though as native land disappears, these birds adapted by moving to cultivated hayfields and fire maintained pine savannas. Another fascinating location that observations have shown us are that these sparrows are using reclaimed fields of large dense grasslands along the Ohio river basin. Why? To reclaim a resourceful habitat, showcasing amazing adaptability skills! Habitats like these just mentioned, give the Henslow’s Sparrow important access to foods within their diets. Often these amazing birds will feed on insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars. During winter, their diet changes as insects die, then turning to foraging seeds from sedges, ragweed, and wiregrass. Henslow’s sparrows can be picky when it comes to where they spend time! They are semi colonial on nesting territories, meaning they are partially independent, though not fully. During the breeding season, nesting pairs will build close by, while still maintaining nonoverlapping territories separated by buffers they deem necessary. You can best spot these amazing birds at dawn and dusk during the months of June and July, scanning prairies and forest edges! Learn more about the Henslow's Sparrow at allaboutbirds.org !

Adult, © Jeff Timmons, eBird ML55548671, Macaulay Library ML

Meet Caroline

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:41:12 GMT

The Newest Education AmeriCorps

Hi, I’m Caroline and I will be starting my first term with AmeriCorps as an educator here at Severson Dells. I have my Bachelor’s degree in Middle School Science Education from Southeast Missouri State University. I am new to northern Illinois, but grew up in Springfield.

Most recently, I have been teaching middle school biology, where I got to interact and teach about the prairies of Illinois. (I actually lived a couple of towns away from a prairie preserve in McLean County.) But my love of nature started when I was much younger, as a Girl Scout and exploring my neighborhood park.

I am passionate about sharing the importance of conservation and making the outdoors a space for everyone! My favorite part of science is always learning something new - which is probably why I can never pick a favorite anything. I do enjoy swimming, kayaking, and hiking. When I’m not outside, my hobbies include reading, listening to music, and trying new things.

I look forward to my time here at Severson Dells and am excited to get to know everyone. Happy hiking!

Meet Olivia

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:39:07 GMT

Hello! My name is Olivia and I am one of the new Americorp Environmental Education Members. I am so excited to get to spend the year in Severson’s beautiful prairie and forest ecosystems. Growing up along the Kansas and Missouri stateline, the hilly forests of Missouri and the rolling prairies of Kansas were never too far away–so I am happy to be here!

I have spent the last seven years living in dense, urban environments–six years in Chicago where I went to North Park University and worked for two years, and one year in Madrid, Spain where I assistant taught English last year. Although I love and have a passion for integrating natural areas with the built environments of cities, I feel so honored to get to spend time in and to know such a large and beloved pocket of thriving ecosystems here at Severson!

I have a deep love for nature, and am so excited to support the community members who visit Severson Dells as they connect with the unique plants, wildlife, and landscapes found on this land.

Outside of my time at the nature center, I love to read, run, and travel, and next year will begin a Masters of Architecture program. I am always down to chat about those things and also to receive any recommendations for places to visit in the Rockford area. Looking forward to meeting you!

Nocturnal Animals

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 16:58:16 GMT

Learn about nocturnal animals found at severson!

With the onset of fall and spooky season come many fun changes in our world, like cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, and grasses turning golden and brown. This turn of the seasons also shortens our days. These longer nights create more opportunities to see animals that come out primarily when it is dark, also known as nocturnal animals. Many different animals have adapted to come out at night primarily as a way to avoid daytime predators, conserve water that could more easily escape their bodies under the heat of the sun, and many other reasons specific to their needs. The following are some of the incredible nocturnal animals that can be found at Severson and in the surrounding region. They are also some of the amazing creatures we will celebrate at our upcoming event Spook the Dells later this week!

Coyotes

Coyotes are adaptable to many habitats, historically navigating prairie and desert landscapes but now also seen traversing everywhere from complex urban landscapes to rural farm communities. They primarily eat small rodents, fruit, and other small prey with occasional shifts to larger prey like rabbits and deer. Coyotes tend to be nocturnal especially when living near human settlements, as this behavior helps them avoid contact with humans while hunting.

Raccoons

Raccoons are closely related to bears and dogs, and their bodies can grow anywhere between 16-28 inches with a 12 inch tail. Although raccoons don’t fully hibernate during winter, they primarily spend time in their dens with the onset of colder months. Their dens can be found in a variety of places, from logs to burrows to barns. Raccoons' nocturnal behavior is supported by their naturally higher body temperature, awareness of moon cycles, and strong senses of sight and hearing.

Bats

Bats are the only flying mammals, and can be found all over the world in a vast range of ecosystems. Their latin name, Chiroptera, means hand-wing, for the way that their wings appear like webbed hands. The largest bat in the world is the flying fox, with a wing span that can reach six feet, and the world’s smallest bat is the bumblebee bat, who is smaller than your finger. Nocturnal foraging and hunting behavior helps bats enjoy plants that may only open their flowers at night, and they are specially adapted to maneuver their environment at night because of their use of echolocation.

Owls

Owls have sharp talons and curved bills that they use for hunting, which means they are considered birds of prey. Owls like to spend their time hunting for small live prey, roosting aka resting, or nesting and raising young. Some owls like to roost alone, and some like to roost with others, which provides important benefits like the ability to share hunting information, mate, and stay warm during colder months. Like other animals, owls benefit from the safety of hunting under cover of darkness, especially because they have large, rod-filled eyes which give them a very strong ability to pick up on the subtle lighting variations of nighttime landscapes.

Spiders

It is thought that there are some 51,500 plus species of arachnids, or spiders, found across the world. These eight-legged creatures hunt their prey, primarily insects, in a variety of ways, with some spinning the beautiful webs we can see around us. Notably, the Orb Weaver spider’s beautifully rounded webs can be easily seen at Severson from late summer into this time of year.

Skunks

Skunks are famed for their unique ability to emit a pungent substance called thiol, which gives them their trademark smell. Although they are known for this ability, skunks usually only use this response to a perceived threat when it’s their lost option. Skunks dig long burrows themselves, but they often prefer to take over a burrow previously made by another animal such as a fox. Skunks forage for their food, things such as insects, rodents, etc. They actually can even eat poisonous snakes because they are immune to their venom. Their nocturnal behavior helps skunks locate their preferred prey and stay cool while they hunt.

Opossums

Opossums are North America’s only marsupial(animals with a pouch). They are known for “playing dead” or “playing possum”, which they do when predators or other perceived threats fail to be intimidated by their hissing sounds. Opossums are primarily nocturnal as a way to avoid predators and conserve energy.

To learn more about these animals and even meet a few, join us at Spook the Dells on October 18th from 6:00pm-7:30pm.

How are you celebrating National Estate Planning Awareness Week (October 21-27)

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 08:00:06 GMT

October – a month that starts with changing colors, apple orchards, and pumpkin spice and ends with candy and costumes on Halloween. In between we have the opportunity to observe National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Created in 2008 by an act of Congress and observed every year during the third week of October, the week is a reminder that we all need to prepare for the inevitable.

If you’re like two-thirds of Americans, you lack a will or estate plan and the protective measures needed to safeguard your assets, future healthcare decisions or management of your finances. While it’s no fun to think about preparing for what might happen, the peace of mind you’ll experience when you are prepared is well worth the effort.

Take time during the week of October 21 – 27 to start making your plans. Consider these things:

Who do you want to receive your assets?
Who do you want to act as your executor?
Who should receive your sentimental items?
Who will look after your children or pets?
Who is going to make your healthcare and financial decisions if you can’t?

Next reach out to a trusted professional. Planning doesn’t have to be expensive and there are many on-line resources that can help you.

We at Severson Dells Nature Center encourage you to think about how you want to leave a legacy. Are there causes you care about today that will still need your financial assistance tomorrow? Whether you support nature education at Severson Dells or another cause close to your heart, use your will or estate plan to help them when you’re no longer here.

If you love what Severson Dells Nature Center does, consider joining our Heritage Society . This group is made up of folks who have included the nature center in their long-term financial plans. By connecting with them now, we make sure their wishes will be fulfilled and honored when the time comes. And the generosity of Heritage Society members serves as an inspiration to others who care about our mission of connecting people to nature and growing the future stewards of our environment.

Contact me with questions about supporting Severson Dells today, tomorrow and far into the future. And Happy National Estate Planning Awareness Week!

Summer Camp Reflections

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 20:56:40 GMT

As the summer camp season comes to a close, creek shoes are dried, crayons are put away, and our staff reflect on their summer of directing and supporting Severson Dells camp. This summer, they led and assisted with 9 weeks of summer camp programs that reached 211 campers! Out of the many adventures this season, here are some of their highlights and what they learned along the way.

Can you describe a time when you connected with a camper?

Liz: Standing in the creek, listening to all those sounds around me, I take great joy in knowing that I’m more than just “a camp counselor”. I’m helping form core memories for these campers that they can carry on for years to come. I can still remember being 7 years old and traipsing around in the creek, getting stuck in the mud, and catching fish in a net. Those memories helped shape me into the person I am today, and I feel honored that I can help create those connections for others.
Elly: I connected with many littles in my camp but it isn’t too much of a challenge to connect with kiddos at that young age. They seek that connection and are much more willing to open up. One moment that stands out to me the most was actually when I was filling in at one of the older age camps. One camper did not want to go in the creek that day - he said he wasn’t feeling up to it. So I said I would sit on the bridge with him and we chatted the whole time! He told me all about his interests and was genuinely excited to share the things he was passionate about with me. I am glad I could keep him company in that moment and get a glimpse into his life. He actually found me the next day even though I wasn’t filling into camp that day to give me some updates!
Salem: One of my favorite campers this year was Leonie. Her French accent was absolutely adorable. We also had so much fun getting each other muddy on the muddiest camper day.
Mason: During peek in the creek, I was catching crayfish with some campers, and we were all working together to see how many we could catch! Afterwards, one of the campers came up to me and said, “This is the best thing ever.”

What was your favorite nature moment? And/or your favorite nature place to be?

Liz: Picture it. The sun shines down through the leaves, creating patterns on the surface of the water you are standing in. A wood thrush sings nearby. The wind blows gently through the trees, as a crayfish scurries past your toes. For many, that seems like a magical place to be–a place that is hard to come by. But for me? That was almost every day of camp. But even better than those idyllic moments? The sounds of kids splashing up and down the creek, and the cheers of “I got one! I got a crayfish!” even though it was probably their 20th crayfish…that day.
Elly: My favorite nature place to be was the pond. I know all the hype usually goes to creek day but visiting the pond with the kiddos was my favorite. I loved our trips to the pond because no matter the weather or day there were always critters there. This summer we saw painted turtles, crayfish, bullfrogs, leopard frogs, tadpoles of all sorts, minnows, and a fishing spider at the pond! What is cool too is when we visited the pond the kiddos were not focused on trying to catch any of these animals - just observe them in their home.
Salem: The creek was absolutely magical. Every time we passed the fossil [in the dells rock], the kids were amazed that there was a real-life fossil at Severson!
Mason: My favorite nature moment this summer was either doing the creek walk through the dells at Severson or when we did an all-day hike in ‘Adventure Squad’ and walking through the prairies.

What was the funniest camp moment?

Liz: One of the funniest camp moments for me is always the Muddiest Camper Contest which takes place during the Peek in the Creek Sessions. This optional activity challenges campers to get as muddy as possible in 10 minutes or less. I’m always impressed by the dedication of some campers–and my apologies to everyone’s showers at home!
Elly: There were many funny moments from camp this summer. The littles are so silly each in their own ways but one moment that stands out for me stemmed from my favorite question I get a lot from kids. Every camp session inevitably a couple of kiddos ask the question “ How old are you?” and I always answer with the same thing: “Guess”. Usually I get some crazy responses such as “47”, “13”, or even “100”. However, one camper when I told them to guess looked at me and said “hold on - I am now a robot…scanning ... .scanning….scanning…” then proceeded to state my exact age on the first guess! It was crazy! I thought that was pretty funny and surprised me more than any of the usual ridiculous responses I had received.
Salem: This was a moment with the 4-6 year olds in Little Pirate Camp. Elly asked what noise fish make when they swim in the ocean. Xander loudly yelled CRUNCH! And the whole classroom erupted in laughter.
Mason: The funniest camp moment for me was during the mudiest camper when everyone was smearing themselves with mud.

What was the most inspiring/wholesome moment of the summer?

Liz: As the leader for the “Junior Naturalists” (ages 7-11), many of my campers have a general comfort and ease in nature–it’s not their first rodeo so to speak. However, it is still a joy to watch them deepen those connections with nature. Another plus for the summer is the Adventure Squad, a newer camp for those ages 10-14. For that camp, we get to really dive into nature and lengthen the time we are outside–including a now infamous 5 mile hike to Funderberg Forest Preserve!
Elly: During one of our camps this summer we had a camper who struggled a bit with regulating in the classroom and needed a little extra support. So many of the campers jumped in to hang out with them, play with them, and help them! These campers are so young and they are still learning the concepts around helping others and emotional regulation so seeing them offer their support was very wholesome to experience this summer. We make sure our staff and leaders are thoroughly trained in how to make Severson camps welcoming and inclusive to everyone but our campers don’t necessarily have the same training! That’s what made it even more special when these kiddos offered that extra support our camper needed.
Salem: Forming various connections with many of the kids. I loved getting to know each kid and their unique, wholesome personalities.
Mason: The most wholesome moment this summer was when I had a camper come and hug me. I also love it when campers are excited to show me what they found in the creek.

Did anything surprise you about summer camp?

Liz: Turn on the news, read a blog on the internet, and all everyone is talking about is "the anxious generation", or the kids who "can't give up their phones". When kids arrive at Severson Dells camp, they are told no phones, no tablets, no screens. You'd expect there to be more of a fuss, but there isn't. And that always surprises me, but in a good way. I love the power of nature and free play in the outdoors, and how it allows kids a time to reset and recharge. Not once did I hear "I wish I had my phone", even while lounging around in hammocks or during inside mindful time. And that is always a pleasant surprise.
Elly: I was surprised at how much I truly ended up enjoying it! I know I love kids, nature, and field trips (my job the rest of the year) but I was slightly apprehensive about camp at first. I did not grow up going to camps so I was nervous about creating the magical atmosphere that summer camps always have. As soon as I met the kiddos on the first day though I knew it would be easy. The campers are the ones who create the magic! We leaders just help carry it along. So in the end I was surprised how summer camp quickly became one of my favorite things and I had nothing to worry about after all!
Salem: I was surprised by actually missing some of the kids. Only a week never felt long enough because of how much I enjoyed spending time with the kids.
Mason: I was surprised this summer by how much fun I had. Even though I’ve been a counselor for over 4 years, Severson is just a blast to be at and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What did you learn this summer? About yourself, nature, kids, etc

Liz: Since I began my professional career in 2004, at least 20 of my summers have included some type of summer camp experience–some overnight, some day camps, some with teens, some with elementary ages, but all with a component of nature. But what draws me back year after year, is that I get to see nature in a new way, through the eyes of someone else, and that makes me love it all the more each time.
Elly: I learned this summer that young campers are much simpler than expected. The majority of our field trip groups are ages 7 to 10 so being in charge of campers ages 4 to 6 was something new for me. But I learned that so much of their needs are still so simple like laughter, comfort, and adventure. Planning activities became a breeze when I realized that they just want to have fun and feel safe! They also helped bring out the curiosity and sense of whimsy in me. I enjoyed leaning into that side of me as well this summer. I truly enjoyed learning from these campers and can’t wait to learn and play more again next year!
Salem: I learned patience and how having patience can profoundly impact a child's attitude towards an activity/counselor. My appreciation for nature also deepened as I got to learn alongside the kids about birds, plants, trees, and more.
Mason: This summer, I learned that I should give myself more credit, which isn’t always the easiest. I reaffirmed that I enjoy my time outdoors, and canoeing is the best way to paddle around.

Our camp staff built valuable experiences and lasting memories this summer camp season that was filled with catching crayfish, mud, discovery, and laughter. As we transition into the fall, Mason and Salem go back to school while Liz and Elly focus on field trips and homeschool programs. Even though the season is shifting, we will all look back fondly at the 2025 summer camp season as one to remember with a smile.

Emma's Farewell

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 21:21:32 GMT

When I started at Severson Dells nearly two years ago, I never would have believed I’d still be here today. What was supposed to be a short detour turned into one of the meaningful positions I have served. These years have flown by, and as I sit down to write this farewell, I keep circling back to my early days here. It feels important to revisit that beginning, because in so many ways, it shaped everything that followed.

To back up a bit: it was never my intention to return home to Illinois, for work or for much of anything, really. For as long as I can remember my dream has been to move to the Pacific Northwest. So, the day after I graduated college, I packed up my Honda CRV and drove west to Washington State. When I later accepted a short-term position at Severson Dells, it was meant to be just a stepping stone while I figured out my place in environmental work. A quick six months, and then back to the mountains. Life, however, had other plans.

Severson Dells met me at a very interesting time in my life. While working in Washington just prior to coming to Severson, I was in a freak accident and I fell off of a cliff, shattered my leg, and suddenly found myself back home to Illinois for the foreseeable future. Driving east, I dreaded it. I missed the mountains, the forests, the ocean, and on top of that, I couldn’t even walk. It felt like I had hit an all-time low. I’ll never forget hobbling into Severson Dells for the first time, struggling with the front door on my crutches, and wondering if I had made a terrible mistake coming home and taking this position. But then I walked into the nature center, and that fear quickly melted away. I was met with kind faces and genuine welcome. What I didn’t realize at that moment was that this place, and the people who fill it, would teach me more about resilience, community, and the power of connecting with nature than I ever could have imagined.

I want to pause here to talk about accessibility. Until that point, I had never needed accommodations, and suddenly, I needed a lot of them. If you know the environmental field, you know accessibility isn’t always easy to come by. Environmental work is notoriously physical, something I loved about it, and with my new limitations I didn’t know how I would fit in. But my worries were short-lived, because everyone at Severson made sure I had what I needed to succeed. From helping set up lessons, to guiding hikes when I couldn’t, to Liz and Jillian literally pushing me in a wheelchair around the paved loop so I could actually see the pond I was teaching about, everyone went out of their way to help me. I never once felt like a burden, I only ever felt supported. That kind of care is rare, and I’ll always be grateful for it.

During my time here, I’ve had the chance to wear a lot of hats (and sometimes costumes, too). I started as an education AmeriCorps member in 2023, leading field trips, homeschool lessons, and public programs, teaching kids about everything from prairie plants to creek critters. In 2024, I transitioned into a community science role, where I observed frog calling phenology, monitored salt concentrations in our waterways, and led restoration workdays with a wonderful team of volunteers. Along the way, I wrote educational blogs, created silly Instagram reels, and helped with events that brought the community together in the name of nature. These days, I’ve landed in the “other” category, a blend of community science, education, and “other” that included (but certainly wasn’t limited to): museum curation, short film directing, walking through cornfields at night to listen for frogs, and dressing up as a pirate to canoe one-handed around the pond for our summer camp.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, Severson taught me a few life lessons too. I learned what kindness in the workplace looks like. What it feels like to be part of a truly collaborative, supportive, joy-filled community. For the first time in my life, I looked forward to work every single day. And I can confidently say there wasn’t a single day I didn’t laugh until my stomach hurt. I made lasting friendships, learned from our land, and, most importantly, I learned from the community that makes Severson what it is.

Another gift Severson gave me was a new love for the Midwest. For most of my life, I resented the flat fields and endless cornrows of Illinois. I thought I needed mountains to feel awe. But teaching about the prairies and woodlands here taught me to see their quiet beauty, too. Watching the prairie shift through the seasons became a lesson in patience and resilience, one I especially needed, given the circumstances that brought me home. I now see the Midwest not as something to escape, but as something to cherish. There’s a quote by Willa Cather that says, “Anybody can love a mountain, but it takes a soul to love the prairie.” Thank you, Severson, for helping me find that part of my soul.

As I move on to my next chapter, I’ll carry the memories, the laughter, and the lessons I’ve learned here. This place, and the people who make it what it is, have shaped me in ways I’ll never forget.

Thank you for everything, Severson Dells.

Shannon's Farewell

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 20:53:47 GMT

While my time at Severson Dells is coming to an end, my time and experience as a junior naturalist is just beginning. When I accepted this job position, I was a recent college graduate who was ready to get into the environmental work force but didn’t know where to start. Here I am, a year later, and I feel ready and excited to take on whatever comes my way.

Last September, when I first started working here at Severson Dells, I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been an educator before and I was nervous about my skill-set, but I pleasantly surprised myself. I found myself enjoying teaching, and the goofy experiences and questions that came with it.

When I started here, my biggest goal for myself was to become better informed about the ecology of Rockford, and being more aware and able to identify what’s growing around me. A year later, I am proud of myself and how much I have learned. Because of my schooling background being in geology, I already had a familiarity with looking at the outside world in a different lens. I know how to look at the geology and the basic layout of an area to understand the depositional environment, or what the land most likely looked like back in the day. However, being at Severson Dells for the past year has shown me how to appreciate nature and the outdoors in a new way, in a biological sense. I now know how to look at the ecology of an area and see how the plants are working together, and how this compliments what the birds and the bugs are doing, and how the trees play a role too, and this cycle keeps going. I knew forests were interconnected, but I feel like I truly get it now. It’s helped me to connect the pieces of nature that I wasn’t aware of before, and put them all together now to see a new, bigger picture.

Severson Dells is a place I will always hold dearly to me. The experiences I had, the challenges I overcame while being here, and the personal growth I’ve been able to experience: all of this helps shape my love for this lovely forest preserve here in Northern Illinois. I want to be sure to express my appreciation for the staff here at Severson Dells Nature Center, and the kindness they always treat everyone with. The people here are always so willing to help me with learning new skills, diving into intimidating science topics, and trying to help foster that curiosity that everyone has inside of them. As I close this chapter, I feel inspired and grateful for the connections I’ve made, and ready for what the future has in store for me.

Sydney's Farewell

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 20:32:19 GMT

I’m sitting at my desk listening to the distant chatter of kids outside and the excited murmuring of my coworkers. I am surrounded by tokens of memories - a sticker from the rot museum and a walnut shell owl I made with campers. On my computer screen, a half edited video about the Grove. In my desk drawer, a stack of lesson plans I once felt nervous to teach, but I now know by heart. Next is the bigfoot code from the cryptid hike, handwritten notes from my coworkers, and the spot where my notebook lives. This notebook has been with me from the start of this position and is full of the many things I have learned at Severson Dells. As my time here comes to a close, I flip back through the pages and reflect on what the past year has taught me…

Discover Nature Hike Lesson Notes

When I first started at Severson last October I was trying to absorb as much information as possible, so I copied down some field trip lesson plans, one of them being: discover nature hikes. These hikes were always a magical experience and I was so excited to lead my first hike on my own. I have now led dozens of hikes in addition to the countless other field trip programs I have facilitated in the fall and spring.

We love Graphic Design!

I was introduced to Canva and Severson’s branding guidelines early and I learned how to connect with a wider audience on our outline platforms. I have written many informational blogs in this position, created many Canva Instagram posts, and edited many reels. Some of my favorite projects were the big melt blog, the animal courtship ceremonies Instagram post, and the kids FAQ reel.

Lesson Planning 101

I helped lead afterschool programs at two local Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the winter and spring that reached 500 students. The Boys and Girls Club program allowed me to learn how to write lesson plans, and after many edits, I taught those lessons at the afterschool program.

Watershed Management Intro

This program is where I found my teaching style. This winter we visited 5th grade classrooms across the Rockford public school system to teach about the importance of water management. I taught this lesson many times over, so I started to add my own twist to things: I named some of the animals in the model and pretended I was an evil mayor that polluted the water before we brainstormed how we could keep runoff water clean on its way back to nature. And just like that, teaching went from something that made me a little nervous to something I really enjoyed doing.

City Nature Challenge Game Plan

One of my goals is to become better at identifying species of plants, animals, and fungi. City Nature Challenge gave me the opportunity to fast track this goal in an all out “bio blitz” of identifying all things nature using iNaturalist. The staff also started competing to find the most bird species using Merlin Bird ID. I found 80 bird species!

RPS Camp Planning

The icing on the cake of my experience was directing RPS camp with my co-worker and friend Shannon. We designed and carried out a five week summer camp that reached 100 Rockford Public School Campers! Each week we led the campers through shelter building, owl pellet dissections, creek walks, and more. We had a lot of fun getting to know the campers and watching them become more comfortable in nature.

Sydney’s Farewell...

It is now time to turn the page. While I am not sure where the next step in my career will take me, like a leaf to the wind, I will take my experiences and memories from working at Severson wherever I may end up next. I dedicate my success in this position to Andrea, Elly, Liz, Ann, Laura, Becca, Linda, Emma, Shannon, Rowan, Mason, and Salem. After moving from my hometown in New York for this soul-touching work a year ago, each of you have made me feel welcome and helped me learn as an educator along the way. Thank you for making this such an amazing experience filled with potlucks, discover nature hikes, “if you can hear my voice…”, hiding taxidermy, “No, there aren’t alligators in the pond”, songs of the week, and friendship.

Happy National Make-A-Will Month

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 20:56:59 GMT

As we observe National Make-A-Will Month this August, I want to relate a personal story about preparing my own will.

Have you ever heard the saying “the cobbler’s children have no shoes”? Up until a month ago, this statement described me since my husband is a lawyer and we had no will or estate plan. I counted myself in good company when I learned that Abraham Lincoln, Picasso, Sonny Bono, and Aretha Franklin all died without a will. And I had a lot in common with the 72% of Americans who have not officially spelled out what should happen to their assets upon their death.

Wills and estate plans are easy to put off. They feel too complicated, too time-consuming and too official. And frankly it’s not much fun to think about who should get what, knowing that at least one person is going to be disappointed and someone will most likely think they were left with the short end of the stick.

While a will can’t soothe hurt feelings, one with a named executor will speed up the probate process and ensure that your wishes are fulfilled. Creating a will doesn’t have to be time-consuming or difficult - there are many resources online to help you write a document that needs only to be witnessed and notarized. The resources I found were free, very helpful, and very legal. Steps were simplified and I completed my will in less than an hour. If your wishes are more complicated, finding an estate attorney is also easy and can be very affordable.

Another benefit of making a will or estate plan is that you get to decide what charities and nonprofit organizations will receive a final gift from you. If you’ve been a passionate supporter of something over your lifetime, wouldn’t you like to give them a final gift that really means something? It’s easy to direct a certain dollar amount or a certain percentage of your estate to an organization you really care about. And the organization is bound by law to follow your intentions - you can choose whether you want your gift to go to a certain program, operations and overhead, building maintenance, or an endowment fund. Equally as impactful, is making your favorite charitable organization the beneficiary of your retirement fund, IRA, or life insurance policy.

Here at Severson Dells Nature Center, we ask that you consider including us in your estate plans. When you do, you become part of our Heritage Society, a group of like-minded folks, dedicated to the future of nature education in our region. Your gift, large or small, will make a difference.

In 2016, a bequest from Orville and Ruth Varland to Severson Dells created an endowment fund to support field trips for students from the Rockford Public Schools. The fund has grown over time and continues to make a difference in the lives of young people who come to the Dells, many experiencing nature for the first time. Each year, students who have never been in a forest, seen a natural creek, or sat in the grass are here because of the Varlands. The legacy of Orville and Ruth lives on and on and on.

I invite you to celebrate and Make-A-Will this month. Take the time to look for online resources or contact your attorney. Make sure your intentions are clearly written down so that when the time comes, there is no question about what you wanted. Please consider including Severson Dells in your will and join our Heritage Society. And let us know that you included us so we can thank and celebrate you now!

If you've already considered Severson Dells in your estate plans, let us know! Email me at linda@seversondells.org or call me at 815-335-2915.

* Please note: Severson Dells Education Foundation is not a legal entity and cannot give legal advice. We encourage you to seek out legal advice should you have any questions about the process of making a will or leaving an estate gift. Our Tax ID number is 36-2985870

Summer Storms: Meteorology and our Local Environment

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 17:54:10 GMT

Summer days have an intense energy. For us, it’s easy to pack a lot of activity into long, sunlight-filled days. The atmosphere is packed in a different way, with thick, heavy humidity and sun-baked heat. You have probably experienced one of these particularly sweltering days where periods of calm are interrupted with a sudden summer storm. One moment you are relaxing, the next, you hear the rumbling of thunder, and it begins to rain, instantly cooling the hot ground and taking the stickiness from the air. You don’t have long to take in the scene as the intensity of the heat gives way to an intense storm. This is a different kind of energy in the air; this is a summer storm.

But what makes summer the season of storms? And what landscape factors make Illinois the perfect staging ground for storms? Keep reading to find the answers to these questions and hear from our State Climatologist, Dr. Trent Ford!

The Makings of a Storm

Storms need three things to develop: moisture, atmospheric instability, and atmospheric motion. Adding a vertical wind shear to the mix can lead to a severe storm, like a tornado. Warmer summer months offer the perfect conditions for this development to occur.

1. Moisture

Moisture accumulates in the air as warm water evaporates from oceans, lakes, streams, and other water reservoirs due to rising seasonal temperatures. This water is held in warm air that can hold more moisture than cool air. Humidity is a measure of water vapor content in the air. All of the evaporated moisture makes the air feel more humid or sticky because our sweat evaporates from our skin much more slowly in humid air than in dry air. The moisture in the air makes it possible for storms to produce clouds and rain when combined with other factors.

2. Atmospheric Instability

After the moisture evaporates and is held in the air, it needs to rise and condense to form storm clouds. This need for rising air is possible due to drastic differences in temperature between the air layers, creating atmospheric instability. On hot days, the air near the Earth’s surface heats up, creating warm, less dense air that wants to rise above the cool, more dense air. The larger the temperature difference between the warm air layer closer to the Earth’s surface and the cool air layer above, the more unstable the air.

3. Atmospheric Lift

Lastly, a storm needs a source of lift to equalize the atmospheric instability.

Unequal Heating : can be initiated by the sun heating the Earth’s surface at uneven rates. A vegetated area will heat up more slowly than a paved surface, and this unequal heating causes different air densities that start to lift and create atmospheric currents.

Colliding Air Fronts and Dry Lines : When a cold front and warm front collide, the colder, denser air will sink, and the warmer, less dense air is forced to rise rapidly, which can lead to thunderstorm formation. Similarly, in dry lines, differences in moisture content can pull the dense, dry air under the less dense, moist air.

Geologic factors : Air is pushed upward when it encounters a mountain and may form storm clouds. This is known as orographic lift.

Outflow Boundaries : can be caused by storms themselves! The newly rain cooled air under the storm acts as a cold front as it tries to push out ahead of the storm and consequently nudges warm air upwards. This can lead to new thunderstorm development.

These ‘nudges’ and the resulting air movement due to density inequalities cause pressure differences that further drive the formation of storms. Air tends to move from high to low pressure in an attempt to equalize. When warm, less dense air rises, it leaves a pocket of low atmospheric pressure near the Earth’s surface. The newly created pressure gradient causes surrounding air to quickly fill the low-pressure zone. That air may then warm and rise, repeating the chain of events that leads to further storm formation.

4. Wind

The storm has now formed, but how powerful will it be? The result depends on a final factor: wind. More drastic wind updrafts and downdrafts will give the storm the ability to better maintain its inflow of warm, moist air to fuel its continuation. Speaking of wind directions, vertical wind shear is the change in wind speed and direction as altitude, or vertical height, increases. Wind shear can bring horizontal rotation to the atmosphere, known as a mesocyclone, that can contribute to the creation of supercells. A supercell is a strong storm with a rotating updraft that can produce large hail, powerful winds, flash flooding conditions, and tornadoes. You can recognize a supercell by its tall, anvil-shaped cloud that will reach high into the sky and extend far to the east. However, just as wind can strengthen a storm, it can also weaken it by separating the warm air source from the core of the storm

To better visualize the causes behind storm formation, watch this video by NOAA!

Illinois: Setting the Stage for Storms

Beyond these storm ingredients, our local environment in Illinois also influences the conditions needed to create a summer storm.

According to Illinois State Climatologist, Dr. Trent Ford, “the biggest local influence on summer storm formation in northern Illinois is moisture contribution from the land. Water evaporation from the soil and transpiration from plants (including crops) contributes significantly to the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. … Some research has suggested the expansion of corn production in the central US has also had an impact on storm formation and intensity in the Midwest during the summer.”

Illinois’ location in the Midwest makes it subject to extremes of temperature and precipitation. Illinois receives 3 to 4 times more solar energy in the summer than it does in the winter, meaning summer and winter temperatures are pushed to extremes. Illinois is situated where cold polar air from the north and hot, humid air that came from the Gulf in the South interact. Furthermore, Illinois sometimes finds itself on the path of the polar jet stream, a fast, high-altitude wind current that flows from west to east, forming a boundary between these air masses. The differing air mass interactions fuel low-pressure storms with the moisture, instability, and motion that they need to form.

Northern Illinois has flat plains, urban climates, and Lake Michigan as additional local contributors. The relative flatness of Northern Illinois means there are fewer natural wind breaks on the land, which can make it easier for high winds to persist and tornadoes to take hold. Northern Illinois is home to cities including Chicago, and even closer to home, Rockford. However, the numerous buildings and paved surfaces that comprise our cities have a greater potential to absorb heat, which makes those areas warmer and more likely to produce precipitation. Although Illinois is inland, its proximity to Lake Michigan influences wind direction and speed while bringing moderated temperatures to Chicago. Water temperatures stay more constant than land, so air going over the lake results in warmer winter temperatures and cooler summer temperatures. This can also produce less summer precipitation and more winter precipitation. This phenomenon is known as the lake effect.

Looking to a Future with Severe Weather

Illinois Severe Weather Trends

Illinois experiences a notable amount of severe weather in the summer months. Thunderstorms make up half of the annual precipitation. There is an average of 60 storms per year, half of which fall in the warm summer months. State climatologist Ford said, “Summer storms are producing more intense rainfall, which increases the risk of excessive water problems like localized flooding, soil erosion, etc. Scott Lincoln at the Chicago National Weather Service Office led a recent study on extreme rainfall events in Chicagoland , that shows an increase in the frequency and intensity of these events.” According to NOAA, there have been 92 severe storm events in Illinois with losses exceeding $1 billion from 1980-2024. In this 44-year span, 53% of the 92 storms have occurred in the last 10 years. Following this trend, the frequency and intensity of severe storms are expected to continue to increase as conditions become more favorable for storm formation. The average temperature is rising, leading to more evaporation of moisture, greater atmospheric instability, and stronger lifting mechanisms. The rising temperature stems from the transfer of energy from the ground to the sky as we burn fossil fuels, releasing greenhouse gases that insulate our atmosphere beyond pre-industrial conditions. This process has and will continue to impact the severity of each passing summer storm season.

Summer Storm Takeaway

According to State Climatologist Ford, “One of the most important takeaways about summer storms, to me, is that the precise location of the most severe storm conditions (e.g., strongest winds, hail, heaviest rain) is very difficult to accurately predict even just hours ahead of the storm. NWS scientists do a great job forecasting and communicating summer storm risk across a region, like Chicagoland or the Rockford area, but our current state-of-the-art techniques and models cannot give the exact location of where the heaviest rain will fall or where the strongest winds will blow at very fine spatial scales, like specific neighborhoods. This means that folks need to prepare for the significant impacts storms can bring anytime the NWS is predicting a risk of storms in a region.”

Preparing Yourself for a Storm

Additionally, when I asked State Climatologist Ford about what individuals can do to better prepare for the summer storm season, he told me about how people can keep themselves safe. “As we get into the summer, it's important for folks to have some important things on hand in case of storm impacts. Fresh water, batteries and a working flashlight, non-perishable food are must haves. When severe weather and storms are expected, make sure folks know what they need to do in case of severe weather, and where family and friends are in case they need assistance. Making sure your phone is charged is also very important leading up to a severe weather event.”

Contributing to Storm Community Science

You can also contribute to a community science program during these storm events by joining the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHs) at https://cocorahs.org/ . “... folks can measure precipitation and help fill in the gaps between precipitation events. It's really important in the summertime when we can get big differences in rainfall from just a single storm across a small area.” Contributing to local science can help you gain a better understanding of storms while also helping scientists!

Next time you see the sun on a hot day, give way to dark clouds rolling in; you will not only know that a storm is about to begin, but also the mechanisms that feed our powerful summer storms.

Sources

NOAA - Ingredients for a Thunderstorm

National Weather Service - Air Pressure

National Weather Service - Severe Weather Topics: What is Wind Shear?

National Weather Service - What is a Supercell?

State Climatologist Office for Illinois - Climate of Illinois Narrative

Illinois State Climatologist - 2024 Weather was Very Warm and Wild

NOAA - Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters

Dr. Trent Ford - Illinois State Climatologist

NOAA SciJinks - What Causes a Thunderstorm?

Nature's Blueprint

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:56:07 GMT

Nature holds the answers for how to be more efficient with managing our supplies of earth’s natural resources. In fact, nature serves as the inspiration and blueprint for many structures and objects we use every day! Biomimicry is a practice of engineering that creates designs based on structures and sequences from the Earth’s natural world, including but not limited to plants, animals, and geographies. Biomimicry designs are meant to imitate functions that already exist and occur in nature. These designs are being transferred over and scaled up to provide solutions to human caused problems. There are three main core principles that make up biomimicry: recreating natural shapes, processes, and entire ecosystems.

Through evolution, nature has already perfected its design solutions, each with its own unique function and capabilities. By recognizing natural patterns and design phenomena that already exist in nature, more efficient and natural solutions can be used for everyday human issues. There are infinite examples of naturally occurring shapes and sequences found throughout nature: fractals, spirals, tessellations, optimized flow, camouflage, etc.

Fractals are self-repeating patterns that maximize distribution and surface area, and these exist all throughout nature. Common examples of fractals in nature are lightning patterns in the sky, fern leaves, and coral formations. All which grow in fractal patterns to maximize their surface area: for prime energy release, nutrient absorption, and photosynthesis. Fracture patterns have been scaled up and used throughout engineering designs and applications, just look at urban planning in cities like Rome, Italy. The roads in Rome use fractal layouts to minimize congestion and improve traffic flow.

Spirals are very commonly seen all throughout nature, this shape is unique because it allows for continuous growth without changing shape (it continues to expand and grow on without interfering with the previous growth), while optimizing new growth, strength, and energy efficiency. Common examples of spirals in nature are seashells, pinecones, and weather patterns, which move and grow in ways that maximize space and resource allocation. Spiral designs have regularly been considered and mimicked in engineering designs, commonly seen in architectural designs (Gherkin building in London, UK, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA) as this shape provides a strong but flexible structure, capable of withstanding large stresses. Spiral shapes are also used in renewable energy designs, primarily with wind turbines ( vertical axis wind turbines: VAWTs ). VAWTs are better suited for urban environments. They are capable of noise reduction, omni-directional wind capture, automatic wind alignment, and enhanced low-wind speed performance, when compared to the more recognizable wind turbine design horizontal axis wind turbines (HWATs). VWATs provide increased power output, minimized maintenance requirements, and enhances wind capture and conversion efficiency, making them more efficient for everyday weather patterns.

Tessellations are repeating geometric patterns that fit together without gaps or overlaps, that can repeat in all directions infinitely. Common examples of tessellations in nature are honeycomb structures in beehives, turtle shells, and snake scales, which are uniquely arranged to optimize efficiency, structural support, and space usage. Tessellation patterns are harder to recreate in engineering design, but they are applied in architectural design with geodesic domes, and in artistic design with mosaics and stunning tile works. A common item that is often overlooked with its application of tessellation models is building design, and how materials lay on top of each other. Think of a basic brick wall, the same rectangular shape is repeated over and over again and seamlessly built up on top of each other until it is a complete wall, with no gaps or cracks.

Optimized flow is a bit harder to conceptualize. Optimized flow patterns minimize resistance, maximize efficiency, and are always adapting to changing conditions. In all natural systems, there is a series of networks and channels that transport materials and signals from a central source to various end destinations. These channels are so advanced that they provide a constant flow across time and space that occurs rapidly, and goes through a series of interconnected loops , constantly re-routing and changing course in less than a nanosecond as conditions change. Common examples of optimized flow in nature are the cardiovascular system in humans, the vascular system in plants, and the body shape of birds and fish. Within the cardiovascular system, blood vessels are quickly responding, and constantly expanding and contracting to deliver blood efficiently throughout the human body, and this is happening instantaneously. A similar process occurs in the vascular system of plants, where there are xylem and phloem, which aid in the transport of water, minerals, and sugars throughout plant structures, and they are regulated by signals coming from the plant based on current surrounding conditions that are ensuring efficient distribution of these resources. Bird and fish optimized flows appear different, but are the same engineering principle. Natural flyers and swimmers are capable of operating under various unpredictable conditions, they can take off, land, glide, and repeat as many times as they want with the same maneuverability possible each time. This is possible because of these animals' natural ability to alter flow control. Meaning, they are capable of postponing boundary layer separation (reducing drag and increasing lift), delaying and advancing laminar turbulent transition (abruptly changing from a smooth, ordered flow to a chaotic, disordered flow), and altering vortical dynamics (changing how a fluid forms, and moves). Essentially, birds and fish are capable of making split second decisions that allow them to alter fluid and aerodynamics. Optimized flow is considered throughout all of engineering design. Biomimicry applications of optimized flow include the design of swimsuits and high speed trains, both of which are meant to mimic the bird and fish relationship described earlier, defying fluid and aerodynamics.

Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows organisms and objects to blend into their surroundings. This is used as a survival tactic to help an organism match their environment, making them less visible to predators. Common examples of camouflage in nature are chameleons changing color, frogs having multiple colors and spots on them to blend in with swampy environments, and bugs resembling plants such as the walkingstick and the orchid mantis. Camouflage is commonly replicated throughout engineering design, through the incorporation of buildings that blend into natural surroundings, the military, and fashion. Disney World in Orlando, Florida does an excellent job of using camouflage throughout their resort. They meticulously chose the colors “Go Away Green” and “Blending Blue” to be used on backstage buildings, cameras, trash cans, construction fences, and utility boxes throughout their adventure park to make less desirable infrastructure blend into the background. Their use of Go Away Green on objects like fences, buildings, and equipment blend into the natural greenery, and Blending Blue is used on taller structures to blend into the sky. By using these colors, it tricks visitors' brains by blending the infrastructure into the surrounding environment, and not seeing them as directly.

There are so many more shapes and sequences that were found in nature and used in the inspiration of the designs than just these five mentioned, the list could keep going on forever. These are just the sequences that we have found, imagine all of the repeating shapes and patterns that also exist but humans have yet to notice.

Biomimicry is a process that helps humans to learn how to create green solutions that are more self-sustaining, and that replicate designs that already exist all over nature. Biomimicry offers more than just engineering inspiration, it provides the solutions towards a sustainable, efficient, and resilient future in an ever evolving world. It is the master blueprint for how to recreate natural processes that are resilient but also enhance the surrounding environment at the same time. As mentioned before, there are so many examples of these natural processes being used in engineering designs and principles. Some other notable examples include:

How bur seeds inspired velcro
How mosquito proboscis inspired a less painful needle
How animal limbs inspired earthquake resistant bridges
How a kingfisher, an owl, and a penguin inspired a Japanese Bullet train
How termite mounds inspired building design for efficient cooling and ventilation
How coral organisms inspired innovative carbon sequestration
How birds inspired flight
How prairie systems inspired sustainable and more efficient agriculture
How stenocara beetles inspired water harvesting from air

Many of the resources we need for everyday life (energy, water, etc), are abundant on Earth. All ecosystems in nature are dynamic, where every part and small change will affect and impact the entire ecosystem. Ecosystems are complex and interconnected networks, and by studying these systems we can gain knowledge about how to recreate more sustainable, efficient, and resilient technologies, while preserving the resources that it needs to comfortably function and survive. Within recent years, global crises are more relevant than ever. Between changing weather patterns, habitat and biodiversity loss, and resource depletion, the need for environmentally friendly solutions to everyday problems has never been more dire. Biomimicry provides this, by offering a practical blueprint for natural design that both satisfies the objective, while also keeping a balance between the natural world. Ultimately, we want to keep a harmonious relationship between human ingenuity and the existing ecosystems. Through the use of biometrics, a future where human made technology and nature work together for the well being of planet Earth, is possible.

Mother nature is the original engineer, and has been innovating for billions of years already. Let us celebrate the scientists and designers who turn to her for their inspiration. For all we know, the solutions to so many problems may have been right under our noses this whole time!

Sources:

Baumgardner, Alex. “Biomimicry and Engineering: Doing It Nature’s Way.” Glumac, Glumac A Tetra Tech Company, 12 Apr. 2016, glumac.com/biomimicry-and-engineering-doing-it-natures-way/ .

Harris, Ryan. “The Wonders of Biomimicry: Engineering Inspired by Nature.” Kids Discover, Kids Discover Online, 18 July 2024, kidsdiscover.com/teacherresources/the-wonders-of-biomimicry-engineering-inspired-by-nature/?srsltid=AfmBOop_AF9fUnQjdz54ZB6O-EZpZs7ZjYfm4yrb-cpU2-WBw2w_dp3M .

“10 Patterns in Nature That Solve Design Problems.” Learn Biomimicry, Biomimicry Institute, www.learnbiomimicry.com/blog/patterns-in-nature-that-solve-design-problems?srsltid=AfmBOop2VWgDqG9xrfzQGN4m-UGkXMmHokFdDpYl2AcHl4d88Opoo1DY .

Naier. “Spiral Wind Turbine: Harnessing the Power of Wind in a Unique Design.” Nai Er Feng Dian, Yixing Naier Wind Power Technology Co., www.smartwindturbine.com/a-spiral-wind-turbine-harnessing-the-power-of-wind-in-a-unique-design.html .

Ralevski, Alexandra. “Looped Network Optimizes Water and Nutrient Flow .” AskNature , Biomimicry Institute, asknature.org/strategy/looped-network-optimizes-water-and-nutrient-flow/ .

Devi, Preevena. “Biomimicry: Learning from Nature, the Original Engineer.” Taylor’s University, Taylor’s College, 21 Apr. 2025, university.taylors.edu.my/en/student-life/news/2025/biomimicry-learning-from-nature-the-original-engineer.html#principles-of-biomimicry .

Nature's Role in Early Childhood

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 15:39:22 GMT

*please note: This blog was adapted from a blog series authored in 2023.

It may be summer, but learning never stops! Early childhood education is essential for lifelong success. Ready to Learn , led by Alignment Rockford, is Rockford's regional coalition of The Basics Illinois Network , a program focused on supporting families in preparing their young children for kindergarten and beyond. The goal is to reduce environmental risk factors and to enhance access, equity, and quality programming and resources. Ready to Learn wants all Rockford area children to have the opportunity to thrive, learn and grow!

There are five Basic Principles that prepare children for a lifetime of learning and success. The Basic Principles are " Maximize Love and Manage Stress ," " Talk, Sing, and Point ," " Count, Group, and Compare ," " Explore through Movement and Play ," and " Read and Discuss Stories " and you can access each principle by clicking the highlighted words. Each of The Basic Principles is broken up into two age categories: 0-12 months and 12-36 months. The tips and activities are age appropriate, easy to do, and fun for everyone!

At Severson Dells, we understand the importance of early childhood education and how we can help educate children through active play and learning in nature. Time spent outside can lead to lifelong success. Studies show that spending time outdoors and in nature as a child can positively impact academic success.

Maximize Love and Manage Stress in Nature

The first of the five Basic Principles coming from the coalition of The Basics Illinois Network is to maximize love and manage stress. Here at Severson Dells Nature Center we want you to be able to use nature as a resource to help you accomplish maximizing love and managing stress.

Maximizing love allows infants and toddlers to thrive in the world. When the world is a loving, safe, and predictable place they are able to develop effective methods of managing their feelings and behaviors. The outdoors is an effective way to help allow infants and toddlers to experience new positive stimuli that with your help they can feel comfortable in.

Managing stress is an important ability that children need to learn how to do. Big feelings come with big responsibilities. As adults, we model love, stress management, and behavior control. By showing your children love and demonstrating how to handle big feelings, your child will be better prepared to understand and respond to their own feelings. It also strengthens the bond you share with your children, allowing them to feel security, which gives them the confidence they need to thrive.

Sharing a love for nature with your child can create a bond between you, your child, and the world around us. Responding to natural stimuli in nature can also help your child learn more about their feelings and how they can react to them. So having nature be part of your child’s life is a beneficial and rewarding experience.

As adults, some of us may have things we are afraid of in nature (snakes, spiders, etc). It is really important that we do our best not to transfer those fears to our children, so they aren’t afraid of being in nature. We do want to teach them how to be safe in nature, but not to fear it.

For Infants (0-12 Months)

Establishing a routine is vital from infancy. Making time for moments outdoors will help your child associate time outside with a healthy routine. When thinking about a routine, try scheduling in time for a walk around your neighborhood, local park, or nature area. You can also embrace the fresh air by heading to a grassy area for some play time (it’s great for tummy time!). Encourage your baby to interact with the grass, by sitting or laying on it. Be aware grass can sometimes be overstimulating for babies, so bring a thin blanket as well. A thin blanket will allow them to still experience some of the textures of the grass without being too stimulating. Play as you normally would with your baby, using toys, voices, and facial expressions to convey emotions.

For Toddlers (12-36 Months)

Routines continue to be important during this growing stage and can help regulate transitions and emotions when your child knows what to expect. During your regularly scheduled outdoor time, allow your child to explore. It is helpful to set basic safety expectations and limits. Prompt your child with options, such as which path to take. Throughout your time outside, be sure to express your own emotions when things happen. Maybe a chipmunk ran across the path in front of you and made you jump. You were surprised and it is good to talk to your child about how nature makes us feel. Perhaps the sun is perfect and makes your skin warm, bringing a smile to your face. Use your words to express how it makes you feel. As you express your own emotions, encourage your child to name their own and respond to these emotions. For older toddlers, a great way to put this all together is by jumping off a log. Allow them to choose where they jump and how. When they stick the landing, they may feel happy and full of pride. If they do not stick the landing, they may feel sad or take it as a challenge to try again until they can do it! Talking through their feelings will give them the confidence to try again and continue to try new things in a safe way.

When exploring outside with your toddler, it’s important to support them engaging with nature in a respectful way. Remind them to be gentle and to treat nature how they would like to be treated. Encourage them to observe bugs, but don’t squish them and smell flowers, but don’t pick them. You are your toddlers first teacher, so please lead by example.

Lastly, be okay with your toddler getting dirty. At this age, they are little scientists navigating the world around them and experimenting with each new texture. Let them squish mud in their hands, dig in the dirt and play with rocks and sticks.

Have fun helping your little one explore the world around them as they learn to fall in love with nature.

Talk, Sing, and Point in Nature

The second of the five Basic Principles coming from the coalition of The Basics Illinois Network is to talk, sing, and point. Nature alone gives us so many different opportunities to share unique things with children that they aren’t able to see inside and you are able to share it all with them. Language and sound is a powerful tool when it comes to connecting children to nature. Babies are learning from the very beginning and much of that learning comes from the vocal interactions families have with them. All around us, nature speaks as well. Allow nature to assist you!

For Infants (0-12 Months)

In your yard, neighborhood, or other natural space, take a walk with your baby, positioning them in a way that they can see all around them. During your walk, point out different natural aspects. Name each item. Follow their interests. You don’t need to be an expert to tell a kid what a flower is or a squirrel. Perhaps your baby is particularly interested in the leaves that you are pointing out. Try to find as many different leaves as you can. Name differences between the leaves you find like this one is pointy and this is brown. Try making up a song to go along with whatever items you are pointing out! All these methods will set your infant up for new opportunities to learn and grow.

For Toddlers (12-36 Months)

In your yard, neighborhood, or other natural space, take a walk with your toddler. Make sure to be specific when you are telling them what you are doing, like “we are going outside to explore a park and see plants” because that gives them a chance to make connections about what you said ahead of time and what happens. Make sure to allow your toddler to point out different items along the way. Perhaps your child points out an ant hill. Ask your child questions to get them thinking about what is happening. Try asking, "What do you think those ants are doing in there?" Be sure to respond and continue the conversation! You may get some fun and silly answers and that is ok! This is your toddler processing the world around them as they see it. If you can think of any songs to go with the items, it is always great to incorporate them even if you make it up yourself. As you leave the ants behind, try singing "The Ants Go Marching." Another activity you can try is to mimic the sounds of nature. Birds chirp and sing all day long. Ask your child to mimic the birds they hear and then mimic the birds with them. Similarly to the ants, ask questions that get them thinking about the world around them and how we all interact with it and each other.

The potential experiences out in nature for all ages are limitless. You just have to give them the opportunities to experience the many different aspects it has to offer and show them the beginning of those experiences with simple exploration.

Count, Group, and Compare in Nature

Did you know you have a mathematician on your hands? That's right! Babies and toddlers are excellent at noticing simple math patterns, such as amounts and groups. Nature is full of patterns and these patterns often repeat in the lives of humans. Children naturally like to compare the sizes and shapes of things through activities like mouthing objects and playing with toys. You can help them compare things in nature too. Establishing that connection between humans and the earth through counting, grouping, and comparing will set your child up for success. Math skills are entwined with other learning domains such as language, social, and emotional development so when they feel physically safe enough to explore the world they are able to truly thrive. The world has aspects of nature everywhere you look and it's important your child feels comfortable and safe near it and that will only come with early experiences interacting with the natural world. Allowing these skills to develop will push your child to be more adept at whatever the world will throw at them.

For Infants (0-12 Months)

Everything is new to your baby right now! This means they will be sponges for information learning from as many things that you will allow them to. This is the perfect opportunity for your child to experience nature itself. With your baby, try finding a plant with multiple leaves or a flower with multiple petals. Point to each leaf or petal and count with your baby. Allow your baby to explore these plants through their senses (avoid taste), but put a major focus on touch. You can present two different plants to your baby to allow for some comparison. They will feel different textures with each plant and may notice other patterns, such as the quantity of leaves. Helping them understand these differences is also a great way to let them learn different words.

For Toddlers (12-36 Months)

Toddlers will be able to pick up more patterns and different patterns at the same time. You can add new challenges for them to keep learning and expanding their knowledge. The natural world itself is a great way to find new experiences and here you can try this fun scavenger hunt that anyone can use!

With this simple scavenger hunt you can look for all kinds of shapes, colors, and textures! It's a fun challenge that can get your child to practice their observation skills. As you explore outside with your toddler, follow their interests and talk with them about what they observe. This not only helps them with noticing patterns and their language development, but improves their comfort and confidence in nature.

Here is a great activity* from our friends at Little Pine Learners: https://littlepinelearners.com/nature-find-and-count-math-activity/

*We only ask that you not pick anything that is still living.

I hope you enjoy challenging your little one to help them better understand the world through nature's patterns.

Explore through Movement and Play in Nature

Movement and play help keep our children active and healthy while aiding in meeting developmental milestones. Learning to use their bodies is essential for long term success. Nature itself is a powerful teacher that will help their strength, coordination and fine and gross motor skills. The open-ended learning that is available to children out in nature is so valuable. Playing is frequently just kids navigating and problem-solving the world around them.

For Infants (0-12 Months):

Moving your usual movement activities outside is a great way to embrace nature. If your baby does tummy time, try doing this outside on a blanket. Allow them to explore the grass and plants around them. Use objects to play search and find. Mix in natural objects with their favorite toys to spark their interest. All of these add another interesting element to their normal schedules to learn and develop more from. Listening to birds, smelling flowers, and gazing at the clouds are many new experiences that infants can't get inside. All of these empower infants to continue to learn and develop with these new experiences.

For Toddlers (12-36 Months):

For toddlers, allow them to enhance their problem solving skills through movement. One way you can do this is by making a simple obstacle course! Whether it is in your yard, neighborhood park, or other natural area, take a few natural materials like sticks and rocks and create an obstacle course. Allow your child to problem-solve their way through this course. They may make mistakes, but that is ok! Uneven terrain of natural spaces can help increase coordination and strength, both mentally and physically. For older toddlers, you may want to try allowing them to climb on small rocks and logs, as their strength, balance and coordination allow. These types of small challenges continue to improve their physicality, but will also improve their confidence as they continue to challenge themselves with your support.

Another method for engaging in movement and play is taking a walk, allowing your toddler to set the pace. Watch them stop to examine rocks, bugs, or plants. The action of gently picking up small objects helps hone their fine motor skills. Talk to them about what they see, get them to put words to their thoughts, reasons to their actions, experiences to their memories.

If you are looking for a good bridge from the built environment to the woods to explore nature with your toddler, nature playscapes are a great spot to help build your toddler’s comfort and confidence in nature. At Severson Dells, there is The Grove , but if you are traveling Nature Explore has a comprehensive list of certified nature playgrounds for you to venture to.

Allowing your child to explore nature through movement and play will help them flourish, both mentally and physically. Have fun and enjoy all the benefits that you will reap from time outside with your child!

Read and Discuss Stories in Nature

Over the last few months, we have been taking the five Basic Principles that prepare a child for a lifetime of learning and success and have shown how and why you should take these strategies outdoors. The last of the Illinois Basics Principles is to Read and Discuss Stories. Through this post I want to help you figure out how you can bring the Principle out into nature to amplify all your child’s experiences!

Reading to your child is one of the best ways you can begin preparing them for their school years to come. Why not bring your reading time outdoors! There are many great books focused around nature that can be read in nature. Also some health benefits can come from reading outside. Fresh air and sunlight are important for the human body and using natural light can help reduce eye strain when compared to artificial light.

In need of books? Check out your local library, Little Free Libraries, or your local nature center! Severson Dells Nature Center has a children's library with plenty of nature based books to read and we would be more than happy to share.

For Infants (0-12 Months):

Try laying out a blanket under a nice tree for your reading time. Pick out simple books. Be sure to describe the pictures within the book, pointing out colors and shapes. Try to connect the book to the world around you! If there is grass, leaves or rocks in the book, allow your baby to explore those as well. Be careful not to let them ingest any of these items.

For Toddlers (12-36 Months):

Select a nature based book to read. Find a nice spot to sit and read the book with your child. Allow your child to explore the book and all it has to offer! Take your time while reading and really enjoy the pictures. It is not a race to finish! Ask questions along the way. When you have finished the book, try using it as a scavenger hunt or guide through the natural space you find yourself in! Allow your child to connect the book to the real world through finding examples, objects, and ideas presented in the book.

We hope these have been helpful resources to incorporate more time in nature into your child’s life. Time in nature is beneficial for your child in so many ways, but it is also beneficial for you. Enjoy bonding time with your family in nature and help their development along the way.

*please note: This blog was adapted from a blog series authored in 2023.

Household Hazardous Waste Disposal

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 19:40:07 GMT

How to Safely dispose of common corrosive and hazardous household materials

Whether it's from doing a spring cleaning of your house, clearing everything out when you or a friend is getting ready to move, or getting rid of the extra cleaning junk and garden chemicals that you have piled in the shed; you’ve probably found yourself wondering “how do I get rid of these things?” In just about every house in the United States, there are plenty of items that cannot be regularly thrown away with usual garbage because they can be toxic and dangerous to the environment. Instead, they require a special type of disposal. These items are called household hazardous waste, which most people just abbreviate and refer to these items as HHW. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines HHW as, “some leftover household products that can catch fire, react, or explode under certain circumstances, or that are corrosive or toxic”. Throughout the United States, each state and most U.S territories have HHW collection programs for residents to dispose of their hazardous waste correctly, with most states having more than one of these locations.

If you need to dispose of your own HHW, it is important to look up and see which drop-off location is the closest to you, but it’s crucial that you make sure the location is located in the same state as you! Local taxes and regulations make it so it is free for residents (of that state) to dispose of their HHW, but if you are an out of state resident then you will either be turned away, or there will be a small fee for disposal. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has created a helpful online database which lists HHW collection locations, as well as other collection facility locations, in both a map and table form. This online site will show you which collection locations are near you, their hours of operation, and any other important information you may need to know ahead of time.

Residents of the Rockford area are fortunate enough to have one of these collection sites located here in south Rockford! The City of Rockford, Illinois EPA, and Four Rivers Sanitation Authority co-operate the Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Center , which is located at 3315 Kishwaukee Street and it is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. However, when the following holidays land on a Saturday or Sunday, this location is closed (New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Independence Day, and Christmas Day). In Illinois, HHW collection sites are funded by the Illinois EPA, meaning, they are free for the public to use (Illinois residents only). Agriculture, business, and commercial properties are not able to dispose of hazardous waste at these sites and will be turned away if tried, this site is only allowed disposal for residents with permissible household items. Please note that it’s easiest for the workers if you bring your HHW materials in a container that you don’t want back, this allows the workers to sort the materials on their time and prevents traffic buildup at the loading site.

In Illinois landfills, the disposal of Covered Electronic Devices (CEDs) are prohibited, instead there’s a different type of disposal center to take this waste to. CEDs are video display devices that contain a screen greater than four inches diagonally, examples include computer monitors, tablets, laptops, portable DVD players, printers, etc. The Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Center doesn’t accept electronic waste (e-waste), however, there are three recycling center locations provided by Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful (KNIB) that specialize in e-waste: (Rockford Recycle Center, 4665 Hydraulic Road, Rockford, IL), (Machesney Park Recycle Center, 8409 N. 2nd Street, Machesney Park, IL), and (South Beloit Recycle Center, 624 Eastern Avenue, South Beloit, IL). In 2017, the state of Illinois passed the Consumer Electronics Recycling Act (CERA) , which is a state law that requires there be a statewide system for recycling and reusing residents' unwanted electronics. Disposal for the following items are covered under the CERA program:

Computers and Small-Scale Servers
Computer Monitors
Electronic Keyboards & Mice
Printers, Fax Machines, and Scanners
Televisions
DVD Players, DVD Recorders, and VCRs
Digital Converter Boxes, Cable Receivers, and Satellite Receivers
Portable Digital Music Players and Video Game Consoles

Disposal of televisions and monitors will come at a slight fee, and the amount will depend on the size of the TV/monitor. Only intact electronics will be accepted. Any partial devices, components, and parts are not eligible for the CERA program and will likely be turned away, or be taken for a fee.

TVs/monitors < 19 inches ($20)
TVs/monitors > 19 inches ($25)
Projection TVs/wood console TVs ($30)

Common Questions

People often wonder how to get rid of latex paint. Some people may remember taking paint to a HHW site to dispose of it, but now you can take a few steps to safely dispose of it in regular garbage. First, you need to combine the latex paint with some type of absorber agent (cat litter, sawdust, Oil Dri, or other absorbent materials). When you use an absorber agent, you typically add an equal amount of the absorber as there is latex paint (unless directed otherwise on the directions when using a commercial paint hardener). Then, you need to allow the mixture to set, stirring the absorbent into the paint may speed up the process. Once the paint is completely dried, and all signs of moisture are gone (paint no longer pours out of the can), you can throw away both the can (with the dried latex paint) and the paint can lid away into a garbage bag, you then can throw it away into the regular garbage.

When it comes to batteries, most battery types are accepted at HHW collection facilities. However, alkaline, automotive, and marine batteries are not accepted. Alkaline batteries are able to be discarded with regular garbage items, but be sure to put tape over the terminals! This really only matters when it comes to batteries larger than 9-volt , but it’s not a bad thing to do regardless. This is important, taping the exposed terminals prevents the battery from rubbing against other materials which could potentially cause sparks or a fire. In the case of a damaged or leaking battery, be sure to never handle it with bare hands, and always wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. You should package any damaged or leaking batteries into a plastic bag, and then throw them away into the regular garbage.

By popular demand, vehicle and bicycle tires are accepted free of charge at this site. When you first pull into the disposal center you will see a sign that shows which direction to go specifically for disposing of used tires. There are plenty of locations around the stateline that will accept old tires, but most dealerships and mechanics will charge a small fee per tire that is dropped off. Whereas the HHW disposal center accepts tires free of charge, with the limitations of 4 tires per vehicle/day, and that all tires are <4 feet diameter.

If you have any further questions about what can and cannot be disposed of at these sites, go onto your computer browser and search “HHW near (insert town)” and then go onto that pages website and they should have an outlined list of these items, as well as a contact to refer to if you have more questions.

Acceptable Household Hazardous Waste

* All liquid wastes are required to be in containers of no more than five gallons *

• Adhesives

• Aerosol cans

• Antifreeze

• Arts and craft paints

• Asbestos (caulk / roofing tar / paint)

• Asbestos tiles or shingles (MUST be wetted and double bagged, plastic bags with a MINIMUM thickness 10 mil)

• Auto body filler

• Auto related fluids

• Automotive fluids and fuels

• Batteries: nickel-cadmium, lithium-ion, lead-acid - Must have terminals taped

• Body putty

• Brake fluid

• Car and chrome polish

• Car cleaners

• Carburetor cleaner

• Caulks

• Cleaners

• Cleaning products

• Compact fluorescent light bulbs & tubes

• Coolant

• Concrete sealant

• Craft & hobby chemicals

• Diesel fuel

• Dish soap

• Drain cleaners

• Driveway sealant

• Engine degreaser

• Epoxies

• Fertilizers

• Fluorescent tubes / bulbs

• Freon in aerosol-type cans (R-11, R-34a)

• Fuel and oil additives

• Fuel injector cleaner

• Fungicides

• Garden chemicals

• Gasoline

• Glues

• Grease and rust solvents

• Herbicides / herbicides lawn chemicals

• Household batteries: nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, lithium-ion, lead-acid- Must have terminals taped

• Household cleaners

• Insecticides

• Kerosene

• Lacquers and stains

• Lamp oil

• Laundry detergent

• Lawn and garden products

• Light bulbs

• Mercury (metallic liquid)

• Mercury (solids)

• Mercury thermostats

• Mercury thermometers

• Mineral spirit

• Naval jelly

• Oil-based (alkyd) paints

• Paint (oil-based)

• Paint removers

• Paint strippers

• Peanut oil

• Pesticides (residential-size containers)

• Photo processing chemicals

• Pool chemicals and additives

• Pool chlorine

• Radiator fluids

• Rechargeable batteries- Must have terminals taped

• Resins, fiberglass and epoxy

• Roach and ant killer

• Rodent poisons

• Roofing tar

• Rubber cement

• Rubber cement thinner

• Shampoo

• Skin lotions

• Soil fumigants

• Starter fluids

• Tires (4 / vehicle)

• Transmission fluid

• Turpentine

• Used cooking oil

• Used oil

• Used strippers and thinners

• Used / unused motor oil

• Varnishes and stains

• Wallpaper remover

• Weed killers

• Wood preservatives

Unacceptable Household Waste

•Acrylic Paint

•Agricultural chemicals (farm-size containers)

• Alkaline batteries

• Aluminum cans & scrap - (recycle with KNIB - Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful)

• BBQ & camp size propane

• Business/commercial sector wastes

• Cardboard- (recycle with KNIB)

• CO2 detectors

• Compressed gas or liquid cylinders

• Computers- (recycle with KNIB)

• Controlled substances (pharmaceuticals)

• Electronics- (recycle with KNIB)

• Explosives

• Farm waste

• Fire extinguishers

• Fireworks

• Food waste

• Garbage

• Institutional wastes (schools, churches, nursing homes)

• Latex paint

• Medications

• Metal scrap- (recycle with KNIB)

• Paper- (recycle with KNIB)

• Pharmaceuticals

• Propane tanks

• Radioactive materials

• Sharps, needles and potentially infectious medical wastes

• Smoke detectors

• Styrofoam

• Tractor tires (>4 feet diameter)

• Trailer tires (>4 feet diameter)

• Trash

• Water-based paint

Where to Dispose of Things the Rockford Household Hazardous Waste Site Won’t Accept

Agriculture or Farm Waste

Clean Harbors

773‐247‐2828

Heritage Crystal Clean

847‐836‐5670

Stericycle

844‐684‐1072

Veolia Environmental Services

312‐938‐0078

Ammunition or Firecrackers

Call local police department Call local gun shop Stericycle

844‐684‐1072

Business Waste (businesses, churches, farms, nursing homes, schools, etc.)

Clean Harbors

773‐247‐2828

Heritage Crystal Clean

847‐836‐5670

Stericycle

844‐684‐1072

Veolia Environmental Services

312‐938‐0078

Business waste ‐ Electronics

206‐249‐1304, ask for Greg Clean Harbors

773‐247‐2828

Cylinders (oxygen, helium, carbon dioxide, refrigerant gas, etc.)

Clean Harbors

773‐247‐2828

Heritage Crystal Clean

847‐836‐5670

Stericycle

844‐684‐1072

Veolia Environmental Services

312‐938‐0078

Fire Extinguishers

A‐Fire Extinguisher, Suburban

Patrol & G.W. Porter

616 South 6th Street, Rockford, IL 61104

815‐961‐8100

Medication or Pharmaceuticals (Prescription strength)

Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful (KNIB)

4665 Hydraulic Road, Rockford, IL 61109

815‐637‐1343

Medication (over‐the‐counter strength)

Rockford HHW, 3315 Kishwaukee Street, Rockford, IL 61109

Needles or Sharps

Place needles or sharps inside a puncture‐proof container (i.e. bleach or detergent bottle)
Close top on container
Place container inside trash bag
Place trash bag inside your garbage can

Propane Cylinders

Blackhawk Propane Company

1000 Doner Drive, South Beloit, IL 61080

815‐389‐3522

Ferrell Gas

10522 N Second Street, Machesney Park, IL 61115

815‐877‐7333

Hicks Gas

6418 Logan Avenue, Belvidere, IL 61008

815‐547‐6309

Recyclable Materials (i.e. glass, metal, paper, etc.)

Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful (KNIB)

4665 Hydraulic Road, Rockford, IL 61109

815‐637‐1343

Smoke or Carbon Dioxide Detectors

Dispose of into your garbage

Sources

“Household Hazardous Waste (HHW).” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/hw/household-hazardous-waste-hhw .

“Incident Waste Decision Support Tool (I-Waste DST).” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 28 Aug. 2024, iwaste.epa.gov/treatment-disposal-facilities?facilityTypeId=1%2C4%2C11%2C37 .

“Household Hazardous Waste Disposal.” Household Hazardous Waste Disposal | Rockford, IL, The City of Rockford, www.rockfordil.gov/492/Household-Hazardous-Waste-Disposal .

“Electronic Waste (e-Waste) Disposal.” Electronic Waste (E-Waste) Disposal | Rockford, IL, The City of Rockford, www.rockfordil.gov/481/Electronic-Waste-E-Waste-Disposal .

“Consumer Electronics Recycling Act.” Illinois Counties Solid Waste Management Association, ILCSWMA, 24 Jan. 2025, ilcswma.org/blog/consumer-electronics-recycling-act/ .

Honeycutt, Holly. “How to Store and Dispose of Paint | Lowe’s.” Lowes, How to Store and Dispose of Paint Properly, 22 Oct. 2024, www.lowes.com/n/how-to/store-dispose-paint-properly .

“Proper Packaging of Alkaline Batteries.” Battery Recyclers of America, Battery Recyclers of America, 17 May 2022, www.batteryrecyclersofamerica.com/proper-packaging-of-alkaline-batteries/?srsltid=AfmBOoqKI96jU9vkWlTlIthy6NsMm-GQSkeBbYRm3zARGpND_3wDQHpp .

“Hazardous Waste Site: Rockford, IL.” Household Hazardous Waste Facility Is Now Open, Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful, www.knib.org/what-we-dont-take .

All About Bugs!

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 07:30:01 GMT

When you think of summer in Illinois, you might picture swaying prairie grasses, tall oak trees, and, if you’re outside long enough, bugs. From the fireflies that light up July evenings to the pesky mosquitoes biting your ankles during a bonfire, insects are an inescapable part of our landscape. But they’re not just a buzzing background, bugs play essential roles in our ecosystems, gardens, and food systems. While some invasive insects threaten local biodiversity, most bugs are crucial contributors to a healthy environment. Insects are often overlooked– or worse, feared–but many are performing essential ecological services every day, and they deserve our thanks!

What Is a Bug?

What a “bug” is depends on who’s asking. In entomology, the scientific study of insects, a "true bug" refers specifically to members of the order Hemiptera . These insects have specialized piercing-sucking mouthparts and undergo incomplete metamorphosis, meaning their young (called nymphs) look like smaller versions of adults and develop without a pupal stage. Examples include cicadas, aphids, and stink bugs.

However, most people use the term "bug" more loosely to mean any small insect or creepy crawler, from ants to spiders to butterflies. For the purpose of this blog, we’ll go with the colloquial and more casual definition of “bug” to include insects and even arachnids like spiders (sorry, entomologists!).

Insects make up an estimated 80% of all known animal species . Scientists have described around 1 million insect species so far, but the true number is likely closer to 5 million or more. Globally, it’s estimated that there are around 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive at any moment. That’s over a billion insects per human! Insects are not just numerous, they're ancient, diverse, and adaptable. They thrive in deserts, forests, lakes, cities, and have for millions of years.

It’s easy to think of bugs as pests, something to swat, spray, or avoid. But the truth is far more complex and fascinating. Every native species, including bugs, is part of an intricate ecological network. Insects pollinate plants, decompose organic matter, aerate soil, and serve as food for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. Even insects we might not love, like flies or beetles, have ecological jobs that keep our world running smoothly. Without insects, ecosystems would unravel. Let's take a look at some of the crucial roles that bugs play:

Pollination:

There is a lot of buzz about pollination and pollinators in the environmental world, and rightfully so. Pollinators are essential to the survival of flowering plants and the production of food. Over 85% of flowering plant species depend on animals for pollination, and most of those animals are insects. In agriculture, about three-quarters of crops require pollinators to some degree. Globally, the value of insect pollination is estimated at over $235 billion annually.

Honeybees are well-known pollinators, contributing an estimated $15 billion to U.S. crop production annually. But wild, native pollinators often do the heavy lifting. Bumblebees are more effective at pollinating tomatoes, and certain solitary bees specialize in crops like squash or blueberries. Moths and beetles pollinate plants that bloom at night or have more closed flowers. Even flies (like the hoverfly) are important, especially in colder or urban environments where bees may be less active. Without pollinators, we would lose many of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts we rely on, and the wildlife that depends on those plants would suffer, too.

It's not just flying insects that pollinate either. Ants carry seeds to their nests, where many sprout in nutrient-rich soil. Beetles, too, move seeds as they travel. These behaviors contribute to plant diversity and regeneration, especially in forests and grasslands.

Pest Control

Bugs like ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps may be small, but they’re mighty when it comes to pest control. A single ladybug can eat up to 5,000 aphids in its lifetime. Hoverfly larvae feast on soft-bodied insects like mealybugs and scales. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside harmful caterpillars, and their young feed on the host from the inside out, whereas many dragonfly species can be biological controls for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Bugs really are nature’s own version of pest management!

Using these insects in gardens and farms reduces the need for chemical pesticides, which can harm beneficial species and pollute water sources. Even spiders (technically arachnids, not insects) deserve credit. They’re the quiet, patient predators in your garden or basement, helping to keep mosquito and fly populations in check.

Soil Health and Decomposition

Insects are nature’s recyclers. Beetles, termites, ants, springtails, and countless others break down dead plant material, animal remains, and waste. Their activity returns essential nutrients to the soil, enriching it for plant growth. Dung beetles, for example, bury and consume animal feces, preventing disease spread and fertilizing the soil in the process. Their work is so important that in some places, their disappearance would cost agriculture millions of dollars per year in lost ecosystem services.

Food for Wildlife (and Sometimes Us!)

Insects are the foundation of many food chains. Birds, bats, fish, amphibians, and reptiles rely heavily on insect protein. During the breeding season, a single pair of chickadees may feed their young more than 6,000 caterpillars. When insect populations decline, the consequences ripple across the ecosystem. Fewer insects mean fewer birds, fewer frogs, and eventually, fewer everything.

And yes, humans also eat insects. Over 2 billion people worldwide regularly consume insects like crickets, grasshoppers, and beetle larvae as sustainable sources of protein. Even here in the U.S., edible insect products are slowly becoming more common– think cricket protein bars or roasted mealworms. Let’s not forget honey, one of the most popular insect-derived foods. In 2023, U.S. honey production totaled about 125 million pounds.

Silk and Other Products

Silkworms ( Bombyx mori ) have been domesticated for thousands of years, producing the luxurious fibers used in clothing and textiles. Today, China remains the largest producer, creating over 30,000 tons of raw silk annually. Other insects provide dyes, shellac, and waxes used in everything from cosmetics to furniture polish.

Medical and Scientific Contributions

Insects have been central to scientific research. Maggot therapy, which is the use of fly larvae to clean wounds, has helped heal infected tissue where antibiotics fail. Spider silk has inspired ultra-strong synthetic fibers. Insect vision and wing structure have influenced camera technology, robotics, and drone design. Some researchers are even studying bee behavior to model patterns of decision-making and communication in artificial intelligence systems.

When Bugs Become a Problem

Of course, not all bugs are beneficial, especially invasive species that disrupt local ecosystems. In northern Illinois, Japanese beetles and emerald ash borers are two major culprits.

Japanese beetles ( Popillia japonica ) eat the leaves of more than 300 plant species, often leaving behind a lace-like skeleton of veins. If you’re a gardener, you are likely familiar with this unwanted visitor, which often wreaks havoc on vegetable gardens. If you’re not a gardener, maybe you've felt their effects in your lawn. Japanese beetle larvae damage turfgrass by feeding on roots, leading to brown, patchy lawns.

Emerald ash borers ( Agrilus planipennis ) have killed tens of millions of ash trees across the Midwest. By boring under the bark, they cut off the tree’s water and nutrient flow, usually killing it within 3–5 years. This has dramatically changed Illinois’ forest structure and led to costly removals in urban areas.

Emerald ash borer, tree destructed by Emerald ash borer, Japanese beetles

Why Bug Knowledge Matters

Understanding bugs, both the helpful and the harmful, is essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems and managing our gardens, farms, and cities sustainably. We need bugs. They support biodiversity, which strengthens ecosystem stability, and a diversity of insect life ensures that if one species declines due to disease or climate change, others can take over its role. This redundancy acts like a safety net for nature, supporting everything from pollination to decomposition to pest control. Whether you're planting a pollinator-friendly garden or learning how to identify invasive species, small actions can have a big ecological impact.

So next time you see a six-legged visitor in your yard, pause before you reach for the flyswatter. That “bug” might just be a pollinator, a predator of pests, or a crucial link in the food chain. Learning about bugs helps us become better stewards of the natural world, and perhaps even more curious and compassionate humans.

Sources:

5 Ways Insects Make Our World A Better Place - National Environmental Treasure

Numbers of Insects (Species and Individuals)- The Smithsonian Institute

What are insects and why do we need them?- Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

Who Are The Pollinators?- Xerces Society

Bees, birds, butterflies, bats: NSF helping keep pollinators, bioeconomy healthy- National Science Foundation

Wonders of the Midwest: 10 Nature Adventure Daytrips from Northern Illinois and Beyond

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 10:00:25 GMT

As a New Yorker who has had the opportunity to be in the Midwest for the first time since I moved here in October, there has been no shortage of environmental wonders to explore to my heart’s content. Here is my list of the wonders of the Midwest, which includes a few places I have visited and a few places I have yet to check out. All of these gardens and parks are within Rockford or a 3-hour drive of Rockford, perfect for a day trip!

1. Severson Dells Nature Center

Rockford, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 0 miles, 0 minutes

My home base in the Midwest is Severson Dells Nature Center . This is the first natural wonder I encountered upon moving to the area, but it is also where I have learned much of my nature identification and educator skills, so it holds a special place at the top of this list.

Severson Dells has hiking trails complete with forest, prairie, pond, and creek habitats that are teeming with plant and animal life, a visitor center, and the Grove Nature Playscape. However, our namesake and crown jewel of this location are the glacier-carved dells that can reach up to 30 feet high and contain ancient fossils. At the center of Severson Dell’s mission is connecting people with nature, so we offer a variety of school and public programs to foster this relationship, which you can check out on our events calendar.

2. Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Rockford, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 6 miles, 10 minutes

Klehm Arboretum’s 155 acres of gardens and woodlands include ~1.5 miles of walking trails and 3 miles of woodland trails. When I visited, I loved the canopy of mature trees, informative educational signage, an endangered adult American Chestnut Tree, and the wild turkeys I spotted.

3. Nicholas Conservatory and Gardens

Rockford, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 10 miles, 20 minutes

Check out this towering greenhouse filled with tropical plants year-round. The Nicholas Conservatory and Gardens also has fun seasonal attractions, from miniature trains zipping through the plants in the winter to butterfly encounters in the spring. If you step outside the conservatory, there is a lagoon, a rose garden, the 10-mile Rock River recreation path, and Sinnissippi Park across the street.

4. Anderson Japanese Gardens

Rockford, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 10 miles, 20 minutes

With winding walking paths, numerous water features, Anderson Japanese architecture, well-kept plants, and large koi fish in the ponds, everything Anderson Japanese Gardens has to offer emanates peace and tranquility.

5. Rock Cut State Park

Loves Park, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 26 miles, 30 minutes

Rock Cut has 2 large lakes, the larger of the two is the 160-acre Pierce Lake and the smaller is the 50-acre Olson Lake. The lakes are open for winter ice skating and ice fishing as well as summer paddle sports, including kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding, all of which are available for rent at the park. Additionally, the park has campsites and miles of trails for mountain biking, hiking, and horseback riding. There is no shortage of activities to participate in at Rockcut State Park.

6. Starved Rock State Park

Oglesby, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 78 miles, 1 hour and 15 minutes

Starved Rock has 13 miles of hiking trails, campgrounds, and 18 sandstone canyons that have been shaped by glacial meltwater 14,000 years ago. When I visited Starved Rock, I had the opportunity to see some of the park’s rain-fed waterfalls, beautiful outlook points, and learn the difference between vultures and eagles soaring through the sky.

7. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

Wilmington, IL

Distance from Severson Dells: 126 miles, 2 hours

To take in the vast 20,000 acres of the largest protected area in the Chicago Wilderness, visit the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie . This prairie has been meticulously restored, and what was once factory land is now home to a variety of native plant and animal species, including reintroduced bison! To experience this natural area for yourself, you can hike, bike, horseback ride, picnic, or camp.

8. Devil's Lake State Park

Baraboo, WI

Distance from Severson Dells: 130 miles, 2 hours

This state park has camping as well as flat and steep hiking to choose from. If you opt for the higher elevation hike, you can expect to scale the rock steps for the chance to see Balanced Rock and Devil’s Doorway rock formations. This is where my friends and I stopped for a snack while we watched turkey vultures in the sky, a woodchuck hiding in the rocks, and took in the view. The flat hike will take you around Devil’s Lake to see the pink and purple Baraboo Quartzite rock bluff edge and the lake from every angle. If you like the rock formations and water features Devil’s Lake State Park has to offer, be sure to explore more of the nearby Wisconsin Dells area.

9. Maquoketa Caves State Park

Maquoketa, IA

Distance from Severson Dells: 100 miles, 2 hours

Maquoketa Caves State Park is truly a natural beauty with its 6 miles of hiking trails winding through geologic formations that include bluffs, the natural land bridge, a balanced rock, and 13 caves that you can explore on your own. The caves range in accessibility from walking through them to expert-level exploration by crawling in tight spaces. Be sure to grab your hiking boots, flashlight, and possibly some knee pads before embarking on this adventure, depending on your preferred level of accessibility. Check with park signage and guidelines on how you can prevent the spread of white-nosed-bat syndrome during your visit!

10. Indiana Dunes National Park

Porter, IN

Distance from Severson Dells: 140 miles, 3 hours

Visit Rockford’s closest national park to see a beautiful collage of sandy dunes, wetlands, prairies, and woodlands, all of which are heavily influenced by Lake Michigan. Speaking of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes National Park makes up 15 miles of the Indiana coast on the lakefront. To enjoy the various habitats and specialized bird and plant biodiversity in the area, you can walk some of the 50 miles of trails or camp to extend your exploration.

With a copious amount of places to explore and surprises to be discovered around every corner, it's no wonder these are considered the natural wonders of the Midwest. The weather is getting warmer, and the call to be outdoors is growing louder, so it is the perfect time to check out some of these locations. Where will you explore the natural world next?

Sources

Severson Dells Nature Center

Rock Cut State Park

Nich olas Conse rvatory and Gardens

Anderson Japanese Gardens

Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Starved Rock State Park

Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

Devil’s Lake State Park

Maquoketa Caves State Park

Indiana Dunes National Park

A Deep Dive into Wildfires

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 19:17:56 GMT

Please note: This blog was originally published by Jillian Neece on August 10, 2023, but has been updated to reflect numbers as of June 2, 2025.

This summer, like every summer at Severson Dells, has been filled with laughing campers, stunning prairie wildflowers, and explorations in the creek. But this summer has also brought record breaking heat and some of the worst air quality the area has ever seen due to wildfires in Canada and the western United States. There are currently 174 active wildfires burning throughout Canada, and 44% of those are considered “out of control.” In the United States, there are currently 7 fires burning throughout 6 states, and only 3 are considered contained. Most experts predict that many of these fires will continue throughout the summer and fall. So, I figured it was time for a deep dive on wildfires!

Although only the beginning of June, we can expect these statistics to rise throughout the summer. As a comparison, let's look at 2024. The National Interagency Coordination Center reported that 8,924,884 acres were burned across 64,897 wildfires . Additionally, take a peek at the Active Wildfires in Canada map from August 1, 2024:

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Wildfires are a complex issue, so there is not a single cause that we can point to as the reason wildfires have become so intense in recent years. Before we can understand our current wildfire situation, we need to look at the history of fire on the landscape. For at least the last 2,000 years (and likely much longer), Indigenous peoples of what is now North America have been intentionally burning areas of forest and grassland for cultural and land management purposes. These burns helped to maintain prairies and savannas that were dominated by grasses and flowers without having to compete with woody shrubs or trees. Additionally, regular forest burns kept tree saplings and woody brush in check, creating a relatively open understory (ground-level) that allowed woodland grasses and flowers, as well as older trees with deep roots and thick bark, to flourish. These relatively non-destructive burning practices lower the frequency of intense wildfires on the landscape while creating resilient, diverse ecosystems.

Now flash forward to the European colonization of Indigenous lands in the western hemisphere. Europeans and their descendants had no experience with intentionally setting fire to the land as a cultural or management practice; instead, they thought fires could only be destructive. Therefore, when Indigenous communities were forcibly removed from their homelands and settlers claimed the lands for themselves, the practice of managing the landscape with fire abruptly ended throughout much of North America. Over time, forests became dense with tree saplings and shrubs, which added a lot more woody biomass to the forest ecosystem. Additionally, dead trees that would have burned periodically during cultural burns built up with forests, adding even more potential wildfire fuel.

A graphic depicting the difference between forests that experience regular burns and those that do not. The “Forest With Regular Burns” graphic shows a few trees, spaced out, and lots of flowering plants in the understory, while the “Forest Without Regular Burns” is densely packed with trees and shrubs, including standing and felled dead trees.

Not only did settlers avoid setting fires to manage landscapes, but they also actively suppressed any naturally occurring fires as quickly as possible. Since they viewed fires as a destructive force in the environment, they aggressively worked to extinguish naturally occurring wildfires, regardless of the risk for human communities or infrastructure. This allowed “fuel” (meaning living or dead woody vegetation and other dry plant material) to reach dangerously high levels that dramatically surpassed historical wildfire fuel levels.

Other changes in land use additionally contribute to the greater intensity of wildfires in the last few decades. Early logging practices of harvesting large stands of healthy, old-growth trees removed many of the fire-tolerant species while leaving only young trees, which greatly lowered the diversity- and therefore resilience- of these areas. The later practice of densely planting large stands of trees of the same age and species created very low diversity areas that were vulnerable to pest and disease outbreaks, which often left acres of unhealthy or dead trees that were the perfect fuel for wildfires. These neatly planted rows of trees also created convenient corridors that allowed fires to spread very rapidly throughout large stands.

To sum things up, the short answer to “How did we get here?” would be: the removal of Indigenous communities from their traditional land stewardship roles led to a massive buildup of wildfire fuel sources. But that isn’t where the story ends.

HOW DOES CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT WILDFIRES?

Ah, yes. Our old friend, climate change, who always shows up, uninvited, to the party. (I guess if we’re being technical, we did invite climate change to the party through our excessive burning of greenhouse gasses and disregard for natural communities, but somehow we are still shocked and unprepared when she shows up?)

The increased global temperatures resulting from over 150 years of burning fossil fuels has created longer dry seasons and shorter wet seasons throughout the western U.S. This effectively lengthens the fire season by drying out the atmosphere and plants, making it easier for fuel sources to catch. As the area covered by snowpack shrinks with rising temperatures, the area of dry, flammable vegetation will increase. Intense droughts resulting from climate change are also drying up rivers and other bodies of water that may have acted as fire breaks in the past, meaning fires can travel farther and faster.

WHY DO WILDFIRES SEEM MORE DESTRUCTIVE NOW THAN IN THE PAST?

Of course having lots of dry fuel around will make it easier for wildfires to start, but there are other factors that have contributed to recent wildfires being highly damaging in terms of human lives and infrastructure. For one thing, communities and structures tend to overlap more with forested areas than they have in the last 150 years. New roads have allowed people to build houses and communities deeper in the forest. Additionally, expanding suburbs have pushed agricultural lands farther toward natural areas, meaning highly flammable cropland or grazing fields often sit next to dense, dry forests. Essentially, modern communities are much more vulnerable to intense wildfires and structural damage.

By removing fire from the landscape for so long, we also created dangerous conditions that have made accidental human-ignited fires more common. Over 90% of California wildfires in the last 100 years are thought to be human-caused. As opposed to intentional or prescribed burns, accidental fires are more likely to occur during the hottest, driest, and windiest part of the year, making them incredibly difficult to extinguish. They are also- by definition- going to start near people. Whether ignited by a malfunctioning vehicle, a carelessly disposed of cigarette, or an improperly extinguished campfire, these accidental fires tend to be closer to things like homes and campgrounds, which make them very dangerous and usually cause much more structural damage than naturally ignited wildfires. For example, of the 10 largest wildfires in California history- in terms of acres- 6 were human-ignited , including both intentionally and unintentionally.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT?

Luckily, there is reason for hope! Even though the population of western states has been increasing in recent years, the number of unintentionally ignited wildfires has not been increasing at the same rate. This implies that more people in dry, fire-prone areas does not necessarily mean that accidentally starting forest fires will become more common. Instead, human-caused fires have actually decreased in the last 40 years. Woo!

Additionally, the last 40 years have seen a major shift in the way forests are managed in the United States and Canada. Some land managers are awakening to the wisdom behind Indigenous fire management techniques. For example, the US Forest Service sometimes allows low-intensity natural fires to burn when there isn’t a risk of harming people or communities, which serves as a free way of reducing fuel levels in forests while increasing the diversity and resilience of these areas. In other areas, intentionally lit, low-severity fires have been reintroduced into ecosystems with the goal of returning forests to a more historically accurate and fire-resilient state. I highly recommend checking out the College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute for resources about integrating Native values with forest management.

Beyond adopting Indigenous land management practices, some natural areas have been returned to Indigenous communities. This allows them to bring traditional management techniques back to the landscape while revitalizing their own language, Indigenous sciences, and cultural practices that federal and state governments tried to deprive them of for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Recent examples of this include the Esselen tribe purchasing a 1200 acre ranch in Northern California, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians using internal funding and a grant from the USDA’s Community Forest Program to purchase 350 acres of forest, and a nonprofit in Washington state handing over 328 acres of forest and salmon spawning ground to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation . Indigenous Peoples from across the globe have the best track record of protecting and managing lands , so it makes sense that having more land under Native management would be beneficial for ecosystem health and resilience in the face of wildfires.

WHAT CAN I DO?

It can be easy to feel hopeless or overwhelmed about your ability to have an impact on something as complex as wildfires, but there are always things you can do. If you are really dedicated to combating ongoing and potential future wildfires, you could apply to join a wildland firefighting team through the Department of the Interior or the US Forest Service (they are always hiring!). If directly fighting fires isn’t your thing (it definitely isn’t mine!), you could support land restoration programs in your area that remove woody brush in forest understories. Alternatively, you can vocally and financially support efforts to return lands to Indigenous management. Try using https://native-land.ca/ to see who’s traditional lands you inhabit, and see if any of them have a land reclamation fund that you can donate to. Finally, and hopefully most obviously, be mindful of burn bans and always be responsible with flammable materials. We want to reintroduce fire to the landscape, but not by accident! Maybe instead of Smokey the Bear’s “Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” the slogan should be “We can co-exist with and use fire to steward a resilient landscape!”

Main ideas adapted from: https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/pdf/WF22155

Canadian Forest Service. 2022. Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta. http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca .

Please note: This blog was originally published by Jillian Neece on August 10, 2023, but has been updated to reflect numbers as of June 2, 2025.

Getting Kids Outside!

elly@seversondells.org (Elly Salazar) — Wed, 14 May 2025 13:41:06 GMT

Encouraging children to spend time outside is essential. However, this is not a new concept; in fact, many people are already aware of the benefits of kids spending time outdoors! Examples, including getting vitamin D from sun exposure, exercise, and educational opportunities, have been highlighted in articles that urge parents to take action. But many more reasons can be used to convince further nature skeptics. Spending time outside is great for fostering curiosity and autonomy in children. These are both valuable traits that kids carry with them into adulthood. Going outdoors also builds resiliency and critical survival skills. Who knew that letting kids play outside can help improve their safety! Finally, allocating some of a child’s day to being outside can further connections with the real world, such as deepening understanding of a sense of place, and relationship development with food systems.

Letting children play outside fosters curiosity and can improve their autonomy

All children go through the notorious ‘asking questions about everything’ phase. The constant “why” or “how” can be exhausting, but this is when they are learning about everything around them and their place within it. Being in nature is the perfect opportunity to connect these endless questions to their own lives and help guide them through this stage of finding their place. For example, The Nature Conservancy states that ‘ visiting a river or stream is an opportunity to not only teach children about fish habitat but to explore where their drinking water, one of the most precious resources in life, comes from .’ Curiosity isn’t just helpful during childhood; it is an essential skill for learning, trying new things, and bringing excitement to everyday life. These are traits that adults use all the time as well!

The “why” and “how” questions also often (if not always) come with “can you help me with….” questions during this stage of childhood development. Not only are they learning about the world around them, but they are also trying to understand how to navigate it. This process can be challenging at times for parent and child. One way to support children throughout this journey is to let them play outside! Allowing kids to explore in natural settings can offer opportunities for decision-making and problem-solving. Things like imaginative play, risk assessment, and boundary setting are activities they tend to do outside anyway, without any formal instruction. According to Alex Barrable, a lecturer/researcher at the University of Dundee, ‘ children thrive in environments where they are given the time to play on their own terms. Some of the most common ways that children assert their autonomy are by claiming their own space. ’ Allowing children to create their own space is something we do here at Severson through our shelter-building programs! It’s always inspiring to see them setting their own rules and telling their own story in the fort space they have created all by themselves.

Time in nature can help kids build resilience and gain survival skills

Nature is unstructured. This can be unsettling for children and even for some grown-ups, too. However, this lack of structure is often one of the best opportunities for natural resilience building. Resilience is the essential life skill of bouncing back or adapting to difficult challenges, an ability people use throughout their lifetime. Dr. Breanna Gentile of the Center for Youth Wellness expresses that ‘ Outdoor activities often come with unpredictable elements—weather changes, rough terrain, or unexpected obstacles. These experiences teach children to adapt, persevere, and stay positive in the face of challenges. ’ Next time it starts raining during a walk, show children that plans are not ruined and rainboots are the perfect solution for the occasion. Resiliency helps children prepare for facing future challenges and bounce back when life gets a little tough!

The unexpected difficulties and weather changes offer opportunities for resilience, but also moments to put survival skills to the test. Preparing children for these scenarios by spending time outside with them can help them feel more secure and equipped should survival skills ever need to be utilized. Ellen Nesbitt of Wildings Forest School says, ‘ While we hope our children never find themselves in a true survival situation, having the skills to handle emergencies can be life-saving. ’ Teaching children things like emergency response, first aid, navigation, and foraging can help prepare them for potential unforeseen circumstances in the adventures that await them.

Spending time outdoors can help children deepen their connection with the world and form a relationship with the food system

Children have a narrow view of the world. They can’t yet conceptualize global notions, distant relations, or future generations. Expanding their understanding of their little world by taking them outside may be one of the best ways for them to form valuable connections with the land. Learning the names of trees, exploring animal habitats, or investing time in caring for the earth are vital ways we can help them appreciate the environment and understand the nature they live in. Forming that connection while young is also important for future-focused conservation and preservation. As said by Claire McCarthy, MD at Harvard Health ‘ The future of our planet depends on our children; they need to learn to appreciate it. ’

Speaking of the world around us, ‘ 48 percent of Americans say they never or rarely seek information about where their food was grown or how it was produced , according to Alliance for Science. Adults have lost their connection to the food system and the story behind what they eat. Knowing the facts behind your food is important for making ethical decisions, protecting the environment, and keeping your family safe. A great time to develop this habit is while kids are young and absorbing everything about the world around them. For example, educating children about the edible local flora and fauna might help them feel more connected to the foods they eat at home. It may even help them feel more empowered to make their own choices related to food sustainability and longevity.

Play Outside at Severson Dells!

Whether it’s playing outside, taking a walk, or even pointing things out during a drive, there are so many ways to get kids more involved in the outdoors. But don’t fear, if there are barriers such as time, lack of nature, or even an ick related to bugs, just bring your kiddos over to Severson Dells! We have plenty of free or paid programming activities for your child, and as you would guess, all of them involve spending time outside.

Spring Pollinators in Illinois

Thu, 01 May 2025 18:56:24 GMT

Take a look outside. Most of the flowers, trees, and plants you see exist because of a special group of insects and animals that transfer pollen from one plant to another. These insects and animals are referred to as pollinators, and they are essential for plant reproduction. Around three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about one-third of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce! Pollinators do a lot for life on earth, and without them, our earth would look vastly different.

Pollination isn’t just a fancy scientific topic you learn about in elementary science, it’s an essential ecological survival function of all life on earth. Pollination occurs when birds, bees, bats, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, water, wind, and more carry pollen from flower to flower or it is moved within flowers. Pollination is a symbiotic relationship, meaning, it is a mutually beneficial relationship both to plants and to pollinators. The act of pollination results in the production of seeds, and is necessary for many plants to reproduce. Lots of plants and flowers produce a sugary nectar that provides pollinators with carbohydrates , while pollen offers proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and necessary phytochemicals. This means that pollinators are attracted to and go towards these flowering plants because of the nutrients it provides for them, and along the way, pollen and seeds from these plants get stuck to pollinators’ bodies. When the pollinators fly onto the next plant, the extra pollen and seeds may be brought over to the next plant, or they might fall off somewhere in between the two. This happens often, and is responsible for the transfer of pollen between flowers, enabling fertilization, seed dispersal, and the creation of new plants. Therefore, pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems that clean the air, re-stabilize soils, limit erosion caused from severe weather, and by providing support for other wildlife.

While some plants are self-pollinated and others can be pollinated by the wind or water, many plants are pollinated primarily by insects. Overtime, plants have developed many complex ways of attracting pollinators, and pollinators have evolved with specialized traits and behaviors that enhance their pollination efforts. The most common pollinator insects found in Illinois include bees, beetles, butterflies, flies, hummingbirds, wasps, and moths.

Pollinator Spotlight

Bees:

When most people think of a bee, they picture a golden honey bee or a big black and yellow bumble bee. However, there are around 500 different bee species that are native to Illinois, with each species having slightly different life goals and roles. Almost all of our bees in Illinois, ~90% , are generalist bees, meaning their pollen needs aren’t restricted to one specific flower, but instead, they will visit a wide variety of different plants. Bees are primarily interested in feeding upon the nectar produced by blossoming flowers, while also collecting pollen to mix with nectar and then feed to their young. When they move on and visit the next flower, some of the pollen may drop off the bee and onto the new flower, and this process continues on, allowing plant reproduction and crop production.

Beetles:

Around 130 million years ago, beetles were some of the first insect pollinators of flowering plants. Their existence dates back to the dinosaur age, and beetles make up about 40% of all insects in the world. Beetles are an insanely diverse group of insects, with over 380,000 species worldwide. Beetles are considered to be the “ messy pollinators ”, since they eat through leaves and petals, leaving holes behind, while foraging for pollen and nectar. They don’t have a specialized mechanism for picking up pollen, instead, as beetles move from flower to flower, pollen grains will stick to their bodies and fall off onto other flowers, pollinating them in the process.

Butterflies:

Similar to beetles, butterflies don’t have a specialized mechanism for transferring pollen, however, they do have a tube-like mouth which acts as a straw and allows them to probe flowers and suck nectar. When a butterfly lands on a flower to drink nectar, pollen gets attached to the body of the butterfly which ends up dropping and picking up more pollen as they go from flower to flower. Due to butterflies having long, thin legs and small body surface area, there isn’t much area for them to pick up pollen on their bodies, making them a less efficient, but still important, pollinator.

Flies:

It may not seem true, but flies are the 2nd most efficient pollinators out of the insects. This is because they are abundant, and covered in lots of fuzzy hairs, so as they search for nourishment on flowers, pollen and nectar will stick to them, transferring pollen as they search from flower to flower. Flies are unintentional with their pollination, as they are searching for food, such as nectar or decaying organic matter, they inadvertently transfer pollen from one crop to another. Within the last few years, there has been growing recognition that flies make up a large portion of wild pollinators. However, not much research has been done surrounding this topic, so there’s a lot of unknowns about that part of flies' lives.

Hummingbirds:

Hummingbirds are only found in the western hemisphere, and they are amazing pollinators. These birds have long, slender bills and straw-like tongues that allow them to drink nectar from brightly colored flowers. Hummingbirds drink up to two times their body weight daily, and as they drink from plants sticky nectar and pollen gets stuck to their beak/their feathers, so as they move from plant to plant, they carry and transfer pollen. When doing so, they inadvertently transport seeds which stick to their feathers and fall off along their journey.

Wasps:

When compared to their friend the bee, wasps are less efficient at pollinating plants. This is because of them having less hair, and it being thinner, making it less likely for pollen to stick to them and transfer from flower to flower. However, wasps are apex predators of the insect ecosystem. Therefore, even though they aren’t the best pollinators, they help keep the other insect pollinators in line by providing insect population control. Nectar is the primary food source for adult wasps, and wasps have short mouthparts and tongues. Thus, in order to feed they must visit flowers with easily accessible nectar, and in the process, they cover themselves in nectar and move nectar along as they go to feed on the next flower.

Moths:

Moths are often overlooked as pollinators, even though they outnumber their counterpart: the butterfly by 10 to 1. However, this is primarily due to them being nocturnal, so they aren’t typically remembered when talking about insect pollinators. Moths are more efficient pollinators at night than day-flying pollinators, they visit plants more frequently and deposit pollen faster. Like butterflies, adult moths visit flowers to feed on nectar and the larvae (caterpillars) feed mostly on plants. While not all moths drink nectar, most do still feed on plants, such as drinking liquids from decaying plants . Moths visit the flowers that emit the strongest fragrances at night, which most daytime pollinators miss. They complement the work done by daytime pollinators and help to keep plant diversities abundant and diverse. Similar to all of the other pollinators covered thus far, moths are hairy and also covered in scales. This works to help insulate them and prevent heat loss during the night, but it also helps to transport nectar and pollen from plant to plant.

Pollination is important for a strong, healthy ecosystem. Unfortunately, pollinator populations are at risk and still declining, mostly due to habitat loss and as a result of improper usage of herbicides and pesticides. But don’t worry, there are things you can do to help your local pollinators! You can plant a pollinator-friendly habitat, by doing some research into your local pollinators, their flight paths around your house, what plants they like, and how to take care of them. When in doubt, native plants are always a good option!

Sources:

“The Importance of Pollinators.” USDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.usda.gov/about-usda/general-information/initiatives-and-highlighted-programs/peoples-garden/importance-pollinators.

“Why Is Pollination Important?” US Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildflowers/pollinators/importance.

“Native Plants & Pollinators.” Illinois Plants, Illinois Native Plant Society, illinoisplants.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Native-Plants-and-Pollinators-4.27.2019.pdf.

“Pollinators Need You. You Need Pollinators.” Pollinator.Org, Pollinator Partnership, www.pollinator.org/pollinators.

“Bees.” Illinois Pollinators, U.S. Department of Agriculture, illinoispollinators.org/what-are-pollinators/bees/.

“Wild about Illinois Native Bees!” Illinois, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, dnr.illinois.gov/education/wildaboutpages/wildaboutinvertebrates/wildaboutnativebees.html.

“Beetles.” Illinois Pollinators, U.S. Department of Agriculture, illinoispollinators.org/what-are-pollinators/beetles/.

Fallon, Candace. “Notes from the Other Orders: Beetles as Pollinators.” Xerces, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, www.xerces.org/blog/notes-from-other-orders-beetles-as-pollinators#:~:text=They%20are%20sometimes%20referred%20to,this%20feeding%20damage%20by%20beetles.

“Butterflies.” Illinois Pollinators, U.S. Department of Agriculture, illinoispollinators.org/what-are-pollinators/butterflies/.

Pain, Stephanie. “How Much Do Flies Help with Pollination?” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-much-do-flies-help-pollination-180977177/#:~:text=Like%20bees%2C%20many%20of%20these,fly%20from%20flower%20to%20flower.

“Pollinators - Hummingbirds.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/articles/hummingbirds.htm.

“Wasps.” Illinois Pollinators, U.S. Department of Agriculture, illinoispollinators.org/what-are-pollinators/wasps/.

Schueman, Lindsey Jean. “How Moths Keep Our World Blooming, Pollinating in the Night.” One Earth, One Earth Navigator, www.oneearth.org/how-moths-keep-our-world-blooming-pollinating-in-the-night/.

“Moths.” Illinois Pollinators, U.S. Department of Agriculture, illinoispollinators.org/what-are-pollinators/moths/.

Please note: This blog was authored by former AmeriCorps member Shannon Osadjan. For an update on the current state of the AmeriCorps program at Severson Dells Nature Center, please visit: https://www.seversondells.com/americorps-cuts-at-severson-dells

AmeriCorps Cuts at Severson Dells

ann@seversondells.org (Ann Wasser) — Thu, 01 May 2025 11:44:41 GMT

Impacts on Members, the Community and Severson Dells

We are sad to share that Monday evening, we received notice from the Illinois Department of Human Services that our AmeriCorps program was terminated as of Friday, April 25, and that all members must stop service.

Severson Dells is one of over 1,000 AmeriCorps host sites nationwide that received this cancellation notice, affecting more than 30,000 AmeriCorps members. In Illinois, these cuts affected 25 of the 33 AmeriCorps host sites across the state.

Our partnership with AmeriCorps goes back to 2019, when we began hosting 2 full time members and 8 part time summer members. Since then, we have grown our program to host 6 full time members and 6 part time members. While most of these members serve at Severson Dells, we also have members serving with Boone County Conservation District, the Natural Land Institute, Nature at the Confluence and Dekalb County Forest Preserves. So these cuts affect more than just the Severson Dells organization, they affect the entire region.

The impact of this termination is significant. Over the next four months of their scheduled term, we planned for our AmeriCorps members to support:

Thousands of walk-in visitors annually
5 weeks of Summer Education Programs for Rockford Public Schools that serve 125 students
25 Spring Field Trips and 1,125 students
10+ Summer Field Trips with outside camps, library and community groups
An anticipated 32 Fall Field Trips
35+ Public Education Programs
Monthly habitat restoration days with community volunteers
Support 7 regional and national Community Science research projects
Collect baseline environmental data at the Elliot Golf Course property
Members serving with partner organizations were planning on supporting hundreds of acres of habitat restoration across Winnebago, Boone and Dekalb counties and supporting education programs in and around South Beloit

This is where Severson Dells needs your help! We are asking you to reach out to your federal legislators and let them know how these AmeriCorps cuts affect your community: https://voicesforservice.org/take-action/contact-congress/

In addition to the direct impact on the AmeriCorps members that have been cut, these cuts also have a significant financial impact on the Severson Dells organization. Severson Dells is seeking support from the community to help us cover the unexpected $60,000 cost of staffing the programs and services once delivered by AmeriCorps, as well as plan for the future costs of hiring internally for the next term without AmeriCorps. Please consider donating: https://bit.ly/SDNC-AmeriCorps

The AmeriCorps program, nationally, has seen continual increases in federal funding in both Republican and Democrat administrations, including in Trump’s first term. There are numerous members of the House and Senate that span the full political spectrum that have been staunch advocates for the AmeriCorps program. For every $1 of federal funding to the AmeriCorps program, communities receive $34 in benefits. Because of the strength of this program and the benefit to the community, Severson Dells thought it was a safe program to invest in as a way to expand our impact in the community while also helping to develop the next generation of environmental educators and natural land managers.

We have seen our AmeriCorps alumni go on to work as:

The Executive Director of Nature at the Confluence
Water Resource Specialist for IL Environmental Protection Agency
Museum Program and Makerspace Manager at the Discovery Center Museum
Biological Technician for the US Forest Service
Educator with the Rockford Park District

We have three AmeriCorps alumni that are pursuing higher education degrees (2 Masters of Science and 1 PhD) in Natural Resources, Ecology and Conservation.

We are so proud of the work they have accomplished at Severson Dells and continue to accomplish in their professional journeys. We are also grateful that these members so generously gave their time and talents to Severson Dells and the northern Illinois community.

Wood Ducks

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 03:30:00 GMT

Forward:

Wood Ducks

Bruce Muench

Nov. 8, 2022

For the past twelve years I have lived in a rural subdivision in northern Illinois. Prior to moving here my family and I lived on a farm thirty miles to the east. It is an adventure on that farm that inspires me to write this brief story.

A few years after we moved onto the farm I decided to build our own farm pond. Because I am an aquatic biologist by profession and a Navy veteran, it is natural, I suppose, that being near water would be a feeling of need I might have. Also, I knew that I might obtain both financial and technical aid in this endeavor from the Department of Agriculture through the state Soil and Water Conservation Service using their Farm Pond Program. So it came about in the mid 1950‘s that our two acre pond was constructed.

What I write about here is not about the life history of this pond, but about the presence of an unusual species of waterfowl that came to frequently visit there.....the wood duck.

Waterfowl began using our pond within a short time after it filled with water. For that matter, other animals that have an affinity for water showed up also, like frogs, turtles, raccoons and crawdads. The wood duck was one of the waterfowl that we observed most frequently spending time there in all months except when ice covered the surface. Added attraction for the wood duck came, I’m sure, from the fact that our pond is situated in a thirty acre wood lot, mostly mature oak trees, which provided both food and nesting sites that attract this species. We were later to find wood duck nests as far as a quarter mile from the water.

We could not observe the surface of the pond from our farm house. It was some five hundred feet away and our large barn obstructed our view of it anyway. I found there was a way I could sneak up to the pond unobserved. I did this by coming up to the blind side of the dam and either pecking over the edge of the dam, or using my binoculars from our orchard on the north side of the pond. I made an almost daily reconnoiter of what I saw in a log book during those months when there was no ice.

Reading of the nesting habits of this duck led me to the vision of perhaps providing artificial, man-made nesting boxes at locations close to the pond where we might be able to more closely observe them. Also, I found information concerning the preferred size, heighth above the ground, surrounding vegetation and even the diameter of the entrance hole into the box. Much of this information I obtained from a national organization named Ducks Unlimited. I even purchased one of their plastic nesting boxes and installed it close to the pond.

Our two sons, Kevin and Peter, caught my enthusiasm and each built their own wooden nesting box in their high school shop class. These they hung, with an air of competition, to locations near or even within the pond itself ignoring my sage advice. The next year, Guess What! Their crude boxes were both used by nesting hens and my fancy plastic box was not.

Wood duck hens usually lay an average of a dozen eggs and incubate them for thirty days. It became a great reward for us to observe a flotilla of little ducklings following their mother around the surface of the pond each May or June. Broods of ducklings vary widely in size, all the way from five to fourteen. The largest broods being, I believe, the result of two or more hens combining their offspring.

It was a delight for us to see the flotilla of ducklings follow their mother in linear order on the pond surface. Usually you could hear her clucking orders to them as they proceeded. If we disturbed them by our presence, she would lead them helter-skelter into the nearest protective cover, which was usually the growth of cattails which appeared at that time of year around the perimeter of the pond in shallow water and a heighth of three or four feet. Being a navy veteran myself, I could appreciate this uniformity of response issued by order from their captain, their mother.

Incidentally, it is at this time of life, the first two months, that wood ducklings are most vulnerable to predation. Mortality must be high, because on our farm, such predators as raccoons, hawks and owls, are common.

At this point I must tell you of an unusual experience I had while walking down a sidewalk in a small central-IIlinois river town. Much to my surprise a tiny ball of down fell from out of an overhanging tree onto the sidewalk just five feet ahead of me. The ball was a tiny wood duck which bounced like a ping-pong, recovered its feet and hastened off ahead of me to join its siblings and its mother who were about twenty feet ahead of me waiting. They were headed for the nearby Illinois River, but they had to cross a busy street before they got there. The traffic stopped for them. I have friends who can corroborate this story.

Once when I got out of bed in the second floor room of our house, I looked out the window and there, sitting on the horizontal limb of a large maple tree was a drake wood duck looking directly at me. As I watched he waddled back and forth on the limb apparently searching for, I deduced, a nesting site for his hen. Either he couldn’t find one, or his hen didn’t like it, because he never came back. Maybe they didn’t favor my looking into their marital affairs.

As I write I must tell you I am ninety-five years old and the pond was been in existence for sixty-two years. How many baby wood ducks have been produced

there, I have no way of knowing, but I would guess more than a thousand. How many survived to adulthood, I also do not know, because juvenile mortality must be high. Maximum age of an adult is between four and ten years and a hen may have two broods in a single year. Needless to say, breeding areas such as this affords must be contributing to the overall strength of this wonderful bird’s survival in North America.

Viva La Wood Duck!

This blog post is a guest blog by Bruce Muench. If you would like to submit a guest blog, please contact Becca Rankins at becca@seversondells.org for more information.

Herbicide Injuries in Our Natural Areas

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 17:26:49 GMT

“Once you see it you can’t unsee it”

The term “shifting baseline syndrome” was coined by marine biologist Daniel Pauly in 1995 to describe a phenomenon in the study of fisheries in which each generation of researchers took the stock size and diversity at the moment they began their career to be the baseline for their research, and thus the total decline in fisheries around the world since the industrial revolution was not fully appreciated. Since then the term has grown to refer to how people’s understanding of what a healthy ecosystem looks like has declined over time as each new generation has a lower baseline of what is considered a “normal” environment.’ Shifting baseline syndrome can lead to us thinking that things we see in nature are normal when, in fact, they are signs of problems in our environment. As spring progresses, and trees leaf out, you may notice that many leaves appear twisted, cupped, curled or otherwise deformed. While it may seem tempting to think that these deformities are a normal part of leaf formation because that's what leaves have looked like in past years, they are actually a sign of a growing problem in our natural areas– off target herbicide injuries. In this blog we’ll talk about what herbicides are, how they are getting into natural areas, and what the effects are in Illinois ecosystems.

What is an herbicide?

Herbicides are chemicals that are used to kill unwanted plants. They fall under the umbrella of pesticides, which are any chemicals used to kill living things that negatively impact productivity. Controlling weeds has been an important part of agriculture since people started cultivating plants 10,000 years ago. For most of this time, weeds were managed by hand pulling them or “cultural” methods. Cultural methods of weed control are different ways of creating an environment in which desired crops outcompete weeds. These methods can include crop rotation, cover cropping, and soil fertilization. However, in the 1950s everything about agriculture changed in what is called the green revolution. During this time, the invention of the Haber - Bosch process to create ammonium fertilizer from nitrogen gas, and the creation of herbicides allowed for large intensification of agriculture, greatly reducing the need for labor on farms and increasing yields.

Despite the most commonly used herbicides being brought to market between 1945 and 1975, the use of herbicides changed dramatically over time. In the past, herbicides were usually only sprayed preemergence– or before crops came up. However, with the introduction of genetically modified crops that are resistant to certain herbicides, they can be sprayed all growing season, or “over-the-top” of crops.. The most controversial of these has been soybeans that are resistant to 2,4-D and Dicamba, two herbicides that target broadleaf plants and would otherwise kill soybeans. These herbicides are also very prone to vapor drift, which occurs at temperatures over 80°F, meaning that spraying them in the summer drastically increases drift. Dicamba drift made national headlines as it not only affected natural areas but also farmers that weren’t growing resistant soybeans. Dicamba was first approved for over-the-top spraying during the growing season in 2016 by the EPA; however, it lost its approval for this kind of application in 2024 after a district court required the EPA to vacate the approval due to procedural violations.

How do herbicides drift?

Herbicide drift refers to herbicides moving from their intended target, usually an agricultural field or lawn, to anywhere they were not intended to be. There are two ways that herbicide drift can occur– particle drift and vapor drift. Particle drift occurs while herbicides are getting sprayed. It usually happens when applicators do not follow the regulations on herbicide labels by applying on windy days or having their sprayers at the wrong height. Vapor drift occurs after herbicides have been applied on hot days. The heat causes herbicides to volatilize, or, turn into a vapor. These vapors can then travel over a mile before being taken up by other plants. Vapor drift can occur even when herbicides are properly applied according to the label and up to 30 days after application. Not all herbicides volatilize at temperatures we normally find in the environment, but two common herbicides, 2,4-D and Dicamba, can volatilize at temperatures as low as 80°F.

Herbicide Injury

Herbicide drift causes direct injuries to plants, and it leads to indirect damage to animals and ecosystems as a whole. Herbicide exposure can cause plants to have deformed leaves, produce fewer flowers, produce fewer fruits and nuts, have lower nutritional contents, cause limb dieback in trees, and even whole plant death in extreme cases. These injuries can have cascading effects across ecosystems, as plants are the basis of the food chain that all other living things rely on. The most visible of symptoms are deformed leaves on trees, making it the best way to identify herbicide exposures apart from sending samples to a lab for testing. Some common deformations are irregular margins, curling/cupping, chlorosis, necrosis, and strapping. Here is what these signs look like:

Chlorosis

Chlorosis refers to the yellowing of leaves as chlorophyll is depleted.

Irregular Margins

Irregular margins refer to the edges of a leaf having a different shape or pattern than they usually do.

Curled or Cupped Leaves

Curling is when the edges of leaves turn down. Cupping is when the edges of leaves turn up.

Necrosis
Necrosis refers to a part or whole leaf dying.

Strapping
Strapping refers to leaves that are longer and narrower than they usually are.

Extent of Herbicide Damage in Illinois

The Illinois Natural History Survey did a study of 185 sites in all counties in 2023. They found at least one pesticide in 74% of the tissues that they tested. They also found herbicide injuries in trees at 99% of the sites that they visited and severe herbicide injuries at 54% of sites. Oaks were the most impacted of any species, which is especially concerning given that oaks are an incredibly important species in Illinois ecosystems. They found that herbicides were much more prevalent prior to July and other pesticides like insecticides and fungicides were much more prevalent after July 18.

While it’s easy to miss the signs of herbicide injury when they’ve become part of our baseline, once you know what to look for— cupped leaves, yellowed veins, jagged margins—it’s impossible to ignore what they mean. It may seem overwhelming to see this damage in ecosystems we once thought of as healthy; however by recognizing herbicide injury for what it is, we can equip ourselves with the knowledge required to push for changes in how and when these chemicals are used, advocate for stronger protections for natural areas, and restore a more accurate baseline of what healthy ecosystems should look like. If you are interested in learning more about herbicide drift Prairie Rivers Network has more resources and a community science monitoring project for herbicide injuries.

Sources :

Benson, T. J., & Zaya, D. (2024). Understanding the extent and consequences of chemical trespass for Illinois ecosystems .

https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/inpc/documents/INHS%20-%20final%20report_.pdf

Erndt-Pitcher, K., & Martin, K. (2024). Hidden in Plain Sight . Prairie Rivers Network. https://prairierivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/HerbicideDrift-Report-

Update-12.19.24-LOCKED.pdf

Mesnage, R., Székács, A., & Zaller, J. G. (2021). 1 - Herbicides: Brief history, agricultural use, and potential alternatives for weed control. In R. Mesnage & J. G. Zaller

(Eds.), Herbicides (pp. 1–20). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-823674-1.00002-X

America the Beautiful & Our Changing Relationship with Earth Day

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 13:37:46 GMT

From the rugged peaks of the Rocky Mountains to golden desert canyons, the rolling prairies to the ancient, mist-shrouded Appalachian mountains , America is a land rich in many beauties. We are home to the towering redwoods of the west coast, sun-drenched coastlines in the south, and the deep blues of the Great Lakes that collectively hold the largest volume of freshwater on Earth. These wild places offer a kind of quiet that stirs the soul. This vast, varied land is what we proudly call “America the Beautiful.”

And on Earth Day, this is the America we celebrate. We scroll through snapshots of National Parks, photos of mountain trails, canyon vistas, tidepools, and wildflower filled prairies. Maybe we've seen these places with our own eyes , maybe we carry them like a dream we hope to one day reach. We’ve all, in some way, been struck by the beauty of this land. As I write these words, I’m sitting at my desk looking out the window into the woodland of Severson Dells, watching the first green buds emerge, listening to the fluting whistles of returning songbirds. How lucky are we to live among such beauty?

But that beauty is in danger.

Today, mountaintops in Appalachia are being blown apart for coal, their peaks stripped and valleys buried in rubble. Ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest are leveled for lumber, their centuries-old trees felled in minutes. Oil rigs rise like metal skeletons in Alaska’s fragile tundra, while pipelines thread through sacred Indigenous lands and important wildlife corridors. Wetlands that once buffered our coastlines from hurricanes are drained and filled. Prairies, once stretching unbroken across the heart of the continent like an ocean of grass, are disappearing under pavement and plow. Our coastlines are receding. Our coral reefs, once vibrant, are dying, bleaching bone-white. Even here, outside my window, invasive honeysuckle strangles the understory where spring ephemerals once bloomed, and the chorus of birds is quieter than it used to be , a stark reminder that nearly one-third of North American bird populations have vanished in the past fifty years.

But this isn’t a new story. Ours is not the first generation to witness the cost of ‘progress’. The tension between beauty and destruction has shaped this nation since the Industrial Revolution. And while the challenges we face today are daunting, they are not insurmountable.

Every year, on April 22nd, we celebrate Earth Day – a day that itself was born from a moment not unlike our own. America of the 1950’s and 60’s is almost unrecognizable from the America we know today. In 1943, Los Angeles residents awoke one morning to skies so dark and chemical-laden they feared they were under a gas attack . It was smog. Just 5 years later, a lethal blanket of smog from zinc smelters in Pennsylvania killed 20 people in just three days . The Merrimack River in New Hampshire ran a different color each day , depending on what the local mills were dumping. And in 1969, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River, thick with oil and industrial waste , burst into flames , its smoke billowing four stories high. These weren’t isolated incidents. They were the symptoms of a larger crisis, one brought on by decades of industrial expansion with few, if any, environmental safeguards.

At the same time that America was enjoying unprecedented prosperity, it was also polluting its air, poisoning its rivers, and sickening its people. The economy boomed, but the environmental consequences were growing harder to ignore.

In 1962, a marine biologist named Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that would become a cornerstone of the modern environmental movement. Carson’s work focused on the effects of chemical pesticides (especially DDT) on ecosystems and human health. She warned of a future without birdsong, where toxins accumulated in the food chain and sickened both wildlife and people. Silent Spring struck a chord. It didn’t just present scientific facts, it gave voice to a deep, growing unease. People were already noticing the changes around them: the absence of fireflies in summer, the increasing number of fish kills in local lakes, the haze that lingered over cities for days. Carson’s words helped connect the dots, and it didn’t just inform, it inspired, and from it spurred the beginning of the environmental movement.

By the late 1960s, a wave of activism was sweeping the country. Young people were leading protests against the Vietnam War, civil rights leaders were marching for justice, and college campuses had become hotbeds of political energy. Watching this cultural shift with inspiration was Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. A long-time advocate for environmental protection, Nelson saw how the antiwar movement had galvanized young people, and he wondered whether that same passion could be channeled into fighting a different kind of crisis: the growing threat to America’s air, water, and land.

His sense of urgency only deepened in early 1969, when tragedy struck the California coast. A blowout at a Union Oil drilling platform off the coast of Santa Barbara spilled nearly 100,000 barrels of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean . Black sludge washed up on miles of pristine beaches. Seabirds lay dying under slicks of oil. Dolphins and seals washed ashore. The air reeked of petroleum for weeks. The images were devastating, and they were broadcast into homes across the nation.

Senator Nelson knew the time to act was now. In November of that year, he announced plans for a "National Teach-In on the Crisis of the Environment" a day when Americans would come together to learn, protest, and push for meaningful environmental change. This name was later changed to Earth Day, and the date chosen was April 22, 1970, strategically placed between spring break and final exams to ensure strong participation on college campuses.

To bring this ambitious vision to life, Nelson turned to Denis Hayes, a 25-year-old student activist. With Hayes’ help, a 7 month timeline, and a shoestring budget of just $124,000, Earth Day sparked an unprecedented nationwide movement. College campuses began planning teach-ins and events. Newspapers picked up the story. Civic groups, churches, and schools joined in. The momentum built quickly and organically. Within a few months, the Earth Day idea had become a nationwide grassroots event supported by millions of people. Colleges campuses across the country organized “teach- ins”, and major newspapers were writing about Senator Nelson's ideas.

Earth Day may have been Gaylord Nelson’s idea, but American citizens made it happen. “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level,” reflected Gaylord Nelson. “It organized itself.” Historian Adam Rome would later call it “the most famous unknown event in modern American history.”

On April 22, 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans, nearly 10% of the U.S. population at the time, participated in what remains the largest single-day political demonstration in the nation’s history. People from all walks of life gathered for marches, cleanups, rallies, and teach-ins. The message was clear: the environment mattered, and the public was ready to fight for it. What made Earth Day so powerful was not just its scale, but its unity. The movement crossed ideological lines. It was bipartisan, supported by both Democrats and Republicans. At a time of deep national division, Earth Day reminded Americans that the health of our planet is a shared responsibility, and a common cause. Even more remarkable is that this enormous, coordinated event was pulled off without the tools we rely on today. No social media. No email. No cell phones. Just passionate people, printed flyers, rotary phones, and the belief that change was possible.

The success of Earth Day didn’t just move the public, it resonated with leaders in Washington, and led to real change. In just a few years, the United States went from having almost no federal environmental policy to enacting an environmental policy infrastructure strong enough to slow down the era of unregulated industrial sprawl to protect our planet and public health.

The success of the first Earth Day led to the passage of some of the most important environmental legislation in American history, including:

President Richard Nixon oversaw the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the above landmark environmental laws into effect. In a 1970 speech, Nixon captured the spirit of the moment with a message that still rings true today:

“The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water? Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions. It has become a common cause of all the people of this country. It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans, because they, more than we, will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later. Clean air, clean water, open spaces-- these should once again be the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be. We still think of air as free. But clean air is not free, and neither is clean water. The price tag on pollution control is high. Through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature, and now that debt is being called. ”

In the years that followed the first Earth Day, America made progress—rivers stopped catching fire, cities began to breathe a little easier, and wildlife rebounded. But the work was never meant to end in the 1970s. Earth Day is a reminder that the environment is not a limitless resource, and that protecting it requires action, accountability, and cooperation. Fifty five years later we face new environmental challenges, but Earth day is a reminder of what we can accomplish when we come together, regardless of party or background, to protect the natural world we all share.

Today, the landmark pieces of legislation that were established in the 1970’s are under threat. The first hit to the Clean Water Act was the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA, which significantly narrowed the Act's scope, limiting protections for wetlands and many streams. This ruling has led to a significant weakening of federal oversight. More recently, the EPA has announced significant changes to the Clean Water Act that potentially puts the drinking water sources for tens of millions of Americans at risk.

As for the Endangered Species Act, there is a proposed rule change that would limit violations of the Act only to actions that hurt or kill animals. Harming the habitats the endangered animals need to survive would no longer be a violation of the Endangered Species Act, which would open large swaths of land to logging, mining and development that were previously protected. As we all know, if a species doesn’t have the habitat to survive and breed in then it will eventually go extinct. This proposed rule change is open for public comment until May 19 in the Federal Register, so please consider sharing your opinion .

Additionally, there is the Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American Energy Executive Order. The legal community is still trying to figure out just how far reaching this EO is, but it is likely to have a significant impact on a wide range of environmental regulations.

These threats to the health of our environment put “America the Beautiful” at risk. The spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties, and the fruited plain from sea to shining sea are left vulnerable. Now more than ever, Earth Day calls on all of us to act to protect our beautiful environment.

Earth Day is now celebrated in over 190 countries. But its roots lie in a time when people refused to accept the destruction of the world around them as inevitable. So, what will you do this Earth Day? History has shown us when people care, when they act together, the world changes. The debt to nature is still being called, and we still have the power to answer.

This Earth Day, don’t just celebrate, participate. Plant a tree. Call your representatives. Learn the name of the bird outside your window. Donate to organizations that support our natural lands, our water, and our future. Vote. Teach your children not just to love the Earth, but to fight for it. Talk about climate change, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Use your voice, use your art, use your science. Join a local cleanup, start a compost bin, reduce your plastic use. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your parents. Talk to your children. You can’t wait for someone else to take action. You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to do everything, but you do need to begin. Earth doesn’t need more perfect people, it needs millions of imperfect people who care enough to act with intention everyday.

Sources:

Klein, Ezra, and Thompson, Derek. Abundance . Simon & Schuster, 18 March 2025

“Gaylord Nelson & Earth Day Origins.” Nelson Earth Day , https://nelsonearthday.net/gaylord-nelson-earth-day-origins/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.

Gammon, Katharine. “The Deadly Donora Smog of 1948 Spurred Environmental Protection—But Have We Forgotten the Lesson?” Smithsonian Magazine , 26 Oct. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deadly-donora-smog-1948-spurred-environmental-protection-have-we-forgotten-lesson-180970533/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.

Lamoreaux, Naomi. “The 1943 Hellish Cloud Was the Most Vivid Warning of L.A.'s Smog Problems to Come.” Smithsonian Magazine , 15 Jan. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1943-hellish-cloud-was-most-vivid-warning-las-smog-problems-come-180964119/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.

“The Merrimack River: How Revisiting Its History Helps Renew Action.” Forest Society Blog , Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 26 Sept. 2022, https://www.forestsociety.org/blog-post/merrimack-river-how-revisiting-its-history-helps-renew-action . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.

Pyne, Stephen J. “The Cuyahoga River Caught Fire at Least a Dozen Times, but No One Cared Until 1969.” Smithsonian Magazine , 22 June 2019, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/ . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.

Westervelt, Eric. “How California’s Worst Oil Spill Turned Beaches Black and the Nation Green.” NPR , 28 Jan. 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/688219307/how-californias-worst-oil-spill-turned-beaches-black-and-the-nation-green . Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.

A Beginner’s Guide to Foraging in Northern Illinois

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 19:15:20 GMT

Disclaimer: Severson Dells Nature Center is not a medical provider and is not giving medical advice in the following article. Please consult a licensed medical professional for any questions regarding your personal health.

What is foraging?

Foraging: the act of searching for and collecting wild, edible plants, mushrooms, and other resources from the natural environment.

Foraging is a fundamental human practice that has provided our species with food, medicine, and materials for thousands of years. Though food is now something we think of as coming from the grocery store, foraging is a salient and critical reminder that food, in fact, comes from the ground. Today, foraging is experiencing a resurgence as more people look to reconnect with where their food comes from, eat seasonally, and engage in sustainable food practices. In Northern Illinois, the diverse landscape of forests, prairies, and wetlands offers a wealth of edible and medicinal plants right at our feet. Whether you're looking to supplement your diet with wild foods or connect with nature, foraging is a rewarding activity. However, responsible foraging requires knowledge and care to ensure both personal safety and ecological sustainability.

Foraging is Good for Your Health?

Maintaining a healthy diet is the simplest way to maintain a healthy microbiome, and wild foods are a great way to start. Foraging ensures that you eat locally, and this practice has a plethora of related health benefits. Consuming foods–and in turn, their related bacteria–that we share in our local environment introduces our bodies to beneficial bacteria and microorganisms that support gut health and can even strengthen our immune system! Additionally, because foraged foods don’t require long-distance transportation like much of the food in grocery stores, they retain more of their natural nutrients . Because they grow wild, they are less likely to be treated with pesticides. As a result, foraged foods are often more nutritious than their cultivated counterparts, containing higher levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, all which are important to a healthy diet.

Foraging is not without Environmental Impact

While foraging is a rewarding and sustainable way to connect with nature, it’s essential to approach it with care and responsibility. Overharvesting can threaten plant populations and disrupt delicate ecosystems, particularly for slow-growing or highly sought-after species. In the Chicago region, wild ramps ( Allium tricoccum ) have been overharvested due to their popularity, leading to declines in some local populations . Because ramps take 7 years to mature from seed and reproduce slowly, harvesting entire plants can be detrimental. To forage sustainably, take only what you need, follow ethical harvesting practices—such as cutting a single leaf rather than pulling the entire bulb, taking only a small fraction of what you see, and be mindful of where you walk—and respect regulations that protect vulnerable species. By foraging mindfully, we can enjoy wild foods while ensuring they remain abundant for future generations.

Foraging Best Practices and Guidelines:

Before you start foraging, it’s important to follow some essential best practices to ensure both personal safety and environmental sustainability:

Always positively identify a plant or mushroom before consuming it. Some toxic species closely resemble edible ones.
Forage sustainably. Only take what you need and avoid overharvesting, especially for slow-growing plants and fungi. Once a species is decimated, it may not come back.
Follow local regulations. Some areas, such as state parks, may have restrictions on foraging. Always check guidelines before collecting.
Be mindful of pollution. Avoid areas near roadsides, industrial sites, or lawns treated with pesticides.
Respect private property. Always seek permission if foraging on private land.

Local Foraging Guidelines:

Forest Preserves of Winnebago County:

There are 44 preserves owned by the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County, including Severson Dells Forest Preserve! The regulations for foraging are as follows:

“No person shall upon or in connection with any property of the Forest Preserves: Pick or gather any seed of any tree or other plant without written permission of the Executive Director, except that mushrooms, fruits, and nuts can be picked and gathered for noncommercial purposes.”

Simply put, you are free to forage mushrooms, fruits, and nuts from Severson Dells and any other forest preserve of Winnebago County!

Nature at the Confluence:

Nature at the Confluence is located on City of South Beloit property, where the code of ordinances does not explicitly mention foraging. However, it does address agricultural, horticultural, and forestry activities, requiring them to be conducted in accordance with good practice to avoid becoming a nuisance.

In short, foraging for edible mushrooms and plants is allowed at Nature at the Confluence—as long as it’s done responsibly!

Additionally, the site features a learning garden where visitors are welcome to taste, harvest, and take home fresh produce. If foraging isn’t your style but you’re still looking for a way to connect with your food and eat local, the garden offers a great alternative!

Illinois State Parks:

Foraging for mushrooms, berries, and nuts is allowed in Illinois State Parks.

Some state parks near us include: Rock Cut State Park, Lowden State Park, Castle Rock State Park, and White Pines Forest State Park.

Illinois Nature Preserves:

Illinois Nature Preserves can be found within Forest Preserves and also within State Parks, so it is important to be mindful of where you are foraging within those areas. Illinois Nature Preserves has the following regulations:

“Nature Preserves are protected primarily to preserve nature. Only nature-compatible recreation is allowed. Removal of plant material and animals is prohibited as is such recreation as hunting, fishing, foraging, off-roading, flower-gathering, dog-walking, etc.”

Simply put: no foraging is allowed.

Some local INP sites include: Harlem Hills Nature Preserve, Burr Oak Valley Nature Preserve, Colored Sands Bluff Nature Preserve, Kinnikinnick Creek Nature Preserve, Searls Park Prairie Nature Preserve, Lost Flora Fen, Howard B. Coleman dells Nature Preserve, and Severson Dells Nature Preserve.

What to Forage:

Northern Illinois offers a variety of edible wild foods throughout the seasons. Here are a few safe and beginner-friendly options:

Please note: This blog should not be used as a field guide to ID species for foraging. This list is not all-encompassing. Be sure to positively ID anything before you consume it, and seek out local resources like workshops and regional field guides!

Invasives:

Foraging can actually help the environment when it targets invasive species. Many invasive plants are edible, and removing them for consumption is not just good for you, but also for native species! A few invasives worth foraging include:

Garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata ) – A highly invasive plant with edible leaves that taste similar to garlic. Great for pestos and sautés!
Amur honeysuckle ( Lonicera maackii ) – While the berries are not edible, the flowers and young leaves can be used for teas.
Golden oyster mushroom (Pleurotus citrinopileatus ) – While naturalized in many areas of the United States, this species is rapidly outcompeting our native decomposers. My favorite way to have these mushrooms is fried or sauteed!

Fungi:

Morel mushrooms ( Morchella esculenta ) – A forager’s favorite, these honeycomb-textured mushrooms are prized for their rich, nutty flavor.
Giant Puffball ( Calvatia gigantea ) – Large, white, and edible when young; has a mild, earthy flavor.
Chanterelles ( Cantharellus spp. ) – Golden, trumpet-shaped mushrooms with a fruity aroma and rich taste.
Oyster Mushrooms ( Pleurotus ostreatus ) – Delicate, fan-shaped mushrooms that grow on decaying wood, with a mild, savory flavor and velvety texture.
Hen of the Woods ( Grifola frondosa ) – A clustered, frilly mushroom found at the base of trees, known for its rich, earthy taste and meaty texture.
Chicken of the Woods ( Laetiporus spp .) – Bright orange, shelf-like mushrooms with a firm texture and flavor reminiscent of chicken.

Plants:

Violets ( Viola spp. ) – Edible flowers and leaves that can be used in salads or made into syrups.
Nettles ( Urtica dioica ) – High in vitamins and minerals, best cooked to remove the sting.
Wood Sorrel ( Oxalis spp. ) – A lemony-flavored plant with heart-shaped leaves, great for garnishing dishes.
Wild ramps ( Allium tricoccum ) – A native wild onion with a garlicky taste. Harvest responsibly to avoid overharvesting.
Dandelion greens ( Taraxacum officinale ) – Nutritious and slightly bitter, great for salads and teas.
Mulberries ( Morus spp .) – Sweet berries that grow abundantly on trees.
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) – A succulent green high in omega-3s, great in salads.
Elderflowers (Sambucus canadensis) – Fragrant flowers used in syrups and teas.

Things to Avoid:

While foraging is rewarding, it’s crucial to be aware of toxic species that can be dangerous if consumed. Some key ones to watch out for include:

Poison hemlock ( Conium maculatum ) – Highly toxic and often mistaken for edible wild carrot or Queen Anne’s lace.
Deadly nightshade ( Atropa belladonna ) – A plant with dark berries that can be fatal if ingested.
False morels ( Gyromitra spp. ) – Look similar to true morels but contain toxins that can cause severe illness.
Jack-o’-lantern mushrooms ( Omphalotus illudens ) – Bright orange and often confused with chanterelles, but toxic.

Foraging is more than just a way to find food—it’s an opportunity to slow down, observe the natural world, and develop a deeper appreciation for where our food comes from. Whether you’re collecting wild greens for a salad or harvesting nuts for the winter, foraging connects you to the rhythms of nature and the land around you. By foraging responsibly, you can enjoy the health benefits of wild foods while also contributing to environmental conservation. So grab a basket, head to the woods, and start discovering the incredible abundance nature has to offer!

Sources:

Foraging Wild Edibles: Dietary Diversity in Expanded Food Systems - National Library of Medicine

The Microbiome Connecting Thread: From Farm to Food to Human Health- The University of Illinois Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

Plant poachers damage Cook County forest preserves as demand for ramps and morels makes foraging more profitable- The Chicago Tribune

Code Of The Forest Preserves of Winnebago County Article V. General Use Regulations

Friends of IL Nature Preserves

Nature At The Confluence

Linda's Intro Blog

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 17:03:55 GMT

Introducing Linda

My name is Linda Sandquist (she, her) and I am so happy to be the new Director of Development here at Severson Dells Nature Center. As a lifelong Rockfordian, my passion is helping make Rockford a thriving place to live.

My first exposure to nature education happened when I was a chaperone for my daughter's 2nd grade winter field trip. I remember being a little nervous about a walk in the woods with a group of 8 year old kids at a place I had never visited. I also remember how great the staff was, how much the kids enjoyed their visit, and how invigorating it was to be out in nature on a winter's day. I'm embarrassed to say that although I had discovered the magic of the outdoors, my family and I never truly took advantage of what Severson Dells had to offer.

Fast forward 23 years and my granddaughters, Joanna and Ruby, were exposed to Severson Dells when their other set of grandparents brought them to Pollinator Palooza. They loved it! Their delight and my blossoming appreciation of nature and the outdoors served as the impetus for me to apply for the development position here. I am blessed to be part of the dedicated team who works to bring nature education and activities to over 10,000 people each year. I'm inspired to steward the donors and supporters of Severson Dells and share the impact their financial support makes. Most importantly, I am dedicated to ensuring that all families have the opportunity to take advantage of the wonders of Severson Dells and I look to the future when we will be able to offer nature education on the east side of Rockford. I look forward to building this magic together with you.

Spring Wildflower Spotting

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:39:57 GMT

There are so many signs of spring around us this time of year. The world feels like it is waking up again when you feel the sun on your face, spot birds flying north, and perhaps see the prettiest sign: wildflowers. Between our prairie, forest, and aquatic habitats at Severson Dells and beyond, there will be countless wildflower blooms to discover within a few weeks. To point out these fantastic flowers by name, you will need to know some identifying features. To help you on this quest, you can start by familiarizing yourself with some of the fundamental components of flowers in the diagram below. Once you are a flower anatomical expert, you can read about some of our local wildflowers and how each one is uniquely beautiful!

Skunk Cabbage

White Trout Lily

Wild Ginger

Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Bloodroot

Dutchman's Breeches

Virginia Waterleaf

Prairie Trillium

Virginia Bluebells

Common Blue Violet

Mayapple

Cut-Leaved Toothwort

Pasque Flower

New Paragraph

Sources

Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Skunk Cabbage

University of Texas Wildflower Center - White Trout Lily

U.S. Forest Service - Wild Ginger

Grow native Missouri Prairie Foundation - Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Britannica - Bloodroot

U.S. Forest Service - Dutchman’s Breeches

Wisconsin Horticurture - Virginia Waterleaf

The Moron Arboretum - Prairie Trillium

Cornell Botanic Gardens - Virginia Bluebells

NC State Extension - Viola Sororia

Cornell Botanic Gardens - Mayapple

U.S. Forest Service - Cut-leaved Toothwort

Montana Field Guide - Pasqueflower

iNaturalist - Observations Map

Migration Madness

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 19:44:25 GMT

In honor of the Men’s and Women’s college basketball tournaments currently happening, we are looking at the similarities between some of our iconic birds at Severson Dells and the stars of college basketball. Many of these birds are fierce competitors, battling for nests, food, and territory, just like the remarkable college athletes battling for a national championship. If you are a bird person, you can take this as an opportunity to learn about some of the stars of the tournaments, and if you are a basketball person take this as an opportunity to learn more about our wonderful local birds.

1. Bald Eagle

2. Red-tailed Hawk

3. Mallard

4. Golden Eagle

5. Turkey Vulture

6. Pileated Woodpecker

7. Redbellied Woodpecker

8. Ruby-throated Hummingbird

9. Northern Harrier

10. American Kestrel

11. Wild Turkey

12. Red-winged Blackbird

13. Great Blue Heron

14. American Woodcock

15. American Crow

16. Sandhill Crane

AI and its Impact on Nature

andrea@seversondells.org (Andrea Wallace) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 14:32:46 GMT

No AI tools were used in the making of this article.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. (Encyclopedia Brittanica)

Why would a nature center, whose staff spend much of their days trotting down forest-lined trails with a pack of eager students behind them, concern themselves with an AI policy? Further, why would any organization, especially a small non-profit, concern themselves with making a policy about it? These things take time, consideration, effort, and intention. Policies are drafted by committees and voted on by boards. Is AI really worth that work?

It is, and here’s why you should care.

Whether you are a corporate employee, high school student, retiree, parent, or fellow environmental educator, AI is already changing your life. For many, it’s making jobs obsolete before our very eyes and changing a growing number of aspects of our daily lives, from search engines to healthcare decisions. The full impact of AI on society is beyond our scope as a nature center, but we’d like to tell you more about our AI policy and why we decided to write one.

Traditional vs Generative AI

Traditional AI has been around for a while. The US Department of Defense began to develop “AI” models as early as 1960s. Traditional AI can help with automation, decision making, spotting anomalies, analyzing data sets, and more. AI works by learning from patterns in large data sets and applying mathematical models and algorithms to them. As an AI system is developed, it can adapt to changes and make predictions. ( Traditional AI vs Generative AI: What’s the Difference? University of Illinois Office of Online Programs ).

Generative AI has become more widely available in the past few years. This is the kind of AI you see in Chat GPT and other similar models. “ At a high level, generative models encode a simplified representation of their training data and draw from it to create a new work that’s similar, but not identical, to the original data.” In other words, whenever AI is used to generate text, music, images, videos, and more, this is considered to be “generative AI.”

AI and Severson Dells

There are many benefits to AI. It can automate systems, cut cumbersome corners, optimize workflows, reduce redundancy, and more. AI can make lives and work easier, and many people have seen some of the ways it can do that.

During the rise of generative AI, we, like many others looking to increase productivity, experimented with these generative AI tools. However, that didn’t last long. Our team quickly recognized the imbalance favoring risk rather than reward, which led us to develop an AI use policy.

Going into the process of writing an AI use policy and considering organizational parameters, we knew that many of the systems we use already have AI Integration. Auto-complete email suggestions, image background removers, closed-caption generators, and more are automatically included in the systems we use. A complete separation from AI and systems that use AI is nearly impossible using the digital tools needed to be successful in today's workplace.

As an organization, we knew we wanted to be thoughtful about the integration of AI into our workflows. We wanted clear limitations to when, where and how we’d use it, and for what reason. Thoughtful self-regulation and accountability were important to us, especially as an nature-based organization considering the environmental impacts of AI. That’s why we implemented an AI policy created using current best practices with input from staff and approved by our board of directors.

AI and Environment

Anytime we turn on a computer or type in a search bar, we are using energy. Cloud computing- which is the on-demand use of servers, storage, databases, networking, analytics, and more through the internet- is responsible for 2.5-3.7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions . We can expect greenhouse gas emissions generated by cloud computing to increase even more with increased AI use, as “ generative AI training cluster might consume seven or eight times more energy than a typical computing workload .” (Norman Bashir, lead author of the impact paper, who is a Computing and Climate Impact Fellow at MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) and a postdoc in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). A traditional search engine response takes 30 times less energy than an AI-generated one. Generating 2 AI images takes as much energy as charging a cell phone.

Data centers alone are “ expected to approach 1,050 terawatts (which would bump data centers up to fifth place on the global list, between [the nations of] Japan and Russia)” in electricity consumption by 2026. ” It’s possible that “ data centers could contribute more than 60% of incremental US power demand through the end of the century .” Some potential solutions to minimize the environmental toll of data centers include : purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions, investing in smaller language models, adjusting workloads around peak energy demand times, optimizing chips for efficiency instead of power, and tracking energy usage.

Generative AI requires more than just energy to function. Every time someone types into Chat GPT or uses any cloud computing, the data processors generate heat that would slow computing and lead to dangerous conditions for the physical centers if left unchecked. Most centers use chilled water to absorb heat in data centers and therefore cool them.

Our team has spent the last two winters visiting schools to teach about water as a resource, so we know a thing or two about water in human systems. Water, especially freshwater, is a valuable resource. Only .075% of the earth’s water is fresh surface water in liquid form. Global AI use of water will soon be 6 times more than the country of Denmark. Water usage for AI is expected to hit a staggering 1,743,535,545,564 gallons of water by 2027. , which is alarming considering a quarter of humanity already lacks access to clean water and sanitation.

There are more environmental impacts of AI usage, including mining for the rare earth minerals to make processors that can keep up with the demands of AI. A 2 kg computer requires 800 kg of raw materials to manufacture , and data centers operate on a much larger scale than that. Further, data centers inevitably result in more electronic waste with substances like mercury and lead.

It’s not to say that AI has to be the antithesis to environmental causes. AI can be used to improve the implementation of renewable resources like wind energy , make choices for transportation efficiency , aggregating and visualizing climate data, monitoring air pollution , and more. AI’s power and potential cannot be denied, but it requires thoughtful and transparent implementation.

AI and Plagiarism

We believe in giving credit where credit is due at Severson Dells. That’s why you will always see us crediting sources and partners. We ask for parent and participant permission before taking photos at our programs and sharing them with others. We securely store participant information and disclose how feedback is used and shared when we ask for it in forms. These are just some of the ways we try to be ethical when working with other people and their likeness, information, and intellectual property.

The same lengths are not taken when industries create these massive AI models. Google has disclosed that many of its AI products and services are trained on personal information scraped from the web. Several lawsuits are underway against Open AI, Meta, and other tech companies like the class action lawsuit PM v. Open AI LP, which claims “stolen private information, including personally identifiable information, from hundreds of millions of internet users, including children of all ages, without their informed knowledge or consent." This means that, to some degree, every word written with AI is created without consent from and credit to its original source.

Without clear disclosure about where data is sourced from to train these models, we consider it a sort of plagiarism to use AI to generate educational text, images, or videos on our behalf. Out of an abundance of caution, we will only use AI tools to alter images or text that are ours or we have clear permission to use. This could look like removing the background on an image, extending an image to fit a different frame, or reviewing text for grammatical errors.

AI and Factual Literacy

When you pick up a box of cereal, you can flip to the back of the box and know what’s in it. You can trust that it was reviewed by multiple people to ensure that the ingredients are factual and prepared in a way that is safe for consumption. Nail-polish removers have “flammable” labels and cleaning products directions on how to properly use them. Labels and review processes ensure that we know what we are using and consuming so we can make choices for our safety.

As of now, there is no mandate for disclosing the use of AI when making products. If you scroll down a social media page, it’s likely that you will encounter pictures, videos and recipes that are shared by people who have no idea they were created by AI. Sure, it would be annoying to waste precious eggs in an AI-recipe that flops, but the consequences can be even more dire.

One example we see in nature community is AI generated field guides that have not been reviewed or labeled as AI generated. If you were to search for “foraging books” on Amazon, many of the top results have all of the telltale signs of being AI-generated. Take the “ Forager’s Harvest Bible” by “Hector Lawson” for example. Hector Lawson seemingly appeared out of nowhere - searches for him or his picture only link back to this book. His biography lacks any information of substance: no places of study, mentors in the field, city where he grew up, favorite foraging memories, nothing. It includes no actual plant images, has haphazard organization, and missing important sections like poisonous look-alikes. Experts in the field are concerned that this book, and the many like it, could lead to people accidentally foraging poisonous plants. In this case, the lack of disclosure and review “ could lead to people dying ” says foraging guide author Alan Bergo.

This issue extends beyond foraging guides. It will grow harder and harder to tell what images, video, audio, and text that we encounter online will be AI-generated or real. It’s a detriment to the work we do at Severson Dells to teach people about the real nature around us and promote scientific literacy, and we acknowledge that it will impact almost every aspect of media. This could give validation to the “Dead Internet Theory” (read more about here ) and fundamentally change how we find and distinguish factual information.

AI and Community Connection

We also view our communication platforms, whether they be our newsletters, emails, phone calls, social media posts, or blogs as an opportunity to connect with real humans and tell stories that are unique to us. No AI model can fully understand or capture the thrill of finding a crayfish under a rock or the smell of our forest after a rain. AI models will never recreate the joy pouring off of a family laughing in the Grove, or what a field trip lesson means to each individual student. We do our best to convey the whole scope of our work at Severson to you through the use of human tools, because we feel that humans can understand that best.

What can you do?

In this era, it is impossible to be a bystander in terms of AI. Our choices are limited: stay offline, regulate our use of AI, or use AI without boundaries. We think it’s important to be thoughtful about our use of AI, and encourage you to do the same.

Here are some action steps you can take personally:

Think about what you use AI for and why you are using it. What do you gain from that use?
Consider the environmental and social impacts of AI. Do you think the pros outweigh the cons for you?
If you see a business or organization using AI, ask them if they have considered an AI policy. Point out the benefits and downsides of AI, especially generative AI, and offer your own thoughts on the matter.
If you see a friend use generative AI or share something made by generative AI, ask them what they know about the impacts of AI. Encourage them to consider the environmental impacts of their usage.

Cindy Gordon, Forbes Contributor and CEO of SalesChoice, encourages business leaders to reflect on these three questions:

1. What is the impact of your AI strategy on water consumption, and how are you planning to replenish what you are draining from the Earth?

2. Will your investments in AI create more social problems than benefits?

3. Have you quantified the social risks in your AI investment business cases, and is your board involved in reviewing the stakeholder and brand reputation risks to your ESG goals?

The UN Environmental Programme has these recommendations for the global scale:

Countries can establish standardized procedures for measuring the environmental impact of AI; right now, there’s a dearth of reliable information on the subject.
With support from UNEP, governments can develop regulations that require companies to disclose the direct environmental consequences of AI-based products and services.
Tech companies can make AI algorithms more efficient, reducing their demand for energy, while recycling water and reusing components where feasible.
Fourthly, countries can encourage companies to green their data centres, including by using renewable energy and offsetting their carbon emissions.
Finally, countries can weave their AI-related policies into their broader environmental regulations.

If you would like to know more specifics about our AI policy, please contact us at andrea@seversondells.org

Sources

https://education.illinois.edu/about/news-events/news/article/2024/11/11/what-is-generative-ai-vs-ai

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cindygordon/2024/02/25/ai-is-accelerating-the-loss-of-our-scarcest-natural-resource-water/

https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117

https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about

https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/water

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03271

https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/der2024_en.pdf

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-do-googles-ai-answers-cost-the-environment/

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.16863

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2024/ceos-achieving-ai-and-climate-goals?utm_source=search&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ceo-agenda&utm_description=paid&utm_topic=ceo-role&utm_geo=global&utm_content=dsa_achieving-ai-climate-goals&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7pO_BhAlEiwA4pMQvBcfX5vKcpkz4zKtb5lLevIlJiVVSwVeYiGYHPL25L51g6qUS2bmOhoCUOMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/machine-learning-can-boost-the-value-of-wind-energy/

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/artificial-intelligence-climate-transition-drive-growth/

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-artificial-intelligence-helping-tackle-environmental-challenges

https://www.amazon.com/Foragers-Harvest-Bible-Identification-Preparations/dp/B0CGYWNL27?ref_=ast_author_dp

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ai-foraging-guides

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2024/01/16/the-dead-internet-theory-explained/

Bird Migration

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:16:42 GMT

North America is home to over 650 species of breeding birds, and more than half of them are migratory! Each spring and fall, around 450 bird species, ranging from tiny warblers to majestic raptors, embark on one of nature’s most extraordinary journeys: migration.

What is migration?

Migration is the seasonal movement of animals from one region to another, and while many creatures migrate, including butterflies, whales, and even some fish, birds are among the most well-known travelers. Their migrations can cover thousands of miles, often crossing entire continents and oceans.

However, migration is not without risk. Around 3.5 billion birds migrate back into the United States from their southern wintering grounds in the spring, and it’s estimated that only about 50% of migrating birds survive the journey. So why do they undertake such a dangerous trip? The answer is simple: survival. Birds migrate to escape dwindling resources, like food and daylight, and to find better conditions for breeding and raising their young.

Bird Superhighways: the four major flyways

While birds migrate all over North America, most follow one of four key routes, known as "flyways":

The Atlantic Flyway (along the East Coast)
The Mississippi Flyway (along the Mississippi River)
The Central Flyway (along the Continental Divide)
The Pacific Flyway (along the West Coast)

These flyways act like natural highways, guiding birds between their breeding and wintering grounds. In Illinois, we are fortunate to be situated along the Mississippi Flyway , one of the busiest and most diverse migration corridors in North America.

Why is the Mississippi Flyway so important?

The Mississippi Flyway stretches over 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and serves as a critical pathway for millions of birds each year. It provides essential stopover sites where birds can rest and refuel before continuing their migration. Wetlands, forests, and river systems along the flyway offer rich food sources, like insects, seeds, and aquatic plants, helping birds restore their energy. An estimated 40% of North America’s waterfowl and shorebirds use this flyway, alongside many songbirds and raptors!

For birdwatchers and nature lovers, this makes the Mississippi Flyway a fascinating location to observe birds. Because of the abundance of food and resources, many species will arrive in the flyway early in the spring as they make their way north. Northern Illinois, in particular, is a hotspot during both the spring and fall migration seasons. It’s a wonderful time to catch sight of some incredible species as they pass through, often in large numbers, on their way to their summer breeding grounds. Some of the most anticipated birds to watch out for in our area are the American White Pelican and the Sandhill Crane!

Understanding Bird Migration: A Journey of Survival

Bird migration is a remarkable phenomenon that can take many forms. While some birds migrate only short distances traveling from one habitat to another within the same region, others embark on epic, long-distance migrations that can span thousands of miles. These migrations are more complex and are influenced by a combination of factors like weather, geography, food availability, and even genetics.

Interestingly, long-distance migration patterns have evolved over thousands of years and are partly determined by the birds' genetic makeup. Birds that migrate across continents have developed highly specialized navigational abilities to find their way year after year. But why would birds make such a long, strenuous journey northward when they could simply stay in the tropics? The answer is simple: survival.

It may seem puzzling at first, but researchers believe that the answer lies in the abundance of food and the longer days available in northern regions during spring and summer. In fact, many birds have evolved to take advantage of the seasonal abundance of insects and other food sources that are much more plentiful in the north compared to their tropical homes. By moving north, they are able to raise larger families, often producing 4-6 offspring, compared to only 2-3 in the tropics.

As the Earth’s climate shifted and glaciers retreated over time, these birds adapted by migrating north to breed in areas with rich, seasonal food supplies. Over many generations, birds have passed down this behavior, and it has become a critical part of their life cycle. Today, many of the North American species we see—such as warblers, orioles, tanagers, and swallows—are descendants of tropical ancestors that evolved this migratory pattern.

Tracking Migration: How do we know where birds go?

Bird migration is a fascinating and mysterious process, but how do we know exactly where these birds go? After all, many species travel across continents, and they’re not always easy to spot. Fortunately, scientists have developed a range of techniques to track and study bird migration, and these methods have provided incredible insights into the birds’ journeys.

One of the most common tools scientists use is satellite tracking. By attaching small, lightweight transmitters to birds, researchers can track their movements in real-time, learning how far they travel, what routes they take, and where they stop to rest. Another method used is bird banding, where a small, numbered band is placed around a bird's leg before it's released. If the bird is later found or recaptured, scientists can learn more about its migratory path and behavior.

Radar and geolocators are also used to track large-scale migrations. Radar systems can detect the presence of migrating birds high in the sky, while geolocators—small devices that record a bird’s location based on the amount of sunlight it experiences—help scientists understand exactly when and where the birds are traveling.

In addition, radio towers are sometimes used to detect radio signals from tagged birds. These systems allow scientists to track birds as they pass through certain regions, providing important data about their movement patterns. Thanks to these innovative tracking methods, we now have a much better understanding of where birds go during their migrations and how they navigate through the vast landscapes they travel.

Migration Risks:

If you were a bird, migration would be the most dangerous time of your life. You would be flying over vast landscapes, searching for food and safe places to rest, all while avoiding predators, bad weather, and human-made obstacles.

One of the greatest threats to migrating birds is habitat loss. Once, birds could depend on expansive forests, grasslands, and wetlands for food and shelter. Today, however, these landscapes are increasingly replaced by cities, farms, and roads, forcing birds to expend more energy searching for resources. This can lead to starvation, exhaustion, and higher mortality rates. Shifts in phenology further compounds the challenge by altering migration routes, shifting food availability, and disrupting seasonal cues. As plants budding and flowering timing shifts, birds may arrive at breeding or wintering grounds too early or too late, finding their food sources depleted. This mismatch between the timing of events in different species can disrupt food webs, leading to a trickle down effect on other ecological interactions.

Human-altered landscapes introduce additional risks. Domestic and feral cats are the leading human-related cause of bird deaths in North America, responsible for an estimated 1.3 to 4 billion bird fatalities annually in the U.S. alone. By comparison, window collisions kill 599 million birds each year, and vehicles claim another 200 million. Birds also face dangers from wind turbines, air traffic, and pollution. Light pollution is another major hazard. Many birds migrate at night, using celestial cues for navigation. Artificial city lights can disorient them, leading to energy-draining confusion or fatal collisions with buildings.

Birds are in Trouble.

A study published in Science found that North America has lost 3 billion birds since 1970. In just 50 years, we have lost 30% of the bird population in North America. This alarming decline highlights the need for conservation efforts to protect bird habitats and make human environments safer for migrating species.

How Can We Help?

Fortunately, there are simple ways to help migratory birds:

Keep cats indoors to prevent predation.
Turn off unnecessary lights at night to reduce light pollution.
Make windows bird-safe with decals or external screens.
Support habitat conservation by protecting wetlands and planting native vegetation.
Consider becoming a citizen scientist by reporting species you see using free tools like eBird and iNaturalist, or get involved with bird banding!

Small actions, when multiplied across communities, can make a significant impact! By understanding bird migration and taking small steps to protect these travelers, we can ensure that future generations will continue to witness the wonder of birds on the move.

To check out what is migrating when, check out this cool migration tool powered by the Cornell Lab: https://dashboard.birdcast.info/region/US-IL

Sources:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

National Audubon Society

Three Billion Birds Have Disappeared Since 1970- Science

Hiking as an Adult

liz@seversondells.org (Liz Wiener) — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 21:07:12 GMT

Reflect, Recharge, and Rekindle Your Sense of Adventure

Hiking isn’t just for kids on school trips or backpacking twenty-somethings chasing epic Instagram shots—it’s for all of us, especially adults who need a break from emails, responsibilities, and the chaos of daily life. I’ve been hiking since I was young, and what I love most about it is that you can do it just about anywhere. I’ve hiked glorious mountain ridges in New England, summited 13,000 foot peaks in New Mexico, and climbed all 46 mountains above 4,000 feet in New York state…yet some of my favorite hikes are still the short, simple ones I can do out my backdoor.

At Severson Dells, we believe that hiking is one of the best ways to refresh both body and mind. Our trails invite you to step away from the hustle and bustle of the “real world” and into nature. Here’s why hitting the trails—especially with us—should be part of your routine.

Health Benefits: Stronger Body, Clearer Mind

Hiking is one of the most accessible and rewarding ways to stay active. It improves cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles, and enhances balance and coordination . Walking is one of the lowest impact sports around, too! This means that while you derive all the cardiovascular benefits of other aerobic activities, you do so with a minimum of stress, strain and pounding to your body. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, hiking can lower blood pressure 4-10 points1. It is also a great way to maintain a healthy weight–you burn approximately 100 calories for every mile you walk at a casual pace. If you pick up the pace or tackle hills, you can burn up to 250 calories per hour! Hiking can also help your bones. A Washington University School of Medicine study found that postmenopausal women who hiked regularly increased their bone mineral content by 6.1% in just one year2.

From the mental perspective,there is plenty of evidence that spending time in nature helps reduce stress and improve your mood ! Hiking releases endorphins, which allow your “fight or flight” reflexes to calm down. A Stanford University study found that people who walked for 90 minutes in natural settings showed decreased activity in the brain region associated with depression. Another study showed that after just 50 minutes outdoors, participants experienced reduced anxiety and improved working memory. I know I certainly feel better after a walk in the woods!

Rekindle Your Curiosity

As kids, we explored the outdoors with wonder—chasing butterflies, flipping over rocks, and discovering new things at every turn. Hiking helps us reclaim that curiosity, no matter our age.

At Severson Dells, we embrace that spirit of exploration with seasonal guided hikes that highlight nature’s hidden wonders. From full moon hikes to springtime searches for skunk cabbage and woodcock, to summertime creek walks, every experience offers something new to discover. Our trails change with the seasons, ensuring that no two hikes are ever the same.

We strive to be as inclusive and accessible as possible. If you ever have questions about trail difficulty or accommodations, we’re happy to help!

You can also theme solo hikes! Bring along a favorite book to read during your breaks, pause to journal the beauty around you, go searching for hints of your favorite color, and more. You don’t have to outgrow whimsy and imagination as an adult, in fact, you can indulge it through nature walks.

Ready to Hit the Trails?

Severson Dells Nature Center offers beautiful, accessible hiking trails that welcome all levels of hikers.

Upcoming Hikes:

Skunk Cabbage and Woodcock–Keep an eye on our page for these pop-up hikes!

Full Moon Hikes – April 11, May 12

Birding Stroll – April 23, May 6, May 20

Wildflower Walks (Tuesday or Wednesdays starting April 23) – Join us once a week at various natural areas to learn about native wildflowers from expert guides!

Find out more about our hikes and events by subscribing to our newsletter, visiting SeversonDells.org, or following us on Facebook.

We hope to see you on the trails!

Sources:

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The Seventh Report on the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/express.pdf. Dec. 2003
Dalsky, G. P., Stocke, K. S., Ehsani, A. A., Slatopolsky, E., Lee, W. C., & Birge, S. J., Jr (1988). Weight-bearing exercise training and lumbar bone mineral content in postmenopausal women. Annals of internal medicine, 108(6), 824–828. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-108-6-824
G.N. Bratman, J.P. Hamilton, K.S. Hahn, G.C. Daily, & J.J. Gross, Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (28) 8567-8572, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1510459112 (2015).
Health Benefits of Hiking, https://americanhiking.org/resources/health-benefits-of-hiking/
Hike Your Way to Better Health, Harvard Health Publishing, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/hike-your-way-to-better-health

2024 Kishwaukee Christmas Bird Count Recap

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Imagine waking up full of anticipation at 3:30 am, rushing to pack your bag with field guides and bundling up to face the bitter December cold. What would be worth the early, cold wake-up? The Christmas Bird Count! The Christmas Bird Count is the longest running community science project in the country. It is administered by the National Audubon Society. Between December 14th and January 5th, hundreds of individual day-long counts take place across the country. Each count takes place in a 15 mile diameter circle. There are three counts that take place in the Rockford area. Severson Dells Nature Center is in the Kishwaukee count area.

The Kishwaukee Christmas Bird Count team put in an excellent effort last December, making 17,391 observations of 68 bird species. The counters got ahead early, starting at 3:30 am, to ensure that they could count owls that are active at night. At 7:00 am the real game began when the diurnal birds came out. The team drove a total of 343 miles and added another 54 miles on foot. Three rookie birders came through big this year, while the veteran birders built upon their past experience to ensure the count ran smoothly.

The most common bird this year was the Canadian goose. The most diverse location in the count area was Blackhawk Springs Forest Preserve with 39 species of birds. The largest percentage increase from last year was seen in the Hairy woodpecker, of which observations nearly doubled from last year.

Species seen this year were:

Canada Goose, Mallard, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Dark Eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow, Herring Gull, Mourning Dove, Pileated Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Fox Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Common Merganser, Wild Turkey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle Adult, Bald Eagle Immature, Barred Owl, Belted King Fisher, Hairy Woodpecker, Merlin, Winter Wren, Carolina Wren, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, American Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, American Goldfinch, Red-tailed Hawk, Great Horned Owl, House Finch, Rough-legged Hawk, Hermit Thrush, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Northern Harrier, Red-winged Blackbird, Ring-billed Gull.

The Christmas Bird Count is unique because of its scale and flexibility, which results in challenges and opportunities in using the data. Because there is a lot of variety in effort between count areas and across years, comparing data between counts and drawing trends over time is not straightforward. Calculations must be done to adjust the number of observations for the amount of effort in a count area. Count areas also have to be averaged out into “Bird Conservation Regions” to remove statistical noise. The trends of bird populations in these bird conservation regions can be viewed at https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count/where-have-all-birds-gone . To participate in this years Christmas Bird Count visit https://gis.audubon.org/christmasbirdcount/?_gl=1*90mxdm*_gcl_au*MTgzNjAyMjIzMy4xNzM4

The Big Melt: How Plants Prepare

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Waiting for spring

When you look around outside you may see some snow, bare trees, a blue-gray sky, and maybe some birds or squirrels roaming about that have toughed it out through the winter. However, there is a lot more going on outside than meets the eye, and the ‘dead’ of winter may not be as dead as we think. Spring brings warmer days that seem to make the world burst into life with blooming flowers, sprouting plants, and new leaves on trees from these perennial plants, but this magical event does not come without careful preparation during snowy and cold winter days leading up to their debut.

Nutrient Storage

During the winter, plants have many interesting adaptations that help them conserve water and prevent freezing to survive the winter. Some of these adaptations are known as dormancy, supercooling, and leaf shedding, which you can learn more about in our blog on Winter Plant Features . However, these adaptations that help plants survive the winter also help them prepare for spring. Plants need to use fewer resources in the winter because there are fewer resources readily available to them, but this means that they must store nutrients for when it is time to grow again. This process known as senescence begins in the fall when plants move their nutrients from their leaves to storage tissues such as stems, root systems, or bulbs to recycle them into new leaves or developing seeds in the spring. Some plants move their resources exclusively into their roots to be stored where the soil temperature will fluctuate less than the air temperature. The moved nutrients include carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. You can see this process occurring when the leaves on trees change color in the fall before they are dropped. The nitrogen from these leaves is used to create proteins in the stems where there will be new growth in the spring.

Temperature

Many plants begin to develop leaf and flower buds for spring growth during the previous growing season when they sense temperatures dropping and shorter days. However, these young buds are far from ready to bloom as they must go through a long-term winter chill that represses their growth known as vernalization. Vernalization is important because it delays growth until the plant can reproduce when the spring conditions are at their most optimal for seed development and pollination. Without a long vernalization period, some plants may accidentally bloom in the fall when there may be cold and warm periods, and miss their chance to reproduce in the spring and therefore chance their own survival. Additionally, this process can be influenced by earlier springs, leading to a possible premature bloom without optimal conditions for pollination. For more information about the possible changes in plants due to changing temperature patterns give our blog on the shifting signs of spring a read.

Daylight Length

Flowering is not only dependent on vernalization that focuses on temperature but also photoperiodism. Photoperiodism is an organism’s response to seasonal changes in the length of sunlight in a day. The term photoperiodism is derived from a photoperiod, which is the period of time in one day that an organism is exposed to sunlight, or in the case of plants, can photosynthesize. This photoperiod length is similar to how we as humans have a circadian rhythm internal clock for day and night. You may notice the shorter winter days when it gets dark early or the long summer days when the sunlight stretches, so much so that we account for this seasonal change with daylight savings time. Plants don’t have daylight savings and change the clock, but they notice the change in the length of sunlight with the passing seasons which allows them to tell when it is time for spring.

Hormones

Both temperature and daylight length sensing are crucial for a blooming plant to be successful because they are triggers for specific plant hormones that set off a chain reaction to initiate the blooming process. A protein named CO is activated in the light so there is more of it when days are longer. CO subsequently sets off another protein, FT, whose production is dependent on the warm temperatures of spring. The presence of FT then prompts the production of gene expressions LEAFY and APETALA1 to create new vegetative and flowering growth respectively. These are the proteins that signal to another protein that it is time to activate, similar to a baton being handed off in a relay race.

There are other hormones involved in this process too that set the rules for protein creation and expression like the referees of the race. Many plant hormones fall into this category, but one in particular is called salicylic acid and this hormone works hand in hand with the spring growth transition. Salicylic acid regulates the creation of CO and FT as well as tells the plant when it is time to switch from predominantly the vegetative leaf stage (LEAFY) to the reproductive flower and fruit stage (APETALA1). Other plant hormones may control flower formation and bloom timing, regulate growth by controlling rates of cell division and differentiation, metabolize nutrients, delay senescence , regulate plant responses to photoperiodism , and break vernalization dormancy in seeds.

The Melt

Snow cover is important throughout the winter because it acts as a protective layer that helps prevent plants from freezing because it keeps the soil temperature more constant than the ever-changing air temperature. Once this protective snow melts the soil temperature can jump from slightly above freezing to 40 degrees F in one day. This rise in temperature in the soil signals to soil microbes and plants that it may be time to increase their biological activity and break out of vernalization as long as the other conditions are right. Snow melt can also deliver water and nutrient resources into the soil for plants to access which aid in the biological processes that plants use when ‘waking up’ for spring. However, if the melting snow carries road salt or other chemicals into the soil this could be harmful for plants to intake.

The Bloom

As plants well know, survival depends on responding to environmental cues. As a result, the nutrients have been carefully stored by senescence , the buds that developed last fall have gone through vernalization as the temperatures begin to rise, the changing daylight has put photoperiodism to work, the hormones and all in place, and the snow has melted. What is left to do now for a plant but burst into celebration by showing off the beauty of its blooms? This final event is known as a budburst or bud-break, where the new leaves, twigs, and flowers seem to burst as plants transition out of their winter dormancy period. Different plant species have different times of budburst depending on preferred climate conditions, growing season length, and their adaptation to the availability of pollinators.

Speaking of Budburst, there is also a community science project with the same name you can be involved in that relates to this phenomenon. Budburst is a group of researchers, educators, and community scientists who make observations about the seasonal changes in local plants and upload their findings. These biological seasonal changes and the timing of these changes are known as phenology . Phenology includes budburst in the spring and the switch into vernalization in the fall. These observations are critical to understanding how plants may be responding to external conditions. Participation can be as simple as taking a picture of a flower in bloom or a tree growing its first leaves! You can learn more and get involved with budburst by visiting their website here .

A Renewed Sense of Spring

Next time you look around outside, you may still see only snow, trees, the sky, and a few animals. However, maybe after reading this blog, you will stop to think about what is going on deep within each plant as it prepares for spring. This thought may help you appreciate the complexities of each season and the importance of winter rest to bring in the beauty of spring.

Sources

University of Wisconsin Department of Biochemistry Susheng Can and Richard M. Amasino - Making Sense of Senescence

Current Opinion in Plant Biology Sibum Sung and Richard M Amasino - Vernalization and epigenetics: how plants remember winter

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - How Do Trees Tell Time?

Maximum Academic Press - Role of plant hormones in flowering and exogenous hormone application in fruit/nut trees: a review of pecans

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - A Blanket of Snow: Good or Bad for Plants?

Plant Signaling and Behavior - Early Bud Break 1 defines a conserved mechanism for control of bud-break in woody perennials

Forest Fungi at Severson Dells

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 22:22:52 GMT

Spring’s right around the corner, which is such an exciting time for nature lovers all around. This is a season filled with new beginnings, growth, fresh blooms, and lots of sprouting. The migrating birds return, ephemeral wildflowers appear, trees begin budding, plants pop up, and fungi begin sprouting!

Believe it or not, fungi are actually everywhere, and they affect our lives everyday! From the mushrooms on your pizza, to life saving medicines, to the mold growing on your leftovers, to the microscopic organisms on pretty much any surface you touch - fungi are everywhere! However, most fungi are just microscopic and require magnification to see with the human eye. This is why mushrooms are so commonly known because they are one of the few species of fungi that are easily seen by the human eye without using any sort of magnification tool.

Mushrooms are mysterious creatures! Not classified as either a plant or an animal, belonging to its own scientific kingdom, but yet essential for survival of all life. Fungi are the backbone of all life that we know on earth. Whether you’re looking to forage and cook them up, or you’re looking just to take a cool picture, mushrooms are always there and ready. You may have heard the terms mushroom and fungi before, and sometimes they are used interchangeably, even though this isn’t correct. The term mushroom is often used to describe a type of fungi that have gills, a cap, a stem, and it functions as the spore-bearing fruiting-body of a fungus, which grows deeper beneath the surface. Whereas fungi are organisms that lack chlorophyll and vascular tissue, and that survive by absorbing and decomposing organic matter.

Fungi play a crucial role in nature, by breaking down and recycling nutrients from dead plants and matter into simpler compounds. The simpler compounds then become food for other organisms: this then causes fungi to form symbiotic relationships with other plants and animals in the ecosystem. Unlike plants, fungi do not have roots, stems, leaves, ﬂowers or seeds. Instead, fungi have a mycelium (a root-like structure) which is a network of small, white filaments, and this is what allows them to absorb nutrients and water from the objects they grow in. Fungi are the most similar in structure to plants, yet they still differ significantly, therefore, fungi belong in their own kingdom of organisms.

Severson Dells Nature Center is fortunate enough to have a beautiful display of mushrooms here. Throughout my few months being here at Severson Dells, I have been able to confidently identify at least 12 different fungi species within our forests, each of them thriving with a large population of mushrooms nearby! However, within the last few years there has been a growing concern about the decline of mushroom species found in Illinois, especially within our forests. A large majority of these population declines are due to over harvesting, habitat deregulation, and the expansion of urbanization and agriculture. As a result, fungi species are displaced from an ecosystem they were familiar and thriving with, to a foreign environment that no longer has favorable conditions for them, resulting in their disappearance. To conserve our remaining mushrooms, we must continue to manage our public and private natural areas and forests in ways that protect and maintain mushroom populations.

We always want to caution people that, while it is legal to forage for fungi for personal use on Forest Preserves of Winnebago County preserves, not all fungi are edible and it is best to do your own research on fungi foraging. If you are curious about learning more on mushroom foraging, consider taking a class from a local expert or doing extensive research. The key to safe and sustainable mushroom hunting is education!

Mushrooms Found at Severson Dells

From fertile prairies to rolling hills and lush forests, Illinois offers a diverse landscape for mycology enthusiasts. Having such a variation of habitats makes Illinois an ideal location for mushroom hunting through all four seasons! Lots of different kinds of wild mushrooms typically begin growing in the spring, around late April to early May. However, not all mushrooms follow this pattern. Different species are more prevalent at different times of the year, but the majority do prefer the spring to fall weather conditions. Here at Severson Dells, we are fortunate enough to have many species of fungi and mushrooms that bloom here, and we appreciate them all! Let’s take a deeper look at the types of mushrooms found here:

Scroll down for more information on each mushroom!

Turkey Tail

Turkey tail mushrooms are exactly what they sound like - mushrooms that have an appearance similar to a turkeys’ tail! Year-round, turkey tail mushrooms can be found, however, they are most commonly seen at the end of August or early September, through the fall, and into the winter months. These mushrooms are often found sprouting along stumps and logs of deciduous trees, and they always grow in groups, clusters, or rows, and will be layered. A mature turkey tail will have a fan-like appearance, with individual semi-circle shapes, called caps (~1-4 inches across), that have concentric bands of color following the semi-circle shape. Each cap is typically a few millimeters thick, has a band of white along its ruffled edge, has concentric bands usually in shades of brown, red, gray, yellow, or orange, and will have a leathery texture. When identifying this mushroom, flipping it over and viewing the underside of a cap is essential, as the false turkey tail appears similar but has a differing underside appearance. The underside of a turkey tail mushroom should be white and covered in small pores, which you should be able to see and feel when running your finger across it.

False Turkey Tail

Similar to the turkey tail mushroom, the false turkey tail mushroom looks almost identical, yet it’s a completely different species of mushroom! False turkey tail mushrooms will grow year round, however, they are most commonly seen at the end of August or early September, through the fall, and into the winter months. These mushrooms are commonly found sprouting along decaying logs and stumps and they always grow in groups, clusters, or rows, and will be layered. A mature false turkey tail will have a fan-like appearance, with individual semi-circle caps ~0.5-4 inches across, that have concentric bands of color following the semi-circle shape. Each cap is typically a few millimeters thick, has a band of white along its ruffled edge, has concentric bands usually in shades of brown, red, gray, yellow, or orange, and will have a hairy, leathery texture. The underside of a false turkey tail mushroom should be a variant of gray or yellow and slightly leathery but also smooth, with no pores present. If pores are present then you have found its lookalike mushroom, the turkey tail!

Giant Puffball

Typically beginning in July or August, and continuing into October and November, giant puffball mushrooms will sprout near forest openings, in meadows, or underneath trees on pieces of rotten wood. Giant puffballs are very commonly found throughout Illinois, and as of August 2024, they are the official state mushroom of Illinois! A mature giant puffball can range in size from a softball to up to 2 feet across, it will be round (as the name suggests) or potato shaped, and will have a white to gray cap which will turn greenish yellow with age, and then gradually to a dark tan as the spores mature. These mushrooms are soft and spongy, with a smooth texture that turns slightly bumpy as the spores mature.

Orange Mycena

From June to September, orange mycena mushrooms will sprout in dense clusters on deciduous trees. These mushrooms often grow in thick, dense, overlapping clustered formations, with multiple stems emerging from a single point. A mature orange mycena will typically have a yellowish-orange stem that’s 3-7 inches, is curved with a smooth texture that becomes sticky when wet, and the base is covered in dense, coarse hairs. The cap is similar in color to the stem, is 0.5-2 inches in width, is rounded but becomes flattened towards the edges, and sometimes they will have a slight depression in the center that appears darker. The cap is smooth and sticky when wet, but the underneath of the cap will have gills that are a bright reddish-orange color, with a pale orange color between them.

Morel

Morels are some of the most sought after edible mushrooms in the world, due to their unique flavor and the fact that they grow wild, so it’s special to find them! Once a year, for three to six weeks in May and lasts through early June, morel mushrooms will quickly appear, flourish, and then disappear in forested areas, typically near streams and creeks. Morels are known to appear on and near dying trees, among fallen pine needles, as well as at burn sites. A mature morel will typically stand between 3-4 inches tall, will have a white or cream stalk, and will have a distinct blonde or gray pitted honeycomb cap, with a sponge-like texture.

Dryad’s Saddle (pheasant back)

From April to August, Dryad’s saddle mushrooms (also known as pheasant back mushrooms) will sprout in dead wood from the heart rot (a fungal disease that causes the decay of a tree’s central wood of the trunk and branches) of living trees, as well as on dead wood. Therefore, dryad’s saddle is a wood-decay fungus that grows as a parasite. A mature dryad’s saddle can grow 3-12 inches in width, in a singular or multiple layered caps making a fan-shaped appearance, will be brownish color and is typically covered in large dark-brown to black scales (their pattern and coloration are similar looking to a pheasants feathers, hence the name), has an off-centered cream colored stalk, and tend to reappear in the same locations often fruiting more than once a year.

Golden Oyster

Throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall, golden oyster mushrooms will sprout along damaged stumps, logs, and rotten wood. Golden Oyster mushrooms have a short shelf-life once they start fruiting in the wild, typically lasting only a few days to a week before eventually deteriorating, but this is dependent on the moisture levels (wetter conditions will slow down the rate of deterioration). A mature golden oyster mushroom will typically be growing in a small to medium sized clump (these are referred to as bouquets because of the resemblance), will consist of many layers of tightly packed mushrooms with bright yellow caps ranging from 2-6 centimeters in diameter, and they will be held up by curved, white stumps that are typically 2-5 centimeters in length. Golden oyster mushrooms are known to be very fragile and easily break apart, and to have a spongy texture and a fresh scent that people often say reminds them of watermelon.

Native Oyster

Typically, native oyster mushrooms will begin sprouting in April or May and you can find them up until October or November. They will sprout along damaged stumps, logs, and rotten wood. Native oysters have a short shelf-life once they start fruiting in the wild, typically lasting only a few days to a week before eventually deteriorating, but this is dependent on the moisture levels (wetter conditions will slow down the deterioration). A mature native oyster will typically be growing as a cluster with many other native oysters, or they may be growing singularly, will have fan-shaped, white, gray, or light yellow caps that are ~10 inches wide, and if a stem is present, it will be less than 0.5 inches in length and curved.

Wood Ear

From May to November, wood ear mushrooms will sprout on fallen logs or decomposing branches, and they will typically grow in clusters with lots of other wood ear mushrooms. A mature wood ear can grow 1-6 inches in width, less than 3 inches tall, are cup-shaped or ear-like (hence the name), and have a wavy cup. They are brown to dark brown in color, covered in tiny hairs that make the caps feel fuzzy, are gelatinous when young but will harden and turn brittle as the fungi ages; so because of this you will typically be able to find wood ear’s during cooler, wet conditions, such as after it’s been raining.

Mica Cap

Mica cap mushrooms are often some of the first mushrooms to appear in the spring, typically sprouting up a few days after heavy rainfall, along fallen logs, branches, dying trees, and buried wood. A mature mica cap can grow 2-5 centimeters, will be bell-shaped, light brown, amber, or cream in color, and will turn a more muted color as they age. They will have a white stem 2-8 centimeters long and it will be smooth to the touch as the stem is covered in very fine hairs. Typically, mica caps like to grow in clusters, so you will almost never find these on their own! Their caps are covered in a layer of white, glistening speckles that resemble the mineral mica (hence the name), however, these speckles don’t last for very long, and they’re commonly washed away after the first rainfall that they’re exposed to.

Honey

From August to November, honey mushrooms will sprout in clusters at the bases of trees and stumps, typically after heavy rainfall. Honey mushrooms parasitize trees, so once it’s appeared there’s no getting rid of it, even if you cut the tree down; the mushrooms will still sprout seasonally from the stump. A mature honey mushroom cap can grow 1-6 inches wide, with a whitish stalk that’s ~2-6 inches long, and has an identifying white ring located underneath the cap, at the top of the stalk. They will have a convex cap, that’s yellow or brown in color and has a sticky texture with blacky, hairy scales in the center.

Little Nest Polypore

Upon first glance, this mushroom may easily be confused with some other lookalikes, such as turkey tail or birds nest polypores, however, there are a few ways to tell if the fungi you’re looking at is a little nest polypore. The easiest way to tell if you’ve found a little nest polypore is to find them while they’re still young, because when young they have very folded over cup-like appearances. From June to December, little nest polypore will sprout individually along the branches of dead and dying trees, and as they age they will slowly decompose, leaving behind a small, circular, nest-shape (hence the name) except without any eggs inside. A mature little nest polypore can grow 1-5 centimeters, will be concentrically zoned with white, brown, or gray, and at the base they will have a whitish stalk that holds the cups above the tree, giving these fungi a difficult appearance to identify.

Severson Dells Nature Center is lucky enough to have the 12 mushroom species just discussed growing here in our forests! There’s likely more species here, this is just all I’ve seen in the last few months, and I’m new to foraging. So, be sure to stop by Severson Dells, take a stroll around, and let us know how many mushroom species you were able to identify!

Sources:

“Stages of Mushroom Growth (& What Growers and Consumers Should Know).” Become Lucid, becomelucid.com/blogs/news/stages-of-mushroom-growth-amp-what-growers-and-consumers-should-know.

Walker, D.H., and M.R. McGinnis. “Pathobiology of Human Diease.” ScienceDirect Topics, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/fungi#:~:text=Fungi%20are%20eukaryotic%20organisms%20that,relationships%20with%20plants%20and%20animals.

“Wild about Illinois Fungi!” Illinois Department of Natural Resources, dnr.illinois.gov/education/wildaboutpages/wildaboutfungi.html. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.

McFarland, Joe. “Fungus Fans.” Outdoor illinois October 2007 Fungus Fans (Turkey Tail. dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/oi/documents/oct07turkeytailmushrooms.pdf.

“False Turkey Tail.” Missouri Department of Conservation, mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/false-turkey-tail.

“Giant Puffballs: Herbarium.” Utah State University, www.usu.edu/herbarium/education/fun-facts-about-fungi/giant-puffballs#:~:text=Giant%20puffballs%20are%20found%20in,ground%20or%20on%20rotten%20wood.

“False Turkey Tail.” Missouri Department of Conservation, mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/false-turkey-tail.

Hagerty, Jim. “It’s Morel Season. There Is Still Plenty of Hunting Left in the Rockford Area.” Rockford Register Star, Rockford Register Star, www.rrstar.com/story/news/2022/05/20/tips-hunting-morel-mushrooms-rockford-illinois/9811394002/.

Schmit, John Paul. “Springing up - Dryad’s Saddle (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/articles/000/dryads-saddle.htm.

“Golden Oyster Mushrooms.” Specialty Produce, specialtyproduce.com/produce/Golden_Oyster_Mushrooms_7033.php#:~:text=Golden%20oyster%20mushrooms%20grow%20in,in%20appearance%2C%20depending%20on%20age.

“Oyster Mushroom.” Illinois.Gov, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, dnr.illinois.gov/education/wildaboutpages/wildaboutfungi/m-z/wafnoystermushroom.html#:~:text=The%20oyster%20mushroom%20may%20be,appear%20singly%20or%20in%20clusters.

Floris. “Wood Ear Mushroom Growing Guide.” Mushroology, Mushroom Growing and Cultivation, mushroology.com/wood-ear-mushroom-growing-guide/.

Kuo, Michael. “Coprinellus Micaceus.” MushroomExpert, www.mushroomexpert.com/coprinellus_micaceus.html.

“Honey Mushroom.” Missouri Department of Conservation, mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/honey-mushroom.

Emberger, Gary. Poronidulus Conchifer, www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/poroid%20fungi/species%20pages/Poronidulus%20conchifer.htm#:~:text=Common%20names%3A%20Little%20nest%20polypore.&text=decaying%20deciduous%20wood%3B%20June%20through,caps%201%2D5%20cm%20wide.

Could Plants Be Conscious?

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 20:24:07 GMT

...Maybe. It depends on who you ask.

The question of plant consciousness is a fascinating one that has sparked much debate in the scientific community. Many people hesitate to attribute qualities like awareness or sentience to plants, mainly because they lack brains or central nervous systems. Instead, we have decided to reserve consciousness for our more closer relatives that possess these features. Using this logic, however, I find it interesting that we readily attribute intelligence to robots, but hesitate to do the same for other biological beings such as plants. As artificial intelligence (AI) advances, it has me reflecting on why we find it easier to consider machines "intelligent" than plants, which have been evolving for millions of years, long before humans ever walked the Earth?

The goal of this blog isn't to answer whether plants are truly conscious—that's a question scientists are still exploring. Instead, I want to highlight the surprising similarities between plants and humans that might challenge how we view plant life. From their ability to adapt and respond to the environment, to their sophisticated communication methods, plants have a lot more in common with us than we tend to think. So, let's dive into the incredible traits that plants share with humans, and by the end, you may find yourself rethinking what it means to be alive and conscious on this planet.

Note: For simplicity of understanding, I will use human terms to describe plant behaviors. The purpose is not to anthropomorphize plants. Please keep in mind that plants and animals experience these things very differently, and that as humans we have no idea what it is like to experience the world as a plant.

Memory:

Plants can have memory, though it’s not exactly like the way humans store and recall events. In the case of a Chilean flower, plants can 'remember' when pollinators visit by tracking the intervals between visits. They 'learn' from this timing, adjusting their behavior or chemical signals for future interactions. For example, they may release nectar or change their blooming schedule to match the frequency of the pollinators’ arrivals, essentially 'remembering' when they are most likely to be visited. This ability is even seen in carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap. These plants can ‘count’ the number of times their trigger hairs are touched over a period of time before snapping shut. It's an interesting kind of memory that allows them to avoid wasting energy by not closing for every little breeze or drop of rain, but instead reacting to specific, repeated stimuli.

Hearing:

While plants lack ears, they are remarkably responsive to sound. Research shows that plants can perceive and react to sound vibrations in their environment, such as the vibrations caused by an insect munching on their leaves. This is a form of ‘plant hearing’ that goes beyond simply reacting to physical touch. When a plant ‘hears’ the specific frequency of a caterpillar feeding, it may activate chemical defenses to make itself less palatable, or produce toxic compounds to fend off the predator. In an experiment investigating this, scientists observed that a plant could differentiate between the sound of a predator and the sound of harmless insects like leafhoppers. The plant responded to the caterpillar chewing but ignored the leafhopper's mating calls. This suggests that plants are finely tuned to distinguish between types of vibrations and react accordingly!

Communication:

Plants have complex social lives and they communicate through chemical signals. Plants may not have voices, but they have an intricate system of communication that involves chemicals, smells, and even electrical signals. When one plant is under attack by herbivores, like a caterpillar munching on its leaves, it may release chemical compounds into the air that act as a distress signal. These compounds attract predators of the herbivore, like parasitic wasps, that will come to eliminate the threat. What's even more remarkable is how plants 'warn' their neighbors. If one plant is attacked, it might emit the same chemical signal into the air, which neighboring plants can then sense and use to activate their own defense mechanisms. This network of communication extends across plant species, making it possible for a group of plants to collectively react to an environmental threat. Additionally, plants communicate with insects through scent as part of their pollination strategy. Some flowers, like certain orchids in Australia, mimic the scent of female wasps to attract male wasps. These males, deceived by the scent, end up pollinating the orchids while trying to mate with them—an ingenious method of attracting pollinators without giving anything in return.

Decision Making:

Plants may not have brains, but that doesn’t mean they lack sophisticated systems of coordination and decision-making. Instead of relying on a central nervous system or a single brain to process information, plants have developed a system where every part of the plant communicates with the rest. The roots, leaves, and stems are constantly sharing data to help the plant make decisions about things like growth, reproduction, and defense. This networked intelligence may not look like a brain, but it’s no less complex in its ability to allow plants to adapt to their environments in sophisticated ways. Take the example of a plant’s response to light, for instance. When plants grow towards light, a process called phototropism, they are essentially making a decision about how to allocate resources for the best chance at survival. They 'decide' where to direct their growth based on environmental cues like the intensity and direction of light. Another example is how plants can alter their reproductive strategies. In times of stress, such as drought or overcrowding, plants might produce fewer flowers or seeds, effectively prioritizing energy for survival instead of reproduction. This kind of adaptive decision-making is crucial for their survival, much like how humans make decisions to secure our well-being in challenging circumstances.

Familial Bonds:

In the plant kingdom, cooperation is just as important as competition. Some plants have evolved remarkable ways to protect and support their relatives, especially in crowded environments where resources like water, nutrients, and sunlight are limited. For instance, certain species of trees release chemicals that inhibit the growth of unrelated competitors, reducing competition for their offspring. This form of kin selection ensures that a plant’s genetic lineage is more likely to survive, much like how animals protect their young. Additionally, plants such as trees can recognize their kin and will often allocate resources to them in times of need. Through underground mycelium networks, commonly referred to as the "wood wide web," trees can transfer nutrients, water, and even warning signals to their relatives. For example, mother trees, older, well-established trees in a forest, have been observed sending extra carbon and nutrients to their seedlings, particularly those that are struggling in the shade. Some plants even adjust their root growth to avoid competing with their kin, allowing them to share soil resources more equitably.

The idea of plant consciousness is not a new one. Many Indigenous cultures recognize plants as persons. Though not the same as a human’s personhood, plants also have personhood as beings with agency and wisdom. They are seen as teachers, healers, and kin. They are entities that possess their own ways of knowing and existing in the world. To view plants as conscious is not to impose human attributes onto them, but to acknowledge that intelligence and awareness need not conform to human experience.

Similarly, the American philosopher Thomas Nagel explored this idea in his famous essay What Is It Like to Be a Bat? arguing that an organism is conscious "if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism." No matter how much we learn about a bat’s brain or behavior, we can never fully grasp what it is like to be a bat. The same is true for plants. Their experience of the world is so radically different from ours that it may never be fully comprehensible to us—but does that make it any less real?

Considering plans to be conscious requires a shift in perspective, a willingness to embrace ambiguity, and a comfort with the unknown. Again, plant consciousness is still up for debate, but the more I ponder this question, the more questions emerge. We have grown out of the Earth, and yet we often assume the very soil that birthed us is unconscious. But if the Earth were truly devoid of awareness, how could it have produced consciousness in the first place? Perhaps the real challenge is not proving whether plants are conscious but rather defining where consciousness begins and ends, if such a boundary even exists.

Sources:

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger

What Is It Like To Be a Bat by Thomas Nagel

Animal Courtship Ceremonies

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:24:24 GMT

Courtship Ceremonies

We at Severson Dells are centered around connecting people to nature but we recognize that people seek out all sorts of connections. It’s in our nature to look for romantic, friend, or familial connections! We give and experience love in all different ways to connect with others, with endearing words, spending time together, giving gifts, comforting touch, and lending a helping hand. However, you may not have heard of animals also using these connection points to seek out partners. Animals express and experience these in the form of animal courtship ceremonies through behaviors such as physical displays, vocalizations, and even death. In honor of Valentine's Day being the perfect opportunity to celebrate our connections with others, this is how some animals find love:

Vocalizations

Spending Time Together

Giving Gifts

A Helping Hand (or fin)

Comforting Touch

Dancing and ornamentation

Fighting

Death

Happy Valentine's Day!

Animals engage in various courtship rituals, ranging from sweet to aggressive. However, they all result in a crucial bond between two individuals of the same species if the process is successful which, in the case of the prairie voles, can last a lifetime. Each of these ceremonies has been carefully perfected over generations and is passed on to the young through instinct, genetics, or taught social behaviors to find connection and love. All of us on the Severson Dells team wish you a lovely Valentine’s Day full of forging connections to others and nature!

Sources

San Diego Natural History Museum - Frog Calls: What Are They Really Saying?

BBC Earth - Frog's Incredible Mating Technique | Earth's Tropical Islands

Scientific American - Monogamous Prairie Voles Reveal the Neurobiology of Love

WWF - 10 facts about Adélie penguins

BBC One Frozen Planet - Criminal Penguins

PBS - A Pufferfish's Masterpiece | Big Pacific: Mysterious

Oceana - Sea Creatures Keep The ‘Love’ Alive with Romantic Gestures

BBC Earth - Sea Otters Hold Hands To Survive The Dangers Of The Open Ocean

Nat Geo Animals - Birds "Moonwalk" to Impress the Ladies | World's Weirdest

BBC Earth - Kob Mating Ritual | The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart

National Park Service - White-Tailed Deer Mating

NBC News - Deadly spider requires long courtship — or else

Discovery News - Spider mating is dangerous for some

Shifting Signs of Spring

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 21:27:44 GMT

Despite winter being in full swing, many of us are counting down the days until spring We are daydreaming about the tell-tale signs that winter is fading: skunk cabbage flowers poking up through the melting snow, swollen creeks rushing past, the earthy aroma of geosmin in the air, and the high pitch calls of chorus frogs and spring peepers. However, as we think about spring we may also notice how the transition to spring seems to be getting more erratic and happening earlier in the year. For example, as I write this in January it is 11°F outside, but in just a couple of days, the high temperature is forecasted to be 42°F. This strange weather is not just happenstance, it is a sign of our climate changing. Here in Northern Illinois, the average spring temperature has increased by 1°C (1.8°F) in the past 50 years, and it will continue to increase in the future if current global greenhouse gas emission rates continue. This increase may not seem like a big deal, but even a tiny temperature change can cause major ecosystem disruption.

While a bit of an earlier spring may seem nice to those of us who tire of winter in December, it negatively affects our ecosystems by disrupting the timing of key events in the cycles of living things. The study of these cycles is called phenology, and it involves all of the recurring events in an organism’s life cycle such as migration, hibernation, breeding, blooming, and more. Disrupting these rhythms can damage ecosystems because organisms have evolved to rely on each other for reproduction and metabolism at certain times in their cycles in a process called coevolution. Problems arise because organisms rely on different factors when timing their cycles, for example, a flower might bloom based on day length, but the pollinator for that flower might rely on temperature for its spring emergence. The web of connections between organisms is incredibly complex, making it difficult to predict all of the changes that climate change will bring to our ecosystems. However, spring warming has been shown to affect bird migration, plant flowering and leaf out, insect emergence, amphibian arousal from hibernation, and many other key events in plant and animal cycles.

The impact of climate change on the phenology of plants and animals is one of the many ways that the climate and biodiversity crises are connected. The global reduction in biodiversity has made ecosystems more vulnerable to phenological mismatches as organisms may already have fewer food sources, pollinators, or carriers, and are thus more susceptible to changes in timing. Locally, the biggest impact of climate change on biodiversity through phenological change may be the proliferation of woody species in our prairies, woodlands, and savannas. The leaf out and flowering of woody plants is more responsive to warming than herbaceous plants, and thus they are increasingly able to outcompete herbaceous plants for valuable sunlight earlier in the year. This ultimately lowers the biodiversity of our native ecosystems, showing why ecosystem restoration will continue to be important as we mitigate and cope with the effects of climate change.

Studying changes in phenology can be challenging because it requires large data sets that have consistent sampling over long periods of time. Creating these kinds of data sets is tricky because people in the past did not often have the same standards for random sampling that we do today. Community science projects like Bud Burst help to alleviate this problem by training volunteers to collect data on when key events like blooming occur. This way researchers can have data sets that are so large that they remove some of the issues with biased sampling, as long as volunteers are well trained and have easy to follow protocols.

Changes in phenology due to climate change highlight the need to conserve and restore land with the changing climate in mind. Dr. Kimberly Hall, climate change ecologist with the Nature Conservancy, suggests that we do this by creating connectivity between conserved lands, making lands that are managed for commercial purposes more suitable for wildlife, removing invasive species, changing our priority from protecting individual species to protecting landscapes that promote biodiversity, and utilizing green infrastructure that increases biodiversity rather than lowering it. While we may lose species to climate-related extinction, we have the power to prevent more extinctions by conserving and reconstructing dynamic and resilient ecosystems.

Sources

https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/2024-spring-package

https://www.usgs.gov/news/when-timing-everything-migratory-bird-phenology-changing-climate

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124540/#:~:text=Prior%20studies%20on%20long%2Dterm,per%201%20%C2%B0C%20in

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214574522000323#:~:text=Insects%20shift%20phenology%20in%20response,with%20seasonal%20timing%20%5B11%5D.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9879156/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124540/#:~:text=Prior%20studies%20on%20long%2Dterm,per%201%20%C2%B0C%20in

https://budburst.org/

https://glisa.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/MTIT_Biodiversity.pdf

Winter Wetlands

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 06:15:00 GMT

What is a wetland?

You may be familiar with wetlands (think bogs, marshes, swamps, and peatlands), but did you know these ecosystems play a crucial role in mitigating climate change? Wetlands are highly effective carbon sinks, meaning they capture and store carbon that would otherwise contribute to global warming. This function is particularly important in the winter months when many ecosystems slow down, yet wetlands continue to trap and store carbon, even under layers of ice and snow.

To understand how wetlands act as carbon sinks, it’s helpful to first revisit the concept of carbon. Carbon is a chemical element found in various forms, one of the most notorious being carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels have risen dramatically, contributing to global climate change.

Plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and use it to build new tissue, storing it in their roots, stems, and leaves. When plants die on land, they decompose, releasing the stored carbon back into the atmosphere. However, the process of decomposition is much slower in wetlands. The waterlogged conditions limit the amount of oxygen available to decomposers, preventing the full breakdown of dead plant material. As a result, carbon remains trapped in the plant matter, accumulating in the wetland’s litter, peats, organic soils, and sediments that have built up. Wetlands can effectively store this carbon for hundreds, and in some instances, thousands, of years. This long-term storage helps reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, making wetlands an essential natural solution to climate change.

How Does Winter Affect Wetlands?

Although wetlands may appear dull and lifeless on the surface during winter, significant processes are still occurring beneath the ice and snow. Cold temperatures slow the rate of decomposition, allowing organic matter to accumulate in the soil and enhancing its ability to store carbon. This effect is particularly pronounced in northern permafrost peatlands.

Peatlands, which are a type of wetland, store twice as much carbon as all of the world’s forests combined! Permafrost peatlands, which are found in Arctic and subarctic regions of countries like Canada, Russia, and the United States, contain a thick layer of peat, which is decomposed plant material that has accumulated over millennia. The freezing temperatures in these regions prevent the peat from fully decaying, allowing it to build up over thousands of years. In these wetlands, cold temperatures are essential to preserving stored carbon.

However, the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of other regions, causing permafrost to thaw. As the permafrost melts, microbes begin breaking down the organic material in the peat, releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. This release of gases accelerates climate change, creating a feedback loop: rising temperatures cause more permafrost to thaw, which releases more greenhouse gases, which in turn leads to further warming, causing more permafrost to thaw, and so forth. This cycle amplifies the impact of climate change, posing a significant threat to global carbon storage and climate stability

What Happened To Midwest Wetlands?

Permafrost peatlands are not the only wetland that is in trouble. For a long time, wetlands were regarded as wastelands unfit for building or farming, and in need of our intervention to make them useful. This mindset contributed to the significant loss of wetlands in the Midwest. In Illinois, wetlands were once a defining feature of the landscape, but over the past few centuries, more than 90% have disappeared due to draining and tiling. Early settlers created drainage ditches and installed underground pipes, or tiles, to quickly channel water off the land and into local streams and rivers. According to the 2017 US Census of Agriculture, approximately 39% of Illinois cropland is covered by tile drainage. As a result, much of Illinois’ landscape, once dotted with water-retaining depressions, became dry and ready for farming and development. Now, less than 5% of the Midwest’s original wetlands remain, and the state’s hydrology has been drastically altered. This is especially problematic, as wetland are vital for recharging aquifers by collecting surface water from rain and runoff, then slowly allowing it to percolate through the soil and into the underlying groundwater. In areas with tile drainage, this process can no longer occur.

The Vital Role Wetlands Still Play

Today, we have a much deeper understanding of the critical functions wetlands perform. Acting as natural filters, wetlands remove sediment and impurities from water. Like a sponge, they absorb water from heavy rains or snowmelt, helping to prevent flooding. Like a nursery, wetlands provide rich, safe habitats for numerous species to raise their young. And of course, like a sink, they store carbon. According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, terrestrial wetlands in the continental U.S. store a total of 13.5 billion metric tons of CO2. Peatlands in the forested regions of the East and Upper Midwest hold the most carbon, accounting for nearly half of all wetland carbon storage in the United States.

Wetlands, though often overlooked and misunderstood, play an indispensable role in our environment, especially during the winter months. These ecosystems not only provide essential services such as carbon storage, water filtration, and flood prevention, but they also support biodiversity by offering safe habitats for countless species. The warming of the Arctic and the ongoing loss of wetlands across the Midwest highlight the urgent need for action to protect and restore these vital habitats. As we face the challenges of climate change, understanding and preserving wetlands is more important than ever. By safeguarding these natural carbon sinks, we can help mitigate global warming and ensure the health and resilience of our planet for future generations.

Sources:

Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands - Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources

Peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests - United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

Wetlands Habitat Management - Illinois Department of Natural Resources

‘We should have a sense of urgency’ as farm drainage tile drives nutrient pollution- Investigate Midwest

Glacial History of Northern Illinois

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Illinois is the second flattest state in the nation! Have you ever wondered why? The answer has a lot to do with mammoths, growing corn, and far-away rocks. Glaciation has had a significant impact on forming the topography in the Midwest United States, specifically in Illinois. Illinois was a moving ground for glaciers, carving the land underneath it, making it super flat. The answer has a lot to do with mammoths, growing corn, and far-away rocks. Before the ice age there were no Great Lakes , only shallow basins, except for Lake Superior, which had formed earlier as a result of the midcontinent rift system. Glaciers that originated in Eastern and Central Canada extended into parts of Illinois during long cold periods, where they reshaped the land. There are three glacial periods which have affected Illinois, known as the Pre-Illinoian, Illinoian, and Wisconsinian, and they invaded Illinois during the Ice Age, which extended from 2.4 million years to 10,000 years ago. During this time, glaciers were invading Northern Illinois repeatedly, forming the modern landscape we know and see today.

Pre-Illinoian

The Pre-Illinoian was a glacial period ranging from 1.8 million - 500,000 years. During this time, glaciers were advancing from the West, and the glaciers moved the land they overrode, leveling and filling many valleys. There were a lot of alternating stable and unstable intervals where these glaciers would go through a period of advance, then they’d retreat, and then they would advance again; but this occurred spontaneously and was inconsistent with its duration. While this was the first major glacial period to come through Illinois, not much evidence remains of it. Pre-Illinoian deposits are irregularly distributed in Illinois, and where present, they are usually overlain by younger drift. Most of the land that was carved out by the Pre-Illinoian has been buried, eroded, or removed by younger glaciations. In addition, the Pre-Illinoian glaciation is responsible for reducing a large portion of the relief of Illinois’ topography.

Illinoian

Then came the Illinoian, which was a glacial period ranging from 200,000 - 130,000 years. This glacial period was very extensive, and at one point, nearly 85% of the state was covered with ice! Glacial ice from this period reached as far south as Carbondale, Illinois, which is the most southern point that glaciers have ever reached in the northern hemisphere. During the Illinoian, some sections of the glaciers in Northern Illinois were about 2,000 feet thick, while other areas of the state were covered by ice masses about 700 feet thick, as tall as a 60-story building! The Illinoian glacial advances left behind some low-relief, rolling ground-moraines (an uneven sheet of glacial debris deposited underneath a glacier, creating a relatively flat layer of sediment across a wide area). This glacial period caused many of the preglacial bedrock valleys throughout the state to be partially filled with thick deposits of outwash sand and gravel, most prominent along Northern and some of Central Illinois. While some of the evidence of this glacial period has been eroded, buried, or removed, portions of glacial till and erratics (glacially deposited rock) still remain, as they weren’t reached by the younger glaciations.

Wisconsinian

Lastly, came the Wisconsinian, which was a glacial period ranging from 30,000 - 10,500 years. During this time, glaciers were advancing from the Northwest and the Northeast and covered much of the Northern and East-Central parts of our state. The Wisconsinian till is the least compact of the till from the three glacial periods, due to it being the last major glaciation to occur in Illinois. This means that there is also the most remaining evidence left over from this period, with many moraines and kettle lakes, such as Lake Michigan in Northeastern Illinois, they’re all remnants of this glacial period and show what got carved out during the Wisconsinian period. About 11,000 years ago the climate warmed, and the glaciers began to melt and retreat Northward from the Lake Michigan Basin for the last time, resulting in a lower water level, and the formation of large lakes all over the land that the glacier had previously occupied. Then for about 5,000 years, as the glacier retreated Northward across Canada, the Upper Great Lakes drained to the Northeast across land that was still being squished down due to the weight of the ice sheet, and channeled into the Atlantic Ocean. Then, roughly 6,000 years ago, the Upper Great Lakes Basin started to fill, and pushed lots of water out of its distributary outlets. This drainage was short-lived, however, because about 4,000 years ago, the drainage from the Lake Michigan Basin was captured by an outlet at Port Huron in Michigan, and then the modern Great Lakes drainage system formed. The deposits left behind from the Wisconsinian period are what contribute to the uppermost earth materials throughout most of Illinois, they cover over 90% of the state!

During the Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 million-11,000 years ago) about 85% of Illinois was covered by glaciers. When the glaciers advanced into Northern Illinois the weather was very different than it is today. The average yearly temperature was slightly above freezing, and most of this area's precipitation was in snow form. Northern Illinois was a tundra that many large extinct mammals inhabited! A few of the mammals that lived here included the mammoth, American mastodon, Jefferson ground sloth, giant beaver, saber-toothed cat, snowshoe hare, and the arctic shrew. The black bear, gray wolf and wapiti lived in Northern Illinois during the Ice Age and were still inhabiting here up until the 1860’s due to habitat loss and unregulated hunting. Eastern cottontails, deer mice, gray squirrels, white-tailed deer and raccoons are a few of the only mammals that were alive during both the Ice Age and the present day in Illinois! Fossils of these animals have been found all along Northern Illinois, with some of them even extending into Central Illinois. However, as the climate warmed and human activity altered the landscape, many of the mammal species that roamed Illinois were short-lived. Once humans settled in Illinois, they began changing the land from its natural prairie, woodland, and wetland, with the intent to farm. However, these decisions affected the native mammals, causing them to either become extinct, or migrate to different areas. There were many mammals which weren’t able to survive the warming temperatures, leaving behind a vastly different ecosystem from the one that existed during the Ice Age.

Although Illinois has endured lots of glacial activity, there are parts of the state that were untouched by them! The driftless area is often used to describe the area of Southwestern Wisconsin and Northwestern Illinois that was untouched by glaciers. Scientists had noticed that these areas were lacking glacial sediment, indicating that this portion hadn’t been covered by glacial ice, and that the land appeared different in topography from the rest of Wisconsin and Illinois. Scientists began to study these small areas, the Northwestern corner (the Galena area), the extreme south (the Shawnee Hills) and a small area in Western Illinois, and the similarities between them. When comparing these regions to each other, they realized that the cliffs and rocky ridges of these areas were heavily exaggerated in relief. This means that these areas were never covered by glaciers, but instead, they have primarily formed as a result of rivers cutting down into the surrounding bedrock.

Pleistocene glaciers and the waters melting from them forever changed the landscapes that they covered. In most of Illinois, glacial deposits buried the old hill-and-valley terrain and created the flatter land forms, which eventually became the prairies of Illinois. Most of the landscape has been developed on earth materials deposited by glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age, as well as from wind, and streams. Where the thickest drift occurred in major pre-glacial river valleys: cutting into bedrock, changing the course of rivers, and creating new landforms on the surface, forever changing the land we know today as Northern Illinois! The impact of glaciation, combined with the changes brought by climate shifts and human activity, has created a unique environment in Illinois that is rich in both natural history and geologic evidence. Understanding the state's glacial past not only reveals its physical history but also provides insight into the ecosystems and animal life that once thrived here, illustrating the ever-changing relationship between the land and its inhabitants.

Sources:

Killey, Myrna M. “Illinois’ Ice Age Legacy .” Semantic Scholar, Champaign, IL : Illinois State Geological Survey, archive.org/details/illinoisiceagele14kill. -picture

“Before the Ice Age.” Lost Rivers, The Toronto Green Community, www.lostrivers.ca/content/points/beforeice.html#:~:text=Before%20the%20Ice%20Age%20there,Central%20North%20American%20Rift%20System.

Abert, Curtis. Modeling Glaciated Terrains, Illinois State Geological Survey, proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc96/TO100/PAP061/P61.HTM.

Piskin, Kemal, and Robert Bergstrom. “Glacial Drift in Illinois: Thickness and Character.” State of Illinois Department of Registration and Education, Illinois State Geological Survey, library.isgs.illinois.edu/Pubs/pdfs/circulars/c490.pdf.

Association, Canal Corridor. “Ice Age Geology.” Canal National Heritage Area, Stories of the I & M Canal National Heritage Area, iandmcanal.substack.com/p/ice-age-geology.

“Geology of Illinois.” Department of Natural Resources , Illinois State Geological Survey, dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/education/documents/onlineintroillinoisnatres-5-6-.pdf.

Carson, Eric C, et al. The Driftless Area - WGNHS, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, wgnhs.wisc.edu/pubshare/ES057.pdf.

Community Connections: The Benefits of Volunteering

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 21:08:15 GMT

My Story

Benefits of Volunteering

Volunteers serve as the backbone of a flourishing community by providing benefits to organizations, recipients, and even themselves. Community service is defined as freely engaging in activities that aim to help others. The chosen activity can range in focus such as environmental, animals, social, healthcare based service. This work benefits an organization or nonprofit by providing their time to further the reach of their mission. In extending organizational capacity, more community member recipients can benefit and this strengthens your community. In 2024 the value of volunteer time was estimated by the Independent Sector to be worth $33.76 in economic value per hour in Illinois. According to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps between 2022 and 2023 in Illinois, “3,033,871 formal volunteers contributed 187,123,863 hours of service through organizations worth an estimated $6.3 billion .” These impacts may already be apparent, but did you know that you as the volunteer can also reap benefits while giving back to your community?

Professional Experience

Many positions do not require you to have prior experience and train you so you can be successful in your mission to help others. This means that you may pick up new knowledge or skills . Learning while volunteering may allow you to discover a new passion, learn about local government functions, and connect you with local resources, with the latter two leading to greater civic engagement. New hard skills may be specific to the organization you partner with, but soft skills in any service usually include teamwork, communication, and problem solving. Additionally, you will gain professional experience in that field which can help you test out a career path.

Social Experience

Even if you aren’t looking to gain professional experience, volunteering provides valuable social experiences. Community service gives you the opportunity to connect with other people with diverse backgrounds that you may not have met otherwise. This includes leaders of the organization you are working for, fellow volunteers, and community members you engage with or directly impact. Engaging with others helps you make new friends over a shared activity, expand your network of people with a common interest, and boost your social skills. This can make it easier to branch out further to expand your social circle.

Mental Health

Volunteering can give you a sense of purpose and fulfillment since you are giving your resources to promote a cause you find meaningful. This paired with the social aspect has been shown to have positive impacts on your mental health. First, the sense of pride and identity that comes with service can also increase your general well-being and self-confidence. Participants have reduced stress compared to non-participants because you are focusing your energy on others. Furthermore, some studies have concluded that volunteering can reduce the risk of depression. This occurs because a central risk factor of depression is social isolation. Participation combats this by establishing regular contact with others and developing a social network that can be a support system.

Physical Health

Lastly and possibly the most surprising, community service also benefits the physical health of the participant, especially after retirement. Volunteering can be a great bridge for people transitioning from work into retirement as it maintains the continued structure of contributing to society. Getting into your community also increases physical activity and has been researched to reduce the symptoms of chronic pain and heart disease. Additionally, many studies have found that volunteering can lead to a reduction in mortality.

After hearing about the many community, experience, and health benefits of volunteering, you may be wondering how you can get involved. Keep reading to check out the opportunities Severson Dells Nature Center has to offer!

Getting Involved at Severson Dells

Severson Dells Nature Center’s mission is: To connect people to nature through education and research. If you want to be a part of our mission and tap into the many benefits of giving back to your community, join us, because we can’t do it without you! We had a total of 80 volunteers in 2024 that contributed a total of 720 hours of their time to our mission. This equates to an economic value of $24,307.20. Our invaluable volunteers teach others about nature during an education program or event, are the friendly face that welcomes people to Severson Dells at our front desk, or directly enrich the land through restoration workdays. With a variety of opportunities and commitment levels your contribution is only limited by enthusiasm, interest, and available time and is never limited by age or experience.

*Note: "Training" refers to specialized training (that we provide) for each volunteer. Science Saturday volunteering does not include formal training, but staff will work with volunteers to communicate tasks needed. Conservation Crew volunteering is hands-on and an immersive program in which we'll teach the skills needed each session.

School Programs

Service Description: School programs volunteers lead groups of students through hands-on nature programs! Many volunteers start with an exploration-based Discover Nature Hike, but other topics include animal adaptations, habitats, and more.

Scheduling: You can sign up for as many or as few 2 - hour shifts as you would like. Shifts usually fall between Monday and Friday 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM mostly in the spring and fall seasons. Registration required.

Interests and Qualifications: Do you love hiking and learning new things about nature? You will directly facilitate connections with nature by helping kids howl like coyotes, touch a toad, or smell wildflowers for the first time. People who are comfortable talking in front of groups and engaging in conversation are a great match for school programs! We provide training on education and local nature as long as you bring your enthusiasm.

Accessibility: There are active and stationary opportunities for field trip volunteers. Volunteers can choose to be inside or outside. Ability to hear conversations with background noise is helpful.

Testimonial: "I really appreciate that you guys allow me to take hikes with the kids. I always find something memorable about them. I keep telling you guys I get more out of this than you know." - Ed L.

Science Saturday

Service Description: Science Saturday volunteers lead themed hikes, lead activity tables, read guided stories, and help with themed crafts for participants to take home, so there is something for everyone to contribute.

Scheduling: Science Saturdays are the first Saturday of every month from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM with a different nature theme each month. Registration required.

Interests and Qualifications: If you are interested in learning about a new nature topic each month and are comfortable leading small group activities with families, but only have a few hours to spare this is the perfect opportunity for you.

Accessibility: There are many stationary and some active opportunities inside and outside for Science Saturday volunteers. Ability to hear conversations with background noise is helpful.

Testimonial: "Volunteering at Severson Dells Nature Center is deeply fulfilling, allowing me to connect with nature and my community. Through Science Saturdays, I share the joy of learning with kids, and I can share with them my own curiosity about the natural world. I get to help kids with hands-on science learning activities and help kids learn about nature through reading.” - Maggie W.

Nature Center Host

Service Description: Be by greeting visitors, answering the phone, ringing up purchases from the gift shop, and assisting members with checking out materials from our library.

Scheduling: Hosts staff the front desk in 4 - hour shifts on Saturdays, Sundays, and the occasional weekday depending on need. Registration required.

Interests and Qualifications: If you would enjoy being the first welcoming face people see when they visit our nature center and answer guest questions, this position may be a good fit for you. A warm personality, general nature knowledge, and the ability to give directions, do simple math, and use the telephone are all appreciated skills and make Severson Dells a sunnier place to visit!

Accessibility: Nature Center Hosts are a stationary and indoor position at the front desk.

Testimonial: "As a young family we took advantage of Severson Dells for the outdoor experiences, education, and events. As my children have grown and started their own families, I found myself missing the hustle and bustle of volunteering with school, scouts, robotics, and other family activities. Spending a few hours at the front desk each month has been great experience - whether it is a busy Science Saturday or a quiet morning greeting visitors and volunteers. It's been great reconnecting with this community resource again." - Polly K.

Conservation Crew

Service Description: Conservation crew members work together and outside to remove invasive plants, collect native seeds, and plant new seedlings to restore the land.

Scheduling: Restoration work days are every 2nd Saturday and 4th Monday 9:00 AM to noon.

Interests and Qualifications: Get outside and directly contribute to restoring and managing our land alongside fellow volunteers. Bring a water bottle, dress in layers, expect to get dirty and we will provide the tools.

Accessibility: This position is very active and takes place outdoors. Ability to use loppers and bend down are helpful

Testimonial: “On Restoration Workdays, I get to actively contribute to the health of our local environment, clearing invasive plants and supporting the Nature Center’s ecosystem. These workdays are very grounding experiences, and they bring me a sense of purpose by directly impacting the people and nature in my community.” - Maggie W.

To find more information about these positions visit https://www.seversondells.com/volunteer . Your community needs you as much as you need your community , so I urge you to consider opportunities like Severson Dells to start making a difference today!

Sources

AmeriCorps - About AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps, U.S Census Bureau - Volunteering and Civic Life in America - Illinois

Independent Sector - 2024 Value of Volunteer Time Report

National Library of Medicine - Exploring the Effects of Volunteering on the Social, Mental, and Physical Health and Well-being of Volunteers

Severson Dells - Volunteer

Western Connecticut State University - Benefits of Community Service

Community Science in 2025

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 19:09:52 GMT

Community Science is an important part of what we do here at Severson Dells Nature Center, but community Science can often be an ill-defined idea. So in this blog, I will define what Community Science means to us, I will explain how Community Science benefits our community, and I will reveal what we have planned for Community Science in 2025.

What is Community Science?

Community Science is all about empowering communities to ask their own scientific questions about what is happening within them. Community scientists can ask questions about their environment, their social structures, their economies, and more. Community Science involves connecting community members with scientific experts to use the scientific method to answer important questions about the community.

Community Science is sometimes used interchangeably with the term citizen science; however, it has a slightly different meaning. Citizen science refers to a kind of study in which researchers use citizen volunteers to help them collect data from a broader sample then they would be able to on their own. The term “citizen” in this context does not refer to any national citizenship, but rather, a person not employed in a field of scientific study. Community Science is different, because it involves community input on what should be studied, and it uses local community knowledge to improve study design.

Here at Severson Dells, we chose to use the term Community Science because our goal is to have our research be driven by and meet the needs of our community. We want this program to be inclusive and accessible, and we understand the connotations that can be associated with the term “citizen” for people who may be unfamiliar with such projects.

We have a few different Community Science projects that we are working on. We are collecting data on biodiversity at our property at the former Elliot Golf Course; we are assisting partners like the Rockford Park District with data collection for frogs, bats, bumblebees, and aquatic macroinvertebrates; and we are helping to expand projects that have been started by other communities such as Winter Chloride Watch.

How does it benefit our community?

Research conducted into the impact of Community Science has found that there are numerous benefits, centering around how collective research empowers communities. Community Science has been shown to give members more sense of place, strengthening shared values, fostering better understanding of the local environments, and strengthening decision making processes.

Partnership with Rockford Park District

This year we are very excited to be starting a new partnership with the Rockford Park District to gather data on natural areas in parks across Rockford. We are collecting data on Chloride ion pollution from deicing salt, and in the summer we will be studying the abundance and diversity of bat, frog, and bumblebee populations. We will also study the health of Kent creek and Keith cree in Rockford parks by sampling macroinvertebrates that act as indicator species through the RiverWatch program . The data that we collect will be used to inform restoration and management priorities, apply for conservation and restoration grants, effectively balance conservation and recreation interests.

Elliot Golf Course

In addition to data collection at Park District sites, we will be collecting extensive data on the biodiversity at Elliot golf course prior to restoration. We will be monitoring populations of frogs, birds, bats, insects, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and plants. These data will continue to be collected as the property is restored to prairie, wetland and savanna, so that the effectiveness of the restoration can be determined. Data on potential pollution sources including chloride and nitrates will also be collected at the property. These data will tell us if there are any current pollution issues that need to be addressed, and how the restoration impacts the amount of the pollutants present.

Winter Chloride Watch

The main Community Science project we are currently working on is winter chloride watch. We are monitoring chloride levels throughout the winter at six locations in three different watersheds. Chloride pollution mostly arises from the application of deicing salts to roadways. Chloride pollution is of concern because it is toxic to aquatic animals in high enough concentrations and it can increase corrosion of toxic heavy metals into water supplies. We are monitoring levels using the protocols designed by scientists at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center at three parks along Kent Creek in West Rockford: Levings park, Searls park, and Tinker park. We are also monitoring Hall Creek here at Severson Dells FP, and Manning Creek at our property at the former Elliot golf course and upstream at the RMTD Eastside Transfer Center.

So far this winter we have found elevated chloride concentrations in Kent Creek at Tinker park and in Manning Creek at Elliot golf course and the RMTD transfer Center; however, we have not found any concentrations over the EPA limit of 500 ppm. We will continue to share data with the public and with local governments and agencies that apply salt as we gather it. The data is also being shared with researchers at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. Data from this project can be found at app.waterrangers.ca .

Calling Frog Surveys

Beginning at the end of February, we will be starting calling frog surveys at seven Rockford parks as well as the former Elliot Golf Course. Calling frog populations will be studied at Alpine park, Aldeen park, Anna Page park, Atwood park, Blackhawk park, Levings park, and Searls park. The surveys are conducted using the protocols developed by scientists at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum at the Chicago Academy of Sciences. The calling frog survey takes place in three different windows of time which correspond with different frog species’ mating seasons. The first window is from late February to late April. During this first window we will be listening for common Western chorus frogs ( Pseudacris triseriata) , Northern leopard frogs ( Lithobates pipiens ), and Spring peepers ( Pseudacris crucifer) , as well as the very rare Pickerel frog ( Lithobates palustris) and wood frog ( Lithobates sylvaticus) . In the second window from May to mid June, we will be listening for American toads ( Anaxyrus americanus) and two closely related species of gray treefrog, Eastern gray treefrogs ( Dryophetes versicolor) and Cope’s gray tree frog ( Dryophestes chrysoscelis). Despite how similar these two species look, Cope’s gray treefrogs are very rare while Eastern gray treefrogs are fairly common. They are differentiated by the auditory frequencies of their call, which is why auditory monitoring is so important!

Bat Surveys

Over the Spring-Fall season, we will be surveying bat populations at seven Rockford Park District parks and at the former Elliot golf course. Monitoring bat populations in Winnebago county is essential because we have multiple species of bats that are threatened or endangered. Monitoring bat populations can help land management organizations like the Rockford Park District best utilize their land for bat habitat management. Robust data on bat populations can also help organizations apply for grants to restore or protect more land.

Conclusion

Community Science is a great way to learn more about our environment while also empowering ourselves and our communities. Here at Severson Dells, we are very excited to be taking on these new projects through our partnership with the Rockford Park District and our purchase of Elliot golf course. If you would like to participate in any of these projects or have any idea for a Community Science project you would like our help with please contact communityscience@seversondells.org .

Sources

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901119300942#bib0195

https://communityscience.astc.org/overview/

http://frogsurvey.org

https://www.ngrrec.org/outreach/community-science/riverwatch/index.html

2025 in the Sky: The Full Moons of the Year

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 15:11:38 GMT

The impact that the moon has on life can not be underestimated. Many aspects of life, such as time, tides, and light are all affected by the moon. For many animals the moon is essential to migration and navigation, while for other animals the lunar cycle is used to time reproduction. Organisms, such as corals, synchronize their spawning patterns with the lunar cycle.

Like other forms of life on Earth, the full moon has a profound effect on humans as well. The full moon in particular has been a central symbol for humanity across time. It serves as a natural timekeeper, guiding both past and present peoples in tracking lunar cycles and creating calendars. The full moon’s bright and consistent presence in the night sky distinguishes it from other lunar phases, not only making it an ideal marker of time, but also as a focal point for storytelling and rituals. The full moon has held – and continues to hold – deep symbolic meaning for many groups of people, often embodying themes of transformation, renewal, and connection. In many mythologies and religions, the full moon is linked to deities, fertility, and cycles of life. From the lunar goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome to sacred moon ceremonies of Indigenous cultures, the full moon has inspired awe and reverence across all human kind, both in the past and present.

The names we associate with full moons today often reflect ancient traditions, many originating from Indigenous peoples of North America. These names, which usually describe seasonal changes, were later adopted and adapted by Colonial Americans, blending Indigenous wisdom with European influences. While most widely recognized full moon names are English interpretations of Indigenous names, others derive from Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, medieval English, and Neo-Pagan traditions. There are countless names for each full moon, each with different meanings and interpretations behind every unique name. Together, these names honor the full moon’s enduring significance across time and cultures.

For a significant part of human history, various peoples utilized lunar calendars, thanks to the observable consistency of the lunar cycle as opposed to that of the solar cycle. Many cultures later transitioned to more complex lunisolar calendars that incorporated both lunar and solar cycles. Though many groups of people continue to follow a lunar calendar, the universally accepted calendar is the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the solar year. The solar calendar, however, does not quite align with the lunar cycle. The lunar cycle, lasting about 29.5 days, doesn’t match with the 365.25-day solar year. As a result we don’t experience the same number of full moons every year. Though we often experience 12 full moons in a year, we occasionally experience 13 (often referred to as a “blue moon”). On average, this occurs about every 2 ½ years. The last year this happened was in 2024, and as a result we will experience 12 full moons in 2025.

Unlike the solar-based calendar, many groups of Indigenous peoples in North America utilized a lunar calendar with 13 months, each associated with a full moon and story. These moons are symbolized by the turtle, whose shell has 13 scales—one for each moon. Every group of peoples had a different name for each moon, and some groups of peoples had multiple names for the same moon. Below, we explore just a few names of each full moon, and when we will experience them in the coming year.

Note: The months listed are rough estimates, as “months” are a post-colonial concept.

First Moon: January

Occurring January 13, 2025

The first full moon of the year is often referred to as the "Wolf Moon," named after the sound of howling wolves during winter’s quiet nights. This name is thought to have been brought to North America by European settlers. For the Northern Cheyenne people, it’s known as the "Moon of Popping Trees," referencing the sound of frost cracking in the cottonwood trees during mid-winter.

Second Moon: February

Occurring February 12, 2025

The second full moon, typically occurring in February, is commonly known as the "Snow Moon" due to the heavy snowfall occurring around this time. The Potawatomi call it the "Baby Bear Moon," inspired by a story of a lost child who was found being cared for by a mother bear and her cubs during the winter.

Third Moon: March

Occurring March 14, 2025

The third full moon, often occurring in March, is called the "Worm Moon" as earthworms emerge from the soil as the ground warms. It’s also the last full moon of winter. This year, it coincides with a total lunar eclipse. The Anishinabe call it the "Maple Sugar Moon" because it marks the time when maple sap begins to flow.

Fourth Moon: April

Occurring April 13, 2025

The fourth full moon, often occurring in April, marks the start of spring and is known as the "Pink Moon" due to the early-blooming pink phlox flowers. The Cree people refer to it as the "Frog Moon," symbolizing the end of winter’s snow.

Fifth Moon: May

Occurring May 12, 2025

The fifth full moon, often occurring in May, is called the "Flower Moon" because it coincides with the blooming of many flowers in May. The Huron people refer to it as the "Budding Moon," symbolizing spring’s arrival and the budding of flowers and plants alike.

Sixth Moon: June

Occurring June 11, 2025

The sixth full moon, often occurring in June, is known as the "Strawberry Moon" because it occurs during strawberry harvest time. The Seneca people celebrate this moon for the gift of strawberries.

Seventh Moon: July

Occurring July 10, 2025

The seventh full moon, often occurring in July, is called the "Buck Moon," as male deer (bucks) grow their antlers during this time. The Pomo people refer to it as the "Moon When Acorns Appear," celebrating the first acorns of the season.

Eighth Moon: August

Occurring August 9, 2025

The eighth full moon, often occurring in August, is known as the "Sturgeon Moon," named for the large sturgeon fish that are easier to catch during this time. The Menominee people call it the "Moon of Wild Rice," marking the time when wild rice is ready for harvest.

Ninth Moon: September

September 7, 2025

The ninth full moon, closest to the September equinox, is called the "Harvest Moon." The Micmac people refer to it as the "Moose-Calling Moon," as the calls of moose are commonly heard around this time.

Tenth Moon: October

October 7, 2025

The tenth full moon, often occurring in October, is called the "Hunter’s Moon" because it marks the time when animals are fatten up for winter and ready for hunting. It’s also often referred to as the "Blood Moon." The Cherokee refer to it as the "Moon of Falling Leaves," signaling the start of autumn.

Eleventh Moon: November

November 5, 2025

The eleventh full moon, often occurring in November, is called the "Beaver Moon," as it’s the time to set beaver traps before swamps freeze. The Winnebago people call it the "Moon When Deer Drop Their Horns," as deer shed their antlers in preparation for winter.

Twelfth Moon: December

December 4, 2025

The twelfth full moon is known as the "Cold Moon," marking the coldest time of the year. The Lakota Sioux call it the "Moon When Wolves Run Together," as wolf packs are more active during this time.

Thirteenth Moon

Because the lunar calendar doesn't quite align with the solar calendar, every 2 ½ years we experience a 13th moon in the Gregorian calendar year. The next year we will experience 13 moons in 2026, with a blue moon – or 2 full moons occurring in one month – occurring in May. The next thirteenth full moon of the lunar calendar will occur in December of 2026, and is called the "Big Moon" by the Abenaki people.

Sources:

"Thirteen Moons On Turtle's Back" by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London

Native American Moon Names: https://www.aianta.org/native-american-moon-names/

Winter Plant Features

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:04:24 GMT

Now that winter is here and snow is on the ground, it seems like nature is quieting down. In Northern Illinois, winter can be a very intense season for wild living things, especially for plants! They can’t migrate south as lots of animals do, nor can they put layers on or go inside, they aren’t humans. Instead, plants have special adaptations that allow them to survive, even in subfreezing temperatures! Thanks to some amazing genetics, plants have thrived in the changing seasons for longer than humans have been around! Let’s explore some of these winter survival strategies.

DORMANCY

Plants are very resilient, having survived and adapted through numerous mass extinction events, those crazy strong suckers! Over time, plants have learned a thing or two, and they’ve developed adaptations to help them thrive, even during the less ideal conditions. One of these tough times is winter,when plants endure freezing temperatures, especially in regions where it dips below freezing. While animals can hibernate to combat the cold, which is when an animal slows down its body, breathing very slowly, and slowing their heart rate down so they use less energy. Well, plants do a similar process, where they slow down their metabolisms as if they’re taking a multiple month-long nap, this process is known as dormancy. Dormancy is an acclimation process that’s triggered in the fall by cooling temperatures and the shortening day lengths. Lots of different plants use this adaptation to conserve their resources and help them survive the upcoming winter. Dormancy is mostly an internal process, however, some notable external factors indicate that dormancy has begun. It is first noted as changing colors and then transitions into the leaf dropping, and then a complete state of rest, where it is nearly no longer growing. Plants will stay this way until Spring comes around and triggers the reacclimation process, which is triggered by warming temperatures and the lengthening days.

SUPERCOOLING

Another adaptation that plants have is a process known as “supercooling” and “dehydration”. Supercooling is an internal process, where plants produce specific proteins to protect their tissues. In addition, dehydrin proteins are created to help the cellular protoplasm (the living material of the cell) remove water and redirect it into internal spaces where it can freeze and form ice crystals without harming the plant. The remaining fluids in the cells mainly consist of sugars and amino acids, which have a lower freezing point than water, providing protection against frostbite, much like the man-made chemical antifrost . When the ice thaws, the water is reabsorbed by the plant cells. This process allows plants to endure extreme weather conditions, such as cold, heat, and drought. During these periods, plants may seem dormant, but changes continue to occur, mainly below ground in the roots, where the soil temperature is often warmer than the surface air. The roots store nutrients and water, ensuring the plant stays nourished and hydrated until the growing season resumes.

DECIDUOUS AND CONIFEROUS ADAPTATIONS

It may seem like it, but not all changes are internal. Another adaptation that plants will sometimes do in preparation for the cold season is to drop their leaves, if this happens that means it is deciduous (shed its leaves annually). Plants will drop their leaves once the seasons start to shift and it’s beginning to get cold outside, because they are no longer needed. Leaves generate energy for trees, but that process slows as days get shorter and less light is available for photosynthesis. Dropping leaves also reduces the amount of exposed surface area to the cold, which minimizes water loss and conserves energy. Some plants will hold onto their leaves during the winter, and they’re known as conifers. Conifers differ from deciduous plants because typically, but not always, conifers will have leaves that resemble small needles, and they have a waxy coating on them. These needles are less exposed to the elements than a regular leaf, so they are better equipped to retain water, even during the colder, freezing months.

HOW TO HELP WINTER PLANTS

Although plants can do this on their own, it’s not a bad idea to give them some help preparing for the cold months. One of the best ways to ensure that your plants will survive the cold season is to grow native plants! Growing plants within their native areas is always a good idea because you know that your plants are adapted to the region and will be prepared for the weather conditions that are to come. Whereas if you have non-native plants growing, they will have a much harder time dealing with the harsh colds and snow. Some plants are recommended to be moved indoors if able to, but to remain near a window that receives sunlight. For the plants that can’t be moved it’s recommended to place a protective layer of mulch (snow works too) around the base of the plant, this acts as an insulator keeping the roots warm and moist, protecting them from frost. Another recommendation is to cover or wrap the plant with a drop cloth or an old blanket; you just need something that will cover the entire plant to protect the surrounding air from any drafts, creating a safe insulated space for the plant(s) to exist in during the cold season. Although these steps aren’t necessary, they are helpful to your plants, especially the ones that are less equipped to survive a Midwest winter!

Midwest winters may seem like a dormant time, but that’s not true! Changes are still occurring on a cellular level, even if we can't see them with the naked eye. So don’t worry, your plants may not look the best right now, but give it a few months and, as spring arrives, your plants will slowly come back to life! We can learn something from plants, by using the winter season as an opportunity to slow down and appreciate what’s going on around us. So bundle up, stay warm, and stay safe; just like the plants are.

Sources:

Wahle, Elizabeth. “How Plants Survive Freezing Temperatures.” College of Agricultural, Consumer, & Environmental Sciences Illinois Extension, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1 Jan. 2021, extension.illinois.edu/blogs/welcome-my-jungle/2021-01-01-how-plants-survive-freezing-temperatures#:~:text=There%20are%20any%20number%20of,of%20rest%20or%20metabolic%20inactivity.

Smith, Ben. “How Do Plants Survive Freezes?” Sunnyside Nursery, Sunnyside Nursery, 3 Dec. 2024, www.sunnysidenursery.net/sunnyside-blogs/2018/2/19/how-do-plants-survive-freezes.

Forman-Cook, Whitney. “What Happens to Trees in Winter?” State Foresters, National Association of State Foresters, 2 Feb. 2022, www.stateforesters.org/2022/02/02/what-happens-to-trees-in-winter/.

Gilchrist, Dan. “Protecting Your Garden Plants from the Cold.” Swansons Nursery, Seattle’s Favorite Garden Store Since 1924 - Swansons Nursery, 30 Nov. 2024, www.swansonsnursery.com/blog/cold-protection-for-your-garden-plants.

Positive Nature News 2024

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 06:00:00 GMT

Amid the ongoing challenges of climate change and other threats to the environment, 2024 has also brought encouraging stories of resilience and progress. Around the globe, efforts to restore ecosystems, protect endangered species, and innovate for sustainability have made a meaningful impact. These successes remind us that even in the face of adversity, positive change is not only possible, but essential, for securing a healthier future for our planet.

Local News

Severson Dells Nature Center Acquires 168 acres of the former Elliot Golf Course for Rewilding and Nature Education : Severson Dells Environmental Education Foundation purchased the property from the Rockford Park District and will aid the ecosystem in succession, the process by which ecosystems become more diverse over time. Native seeds will be reintroduced, the creek will be daylighted and re-meandered, and natural pressures such as fire bill be reestablished. In addition to the rewilding, the purchase will increase the reach of the environmental education that we offer.

The Natural Land Institute Acquires 327 Acres for Conservation on the Stateline : The property, named the Jerry and Kathy Busse Prairie Preserve on Raccoon Creek for donors, adds to the network of protected land along Racoon Creek east of Rockton that includes Lost Flora Fen and Nygren Wetland. The land is home to many threatened and endangered plants and animals including Hine’s emerald dragonflies, rusty patched bumble bees, and Blanding’s turtles. The Natural Land Institute will perform habitat restoration on the wetlands, lake, and grasslands and the property to ensure that these endangered populations can exist in perpetuity.

Rockford Mass Transit District Breaks Ground on Facility Expansion to Meet Ambitious Climate Goals : RMTD will expand their downtown Rockford vehicle storage and maintenance facility to accommodate their growing fleet of battery electric and hybrid buses. The nearly 30 million dollar expansion is primarily funded by the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. The facility expansion will include electric charging and maintenance infrastructure to help achieve RMTD’s goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2036 that was outlined in its 2022 climate action plan. This plan won the Federal Transit Administration’s champion of the challenge award for small transit agencies the year it was adopted for its ambitious yet achievable carbon reduction strategies.

National News

American Climate Corps Website Launch On Earth Day this year, the new American Climate Corps website and applicant portal (www.ClimateCorps.gov) was launched. The American Climate Corps is modeled after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps. This program aims to employ more than 20,000 Americans in work with organizations that focus on climate change impacts while gaining skills to transition into clean energy, conservation, and climate-resilience careers after the participant’s service term. To aid in this transition, American Climate Corps members will have a streamlined pathway to apply for federal service opportunities by expanding the recent graduates program. Lastly three more states joined the existing 10 in announcing the creation of their state-level Climate Corps, with one of them being Illinois.

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be a vegetated bridge across US Highway 101 in Los Angeles, California. Once completed in 2026, this crossing will be the largest wildlife crossing in the nation at 210 feet in length and 174 feet wide. This 10 lane highway separates Santa Monica Mountains to the South from the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains to the north. This wildlife crossing will make it safe for animals such as mountain lions, bobcats, gray foxes, coyotes, and mule deer, to cross between the two fragmented mountain ranges. Species that need large territories, specifically the Santa Monica mountain lions will benefit the most from the increased access to territory which will result in greater habitat access, genetic diversity, and species resilience.

Klamath River Dam Removal Several dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California have been removed resulting in the world’s largest dam removal project. The completed project resulted in 420 miles of uninterrupted river habitat for salmon for the first time since 1918. Additionally, NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Yurok Tribe $18 million to restore and reconnect cold water tributaries to the newly accessible river area. Removing the dams will significantly improve water quality of the river by allowing the water to flow and aerate naturally, which will increase dissolved oxygen levels in the water and reduce toxic algae blooms that negatively impacts aquatic wildlife. This project also specifically helps salmon and steelhead fish populations. By giving them greater access, they not only have more habitat to expand populations, but this will also extend the migration period and increase juvenile fish survival rates

International News

Renewable Energy Completely Powers Seven Countries: More than 99.7% of electricity in Albania, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iceland, Nepal, Paraguay, and the Democratic Republic of Congo comes from geothermal, hydro, solar or wind power. Norway is close behind at 98.38%, and Portugal and Germany are able to run on 100% renewables, but only for a short period of time. Solar has been dominating the renewable energy capacity, as it is the cheapest and most affordable, and it is expected to take over as the dominant energy source within the near future. Most countries have set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030 and others by 2050, so we are on track for a carbon neutral future.

Freshwater Reserve Discovery in Italy: Italy has been in an ongoing state of emergency as they are dealing with the worst drought in over 70 years. Due to a lack of rain and a mild winter in 2023, the country has been struggling to find clean water. A solution might have been found; hidden beneath Sicily’s Iblei Mountains, a huge freshwater reserve has been found, and it’s estimated to contain 17 billion cubic meters of water. This reserve is estimated to be between 700 and 2,500 meters below the surface, which means it isn’t easily accessible. The government has been working with scientists and mining companies, trying to come to a decision on how the water may be reached without disturbing the land around it. Currently, Sicily’s farmers are at a breaking point as harvests continue to fail due to the dry weather, so access to this freshwater reserve could mean a hopeful future for Italian farmers.

EU Parliament Voted to Criminalize Ecosystem Destruction: With the occurrence of environmental crimes on the rise, ecocide was ruled illegal and punishable by 8-10 years in prison. Ecocide is defined as unlawful acts committed with knowledge that there is substantial likelihood of severe and wide-spread damage to the environment. This includes, but isn’t limited to: water abstraction, ship recycling and pollution, the introduction and spread of invasive alien species, and ozone destruction. This will make ecocide illegal in 27 additional countries, for a total of 38 countries. These countries will have 2 years to implement the revisions into national law, and they will begin in Spring 2026.

Space News

2024 has been a year full of celestial events–hopefully you were able to witness a few! As we look ahead to 2025, let's revisit some of this years major events:

Total Solar Eclipse: The solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, also known as the Great North American Eclipse, passed over North America and was visible across 15 states. It is estimated that around 50 million people experienced the total solar eclipse, including many people who traveled to view it. Rockford was not in the path of totality, but regions just a few hours south of us were! This solar eclipse was the last total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States until the next one which will occur in 20 years on August 23, 2044.

Northern Lights (Aurora borealis): This year has been a year of dazzling auroras, which have illuminated over much of North America. Auroras form when charged particles from the sun collide with Earth's upper atmosphere. Typically, auroras are only visible near the poles due to the Earth's magnetic field. However, the sun is currently experiencing a solar maximum, which means that there is increased solar activity. This has resulted in more auroras than usual that are visible further south. There have been a few times this year that the Northern Lights have been visible in Rockford this year, with the most colorful show occurring on October 10th, 2024.

Europa Clipper: On Oct. 14th Europa Clipper launched , and is the first mission designed to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter's moon Europa. There’s scientific evidence that the ingredients for life may exist on Europa right now. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) to reach Jupiter in April 2030.

Bringing Nature to the Community: Severson Dells at the Boys & Girls Club in Rockford

elly@seversondells.org (Elly Salazar) — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 07:00:00 GMT

Last December, we let you know about the exciting new after-school program Severson Dells was doing with a couple of schools from Rockford Public School District. It was a wonderful way to bring nature to the community and connect with more students. This year, we are bringing our hands-on after-school curriculum to two of the local Boys & Girls Clubs here in Rockford! The Severson Dells team will be visiting the Stenstrom Boys & Girls Club unit, formerly known as Fairground, closer to the west side of Rockford and the Flodin unit across the street from the former Elliot golf course towards the east side until April. We are already a couple of weeks into the program, and it has been amazing so far. The Severson Dells team is learning so much about the students and has already had meaningful conversations about nature. During the rest of the visits, we will be building habitat models, touching animal skulls and pelts, acting out the water cycle, going on an animal track scavenger hunt, and more. We are excited to continue bringing bits of nature to different parts of the community!

During the first couple of sessions, we focused on forming relationships with the participants. We are grateful for the opportunity to impact their lives and connection with nature with weekly visits. The Severson team also wants to make sure the students are having fun and are comfortable with the leaders and the activities we bring. So we asked the students “What is your favorite thing in nature” and “What is your favorite thing to do in nature”. We have loved getting to know the participants further this way, and it can help us determine some of the best lessons to bring out to them! Some of their answers have included:

Swimming
Climbing trees
Going on bike rides with my dad
Animals
Butterflies

The students were so excited to play games and share their favorite things. The goal for everyone is to have fun while doing some sneaky learning through this partnership as well! That is why we also gave the club members a pre-evaluation. Our staff guided the students through a “yes” or “ no” based survey to gauge the student's comfortability and interest in various topics. Some examples of the questions included:

I enjoy learning about nature.
I am good at science.
I think helping nature is important .

We are still in the process of giving out the evaluations, but the answers are fascinating to review so far!

Here are three trends we are seeing at this time:

Many students like nature and think they know a lot about nature.
Many club members like science but they don’t think they are good at science.
Almost all the participants think helping nature is important.

We also asked the students to circle which animals live in and around Rockford given a list and pictures of a tiger, deer, bear, fox, rabbit, raccoon, alligator, and frog. The aim is to gain a better understanding of how connected with local nature these kiddos are. From there, we will give them as many opportunities as we can to enjoy interactions with their local flora and fauna.

These are three observations we have made so far through the pre-evaluation:

Most of the participants recognize that rabbits live in Rockford.
Some of the students believe that Raccoons live in Rockford but are unsure.
Many students think that tigers do not live in Rockford but there was some confusion about zoos versus backyard animals.

Finally, we asked the club members to circle their top three favorite nature topics from a predetermined list. This will help inform our lesson plans to ensure we cover some of their favorite things!

Here are three of the topics that the participants are most interested in:

Mammals
Sky
Plants

As mentioned above, we want the participants to enjoy learning about nature. We recognize that the children at the Boys & Girls Clubs have already had a full day of school so continuing to have formal learning after structure can be challenging - especially in the winter when we are more cooped up than usual! That is why many of the programs we bring will involve hands-on activities, bundled-up outdoor games, and plenty of time for discussions. We look forward to seeing the club members grow their connection with nature-related topics and the outdoors in a format that works for them. The Severson Dells team is grateful to have this partnership in the community. We will try to keep everyone updated with more wonderful stories from our time with the clubs! Stay tuned and have a happy holiday season.

Shoring up the Shoreline

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 21:59:52 GMT

Shoreline Stabilization

Shoreline stabilization involves implementing features at the water’s edge to limit sediment erosion to protect the land from wave action and currents. This process is a form of bioengineering , applying engineering principles to solve biological challenges. Stabilization measures can be "gray" (hard structures) or "green" (nature-based solutions), which affect the coastline's vulnerability and resilience. This significantly impacts economic, social, and ecological shoreline security. Economically, the shoreline may support infrastructure, tourism, and fisheries. Socially, shorelines provide space for recreation and community connection. Ecologically, the shoreline provides specialized habitat, water filtration, and exchange of materials. Given these factors, choosing the right stabilization method is crucial. This decision must consider wave strength, storm surge, flood capacity, space constraints, and ecological goals based on the type of shoreline being protected.

Gray Methods

Gray methods involve hard, engineered structures that include breakwaters, groins, bulkheads, seawalls, and concrete channels. Hard structures reflect wave energy and are most effective in areas with high wave intensity or strong currents because they are best at quickly breaking up water energy. They are best used when the main goal is to keep sediments in place, space is limited, and there is valuable infrastructure close to the shoreline. However, gray methods have drawbacks. They offer little to no ecosystem benefits, provide no flood water storage capacity, reduce water circulation leading to degraded water quality, and may cause additional erosion in unprotected areas.

Green Methods

Green methods use natural solutions including vegetation, beach nourishment, or restored coastal habitat such as marshes, dunes, riparian zones, or oyster reefs. These methods are human engineered to mimic the physical, biologic, geologic, and chemical processes that already occur in nature. These techniques are most effective in areas with lower water energy the vegetation can withstand, as they absorb wave energy over a larger area. Due to its greater space and permeable components, natural stabilization features have a large flood water storage capacity and can slow down water flow. Natural features offer several ecological benefits including improved water quality and enhanced habitats for wildlife. They also provide long-term sustainability by maintaining the connection between water and land for sediment, water, and nutrient exchange. However, natural methods require more space, and are less effective in high energy environments. Additionally, most contract work and regulatory policy is centered around traditional hardened gray shorelines, not natural shorelines, which can make the process challenging.

Mixing Methods for Balanced Solutions

In many cases, a combination of gray and green methods may offer the best solution for shoreline stabilization. By blending hard structures with natural features, projects can balance wave energy reflection, flood water capacity, and ecological benefits. This hybrid approach can be tailored to the specific needs, resources, and security level of each shoreline. Some recent shoreline stabilization projects local to Northern Illinois have aimed to achieve that balance.

Local Projects

The Illinois Beach State Park Shoreline Stabilization Project in Lake County was completed in September 2023. This project aimed to protect the last 2.2 miles of undeveloped natural shorelines along Lake Michigan in Illinois where it was previously eroding at a rate of 100 feet per year. The primary goal was to ensure the natural ecosystem of dunes, swales, marsh, and oak forest is preserved and protected for generations to come. The project involved the installation of offshore breakwater structures to decrease wave energy and slow sediment transport to reduce erosion. Habitat features, such as tern nests, limestone ledges, eco blocks, salvaged driftwood, and rock spurs, were also incorporated. This focus on habitat stabilization earned the project the Midwest’s first Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines Verification, which is a national rating system for resilient, ecological, and accessible waterfront projects. The combination of gray and green features ensures both environmental protection and public access to the beach.

The Beverly Park Floodplain Reconnection is in the grant stage of The Illinois EPA Green Infrastructure Grant Opportunities Grant. The neighborhood of Beverly Park is economically disadvantaged and a flood prone community. This proposed project in Rockford’s Kent Creek watershed seeks to restore the floodplain by replacing the steep cracked concrete channel with a gentler, more permeable creek bed instead of repairing the channel. This naturalized area will increase flood water storage capacity, slow water flow, improve water quality, and restore riparian habitat with native vegetation. Beyond ecological benefits, this green methods project reduces flood risk as well as provides future green space and educational opportunities on stormwater pollution and naturalization benefits.

Takeaways

Severson Dells Nature Center is working on our own green method shoreline restoration at the former Elliot Golf Course. This project will bring the creek back to the surface in a process known as daylighting the creek. This project will improve water quality and reintroduce native plant species along the riverbanks to provide habitat and improve floodwater resilience. For more information on Elliot restoration check out our Science of Rewilding blog post.

Shoreline stabilization is a critical tool for protecting coastlines for ecological health, community connection, and supporting local economies. Whether using gray hard structures or green natural methods, the goal is to enhance resilience and ensure long term sustainability. Local projects in Illinois demonstrate how blending both approaches can achieve a balanced, effective solution for shoreline protection.

Sources

HRGreen - Beavery Park Floodplain Reconnection

NOAA - Natural and Structural Measures for Shoreline Stabilization

Office of the Governor JB Pritzker Press Release - Gov. Pritzker Celebrates Ribbon Cutting at Illinois Beach State Park

Region 1 Planning Council, and The Lakota Group - Keith Creek Corridor Study

Severson Dells Field Notes Blog - The Science of Rewilding: Severson Dells Joins the Global Rewilding Alliance

December Bird Blog

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 16:42:28 GMT

Ice . . . snow . . . wind chill, these are the terms that best describe the winter weather here in Rockford. On average we have 37 inches of snow each year and have the average high temperatures being 30 degrees Fahrenheit over the winter. I think that we all know how rough this type of weather can be on us, but at least we have access to shelter and technology to keep us warm- our bird friends don't have that luxury. Luckily many of the species that we know and love made the smart decision to migrate to warmer areas in the Southern States and in South America. That has resulted in a decrease in both the number of species and number of individual birds that we can regularly see. But for the ones we’ll be covering today, the cold doesn't bother them anyway. They spend their entire winter here no matter how much snow falls, how scarce resources become, or how hard the wind blows. They have behavioral or biological adaptations that help them survive in frozen areas.

Common Goldeneye

Bucephala clangula

These are small arctic specialist ducks who spend their summers in the higher latitudes of Canada and Alaska. As more local duck species head to the Gulf Coast for the sun and sand, the common goldeneye comes in to take their place. As who would've guessed it, the 30-degree winters of Rockford are better than the negative 30-degree winters of the Arctic. The ice here doesn't get as thick on the inland lakes they love to inhabit, allowing them to still freely dive to consume crayfish and other aquatic invertebrates. The most easily discernible feature of this species would be their iconic gold-yellow eyes, which are easy to spot with binoculars at a distance. Adult males have a dark iridescent green and black head that plays host to a large white circle below the eye near the base of the bill. They have a dark black back that transitions into a bright white neck and breast. Females have a brown head without the white circle and have a primarily gray body. Both sexes have a noticeably ‘odd’ shaped head, which is quite large and has a sloped hump on its rear. Though the ones that visit Rockford in the winter have already completed nesting and brooding for that year, we are lucky to play host to the beginning of their courtship displays. As the winter progresses males will begin to perform complex “dances” where the males will touch their bums with their heads and then kick their feet forward, launching water into the air. Coupled with the physical display you might hear the males faint “peent” call . The wings of the goldeneye generate a whistling sound which has earned them the nickname “whistlers” by duck hunters.

Common Mergnaser

Another visitor from the far north, the common merganser, are often seen on large rivers, lakes and wetlands where they form very large flocks. The large flocks are regularly seen mixing together with flocks of common goldeneyes and buffleheads, which are both winter residents we've covered before. When looking for them on the water we are lucky because by this time of year they have molted and entered their breeding plumages. For males their bodies a white with a slight salmon tinge which contrasts their iridescent black-green head and and back. Females have overall gray bodies that lead into a reddish-brown head. Both species possess a red bill that, like in other mergansers, are thin, serrated, and end in a hook. Making them great tools for catching slippery fish. Both sexes also have a head crest but it's the females who you most often see displaying this feature as the males normally keep theirs slicked back over the tops of their heads, which is unusual for birds. They are quite large birds as individuals weighing up to 4lbs and can have over 3-foot wingspans. The sound you are most likely to hear them say would be the harsh ”gruk” call which is a response to a predator being in the area. As the season progresses the males will begin to sound off their display calls which are a hoarse twanging sound similar to a bell.

American Herring Gull

Larus aregentatus smithsonianus

Something you can notice is that their scientific name has three parts unlike the numeral two, this is because it's a subspecies of the herring gull which also live in Europe and Asia. But, some believe that it is its own species called Larus smithsonianus , but the American Ornithological Society doesn't agree. You might just know them as “seagulls'' but they are so much more than that. Firstly the term “seagull” doesn't paint the whole picture of their habitat preference. They are found living in many aquatic natural habitats such as along rivers and lakes as well as oceans. But have also adapted to make their homes in more human-dominated areas like cities, garbage dumps and parking lots. During the warm summer months they spend their time catching fish, bird chicks, and small rodents across the Arctic. But come winter they take to the company of humans when they will return in flocks to the Rockford metro feasting on garbage, river fish, roadkill, and just about anything else. They are a relatively heavily built species of gull hosting a powerful bill and an impressive wingspan of up to 5 feet. You'll most often see them in flight where they can be identified by Their long, thin wings which are gray and end in a black tip. While grounded the birds are identified by their almost solid white bodies save for the gray and black of their folded wings and the presence of gray speckles on the head outside of breeding season. Immature birds are brown in coloration and will stay for up to 4 years. The most striking characteristic of the bird is their bright yellow bill that has a bright red spot on the underside of the beak’s tip. Their call is that iconic obnoxious laughing , which they'll use as a threat response along with various long shrieks and screams.

Peregrine Falcon

Falco peregrinus

Holding the titles of not only the fastest bird on the planet, but the fastest animal on the planet earth, reaching speeds of up to 69 mph in flight and 200 mph in dives. It is also one of the most widespread bird of prey species, being present on every continent besides Antarctica, so it is no surprise that we have a resident population. It is often quite hard to catch a glimpse of them since they spend most of their waking hours high in the air surveying for prey, noticeably they love eating pigeons and waterfowl. If they aren't hunting they are perched high up on skyscrapers and other tall structures which simulate the mountains and cliffs that they would naturally nest on. But their appearance serves as the stereotype for what people think about when they hear the word ‘falcon’. Their breast and underside can range from white to tan and are barred with clean black bands. The wings and backside are dark brown to black in color which extends up to and around the head and face, creating a sort of “mask” or “helmet”. They have a bright yellow ring of skin around the eyes and have a heavily hooked beak which is yellow which fades into a dark gray-black. While in flight they have a sharp and gracile appearance as their 2 foot long wings both end in swooped back points; differentiating them in flight from hawks, eagles, and vultures. The call you'll most likely hear from them is a loud “kak, kak kak” which is used to alarm threats. Noticeably most peregrines in the area will actually migrate south for the winter but certain breeding pairs stick around through winter due to the city hosting a decent population of non-native birds like rock pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows. Many cultures across the world have also trained peregrines to hunt with them being partners similar to many hunting breeds of dog.

Pigeons

Columbia livia

Even someone who has never left the concrete and asphalt of the city, they have to know at least one bird. That bird is none other than the feral pigeon, also known as the rock pigeon, rock dove, or common pigeon. They were brought over to the Americas from Europe along with the first explorers and colonists, who themselves received them from the peoples of the Middle East and India. They were originally domesticated to be used as food and messengers, but over the years a species culture was developed that revolved around breeding pigeons to have ornate colors, unusual body proportions, and fast speeds like we see in dog breeding. Selective breeding has resulted in a wide variety of appearances in the birds we see today. All of our “wild” birds are descendants of birds that escape captivity. Most pigeons still have the natural look which is a gray body that transitions to an iridescent purple, green, and blue head. Those with more exotic appearances can be completely white, red, brown, cream, black or any combination of those colors in a variety of different patterns. All individuals possess a knob-like growth over their nostrils. Their heads are quite small and have a short beak. Though thought of as city birds they can live in a wider variety of habitats as long as they are adjacent to human civilization. They are able to stay in Rockford year-round due to the constant supply of food provided by bird feeders and human garbage. Like other doves, pigeons' song and class sound like soft coos of varying lengths and tones. However, when alarmed they are known to grunt.

All About Mountains

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 20:12:04 GMT

Why Some Mountains are Dormant While Others Aren't

Mountain-building events are a fundamental part of what has shaped the Earth’s topography. Mountains show places where magma plumes exist and places where tectonic plate activity has occurred. When discussing mountains, you may hear the terms “active”, “dormant”, or “extinct”, all of which describe the possibility of that mountain erupting. There are four different types of mountains, they are: dome, fold, fault-block, and volcanic, let's dive into each of these categories, some familiar examples, and what makes a mountain dormant or active.

Dome mountains are rounded and typically asymmetrical. They form when magma rises through the Earth’s crust but doesn’t fully break through its surface. Over time, the lava cools down and turns to rock, resulting in a large circular mound that pushes overlying strata up, also in a circular shape. Over time, this area is prone to erosion. The national monument Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, California, are an example of a dome mountain.

Fold mountains are created where two tectonic plates collide at convergent boundaries, created by intense compressional force, and there are two main types of convergent boundaries. The first is continental-continental convergence , which is when two continental plates collide and have the same buoyancy so neither of them want to submerge, resulting in upward folding and mountain formation. The second is oceanic-continental convergence, which is when an oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate, resulting in sediments and rocks along the exposed edge of the continental plate being compressed and folded, forming a volcanic arc that becomes a mountain. The Rocky Mountains in Colorado are an example of a fold mountain.

Fault-block mountains are formed when underground pressure forces a large crustal rock mass to break away from another and shift along a fault, displacing them from each other; due to tensional stress. Once the crust fractures, some blocks will rise up and others will fall. The uplifted blocks of rock are called horst, and the down-dropped blocks of rock are called graben. The Grand Tetons in Wyoming are an example of a fault-block mountain.

Volcanic mountains are formed by the slow accumulation of erupted lava and pyroclastic material around a volcanic vent , which piles up around it. Over time the vent grows into a cone-shaped volcano, with the vent at the center. The Aleutian Islands in Alaska are an example of a volcanic mountain.

Mountains are considered active if they have erupted within the Holocene (the current geologic epoch, ~11,700 years) or if they have the potential to erupt again in the future. Mountains are considered dormant if they are potentially active, meaning they aren’t erupting now, but they may erupt in the future. Mountains are considered extinct if there is no longer a connection between the mountain and the magma chamber, meaning they will never erupt again. Instead, they remain as a reminder of how geologically active that area once was. However, sometimes a mountain will be considered extinct for thousands of years but then it will suddenly reawaken. Going extinct doesn’t mean forever like how we are used to, with mountains, extinction can be forever or just temporary. Yellowstone and Long Valley, California are great examples of this; Yellowstone hasn’t erupted in ~70,000 years, and Long Valley hasn’t had recorded activity in ~16,000-17,000 years, making them extinct. However, both of those locations are known to still contain magma within their caldera systems, and they still experience active seismicity, ground deformation, and hydrothermal activity; which makes these mountain systems still active, just currently dormant.

Just because a mountain is active does not mean that the mountain is growing in height and width. Mountains tend to have a maximum size they can grow to before the weight of the materials and rocks is too heavy to support it, resulting in erosion and landslides. How large a mountain will grow is all dependent on the steepness of the slopes, and the rate at which forces are causing Earth’s crust to rise. The tectonic plates are always shifting, each at slightly different amounts but on average they move ~1.5 cm (0.6 in) per year, allowing landforms to be created and destroyed by the movement of the tectonic plates. This process is what constitutes dormant mountains. This gradual movement of plates is what allows for mountains to move away from the part of Earth’s mantle that was actively supplying magma to the mountain, removing the channel that connected the two, cutting off the flow of magma, resulting in this mountain becoming dormant, and a new volcanic arc to begin forming where the vent is now located.

Earth isn’t the only place that has mountains. Mountain-building events also occur on other planets too, Mars, Venus, Pluto, and some moons. However, mountains found outside of Earth are huge in comparison, and this is due to the absence of tectonic plates and the lower surface gravity throughout the solar system. The largest known mountain within our solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars, as it measures ~72,000 feet from base to peak, and it has 6 large calderas inside of the central caldera, measuring 57 miles wide and 2 miles deep. These measurements are almost 2.5 times taller than Mount Everest, which is Earth’s tallest mountain, measuring ~12,000 feet from base to peak. Mars is very interesting because it is the only other planet that has a similar magmatic process, as well as similar igneous rock and mineral types to those found on Earth, but the mountains on Mars are built a little differently than how they are on Earth. Mars doesn’t have tectonic plates, so once a mountain starts building in one area, it will continue to build onto the same mountain until the heat source runs out, which is how Mars has the enormous mountains that we see today. Mars has its own atmosphere and weather conditions, but the rate of weathering and erosion due to these factors is minimal when compared to those on Earth.

Mars doesn’t have tectonic plates, instead, Mars is a very thick piece of crustal rock. However, because the planet is a big piece of rock, it experiences deformation such as periods of shrinking and periods of stretching. These processes and the mountain-building events have caused a few faults to form, one of the most notable being Cerberus Fossae . The Cerberus Fossae are a series of semi-parallel faults and trenches that stretch for more than 1000 km, and activity in these faults causes mars-quakes (Martian equivalent of earthquakes).

Mountains are key indicators that a land mass is active or was at some point in time, and this is true throughout our solar system. Mountains reveal the geologic history of a place as they keep a record of past climates and chemical compositions, and sometimes even preserved fragments of organic matter. All mountains, whether active, dormant, or extinct, are important and unique in their own ways, but the one thing that’s similar is the mountain-building events that formed them.

Sources:

“Fold Mountains: How Do Fold Mountains Form.” Geology In, 30 Oct. 2024, www.geologyin.com/2024/10/fold-mountains-formation-characteristics.html.

Wee, Rolando Y. “The Solar System’s Tallest Mountains.” WorldAtlas, 25 Apr. 2017, www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-solar-system-s-tallest-mountains.html.

“Mars Education: Developing the next Generation of Explorers.” Mars Education | Tectonics, Arizona State University, marsed.asu.edu/mep/tectonics#:~:text=And%20because%20Mars%20has%20no,other%20big%20volcanic%20structures%20nearby.

Anderson, Paul Scott. “Is Mars Volcanically Active?” EarthSky, 3 Nov. 2022, earthsky.org/space/mars-is-volcanically-active-magma-geology-insight/#:~:text=This%20is%20a%20mosaic%20image,still%20existing%20beneath%20the%20surface.

Kohler, Ulrich, and Daniela Tirsch. “Cerberus Fossae on Mars.” Cerberus Fossae - Young Tectonic Fissures Thousands of Kilometers Long on Mars, DLR - German Aerospace Center, 20 Sept. 2018, www.dlr.de/en/latest/news/2018/3/20180920_cerberus-fossae-mars#:~:text=The%20Cerberus%20Fossae%20are%20tectonic,part%20of%20the%20Cerberus%20Fossae.

The Mystery of Transient Luminous Events

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:00:52 GMT

H undreds of thousands of feet above us there is a mysterious world of elves, sprites, pixes, trolls, and gnomes. I’m not talking about middle earth, but about the rare phenomenon of transient luminous events (TLEs). TLEs are electrical discharges similar to lightning that occur in the upper atmosphere miles above thunderstorms. These mystifying electrical events are so beautiful and elusive that scientists couldn’t help but give them equally mythical names. In this blog we’ll explore the science of these nearly magical events, the questions that are still baffling scientists, how you can photograph them to contribute to community science, and what we can do to reduce light pollution to keep our skies magical.

Lightning

Positive cloud to ground lightning is the most powerful form of lightning but also the rarest. It originates in the positively charged region at the top of storm clouds and travels to negatively charged regions in other clouds or in the ground. “Bolts from the blue” are a type of positive lightning that can travel more than 10 miles horizontally from storms before striking the ground. Positive lightning is also believed to be responsible for many forms of TLEs.

Transient Luminous Events

The existence of visible electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere was first theorized in 1924 by Scottish physicist Charles Thomson Rees Wilson in his article “ The Electric Field of a Thundercloud and Some of Its Effects .” Wilson also recorded seeing what modern researchers believe could have been a spirit, a type of TLE. Despite Wilson’s work, the existence of upper atmospheric lightning was not widely accepted until 1989 when researcher R. C. Franz recorded two sprites on a camera that he left recording overnight.

Since sprites were first recorded on camera, interest in upper atmospheric lightning has proliferated in the scientific community and by enthusiasts. This spotlight on the skies has led to the discovery of a slew of captivating electrical events that take place far above thunderstorms.

Sprites

Sprites are the most common and well researched TLE.. Sprites are massive electrical discharges stretching from around thirty-one miles above sea level up to around fifty-six miles. For scale Mt Everest’s summit is five and a half miles above sea level. Sprites are thought to last for only 90-300 ms, meaning that they are very hard to see with the naked eye. They appear red in color with tendrils coming down off a bright glowing area at the top of the formation.

The exact causes of sprites are still debated. Scientists have tied them to positive clouds to ground lightning strikes, as they seem to always occur shortly after these powerful strikes. It is thought that sprites may be caused by the electric field caused by these powerful strikes. Typically, an electric field is not strong enough to turn air from an insulator to a conductor, but at the high altitudes where sprites occur the thin air requires less energy to break down. Currently, further research is being conducted to understand more about the causes of sprites and what impact they may have on atmospheric chemistry including ozone concentrations.

Jets

Jets are TLEs that start at the top of thunderstorms and travel up into the upper atmosphere. There are three types of jets that have been identified: gigantic jets, blue jets, and blue starters. Jets are rarer than sprites and harder to capture on film, and thus we know even less about them.

Blue jets look like quick eruptions of blue light from the top of storm clouds. They are theorized to be caused by breakdown between the positive top of the cloud and the negative “screening layer” that exists above the storm, and if there is enough potential difference between these two areas, then the discharge erupts up past the screening layer.

Blue starters are thought to be like blue jets that do not break through the screening layer. Despite being shorter than blue jets, blue starters are brighter.

Gigantic jets travel up much further than blue jets, reaching altitudes close to 60 miles. One theory of gigantic jet formation suggests that they start as a negative intracloud lightning flash at break out of the top of the cloud.

Elves

ELVES stands for Emission of Light and Very low frequency perturbations due to Electromagnetic pulse Sources. ELVES appear as red expanding rings far above storms. ELVES only last for a few milliseconds, so they are impossible to see with your naked eye and very hard to capture on film. Not much is known about what causes ELVES because of how hard they are to observe. They occur at around sixty miles above sea level at the bottom of the ionosphere.

Pixies

Pixies are small pinpoints of light that occur on the top of thunderstorms clouds. They only last about sixteen milliseconds, and their causes are not well understood.

Trolls and Ghosts

Trolls and ghosts are visual components that sometimes occur with sprites. Trolls are trails that appear shortly after sprites going back down to clouds. Ghosts are glowing green spots that sometimes appear at the top of sprites. These names have been given by enthusiasts not scientists, and not much research has been into why sprites sometimes have these elements to them.

The Impacts of Light Pollution

Light pollution happens when people change the amount of light outdoors from its natural level. Light pollution can impact wildlife, human health, and our ability to see the night sky including TLEs. Seeing TLEs requires you to be around 200 -300 miles from a storm with little to no light pollution in between you and the storm. Unfortunately, very few areas like this exist anymore which makes it hard to see TLEs without special equipment or traveling far distances. Paul Smith , renowned TLE photographer, believes that in the days before light pollution sprites and jets would have been much more common to see based on his experience tracking them.

Light pollu tion can be reduced by shading outdoor lights, using dimmer lights, and turning lights off at night. More information about reducing light pollution is available at darksky.org

Community Science

If you are interested in learning more about TLEs and potentially seeing them for yourself, NASA has created a community science program for the study of TLEs called Spiritacular . Observations of TLEs submitted by the community help scientists learn more about what causes TLEs, and what effects they may have. The website has resources on how to find and photograph sprites, elves, and jets, as well as a gallery of photos taken by other citizen scientists. Check out Spiritacular if you are interested in capturing these magnificent events and contributing to our shared understanding of them.

References

DarkSky International . (2024, September 11). DarkSky International. https://darksky.org/

Lyons, W., Nelson, T., Armstrong, R., Pasko, V., & Stanley, M. (2003). Upward Electrical Discharges From Thunderstorm Tops. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , 84 (4), 445–454. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/84/4/bams-84-4-445.xml

NOAA. (n.d.). Lightning Basics . National Severe Storm Laboratory. Retrieved November 6, 2024, from https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/

Preoteasa, G. (2023, February 28). Chasing Sprites . AMS Weather Band. https://amsweatherband.org/index.cfm/weatherband/articles/chasing-sprites/

Spritacular. (n.d.). Spritacular . Spritacular. Retrieved November 6, 2024, from https://spritacular.org/about

Temming, M. (2024, March 20). Explainer: Sprites, jets, ELVES and other storm-powered lights . ScienceNewsExplores. https://www.snexplores.org/article/sprites-jets-elves-storm-powered-lights

Wilson, C. (1924). The Electric Field of a Thundercloud and Some of Its Effects. Proceedings of the Physical Society of London , 37 (1), 32D-37D. https://web.archive.org/web/20140310135835/http://www.storm-t.iag.usp.br/pub/ACA0330/papers/Wilson_electricfield_thunderstorms_1924.pdf

La Niña Winter Ahead? Here’s What That Means for Us

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 16:07:23 GMT

Scientists predict that a La Niña winter is coming, with a 60% chance of it arriving by November. But what exactly is La Niña, and how does it affect us? Simply put, La Niña, and its opposite, El Niño, are natural climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that impact weather worldwide. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle is an oscillating weather pattern where ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific alternate between warm (El Niño), cold (La Niña), and neutral phases, referred to as ENSO-neutral. La Niña or El Niño events occur irregularly every 3-7 years and break these normal conditions. These effects can last 9-12 months, but sometimes they can last for years. Though they are inconsistent, El Niño typically occurs more often than La Niña, but La Niña events may last between one and three years, unlike El Niño, which usually lasts no more than a year. Both phenomena tend to peak during the Northern Hemisphere winter. La Niña occurs when ocean temperatures drop below normal near the equator, dramatically influencing winds and weather patterns, typically resulting in a colder winter up north. Once it arrives, it’ll stick around affecting weather patterns all winter and likely persist into at least early spring of next year.

This cycle plays a significant role in shaping rainfall and temperatures around the world. While it’s not the only factor influencing weather, ENSO events often make a noticeable impact on winters in the United Sates, both temperature and precipitation wise. These weather patterns are important because they affect everything from hurricane seasons to wildfire seasons, ecosystem assembly, and even global economies.

How la niña and el niño work:

In order to understand what a La Niña or El Niño season is, we first need to understand the trade winds. Trade winds are found close to the Earth's surface along the equator, in between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Normally, trade winds push warm Pacific waters from the coast of the America's west toward Australia and Asia. To replace the water that was pushed west, waters from deeper in the ocean rise up to the surface in a process called upwelling .

Upwelling pulls cold, nutrient-rich water up from the ocean’s depths to the euphotic zone, the sunlit top layer where photosynthesis occurs. Packed with nutrients like nitrates and phosphates, this water fuels phytoplankton growth. Phytoplankton, which are a photosynthetic organism, form the base of the ocean food chain. They attract organisms that feed on them, creating a ripple effect in the environment. Soon, fish, clams, and even marine mammals gather near the surface, forming a thriving marine ecosystem.

La niña

La Niña translates to "the little girl" in Spanish, and is the cold phase of the ENSO cycle. La Niña was first noticed after El Niño, so it is sometimes referred to as anti-El Niño or El Viejo ("the old man" in Spanish). During La Niña events, trade winds are even stronger than usual, pushing more warm water from the Americas toward west Asia. As a result, upwelling increases and intensifies. The waters off the Pacific coast are in turn colder and contain more nutrients than usual. As a result, these waters supports more marine life and bring more cold-water species, like squid and salmon, to places like the California coast. This cooling effect shifts the jet stream northward, leading to cooler, wetter weather in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest and drier conditions in the Southwest and Southeast. The result? Chilly northern winters and milder southern ones.

These effects aren't just limited to the United States. La Niña is characterized by lower-than-normal air pressure over the western Pacific, and these low-pressure zones contribute to increased rainfall in Southeast Asia and Australia. This increased rainfall often results in a more intense monsoon season in Southeast Asia, which benefits the Indian economy that heavily relies on monsoon season for agriculture production. However, this increased rainfall can have detrimental effects on Australia, which has historically suffered from intense flooding during these events. La Niña usually has a positive impact on the fishing industry of western South America, as upwelling brings nutrient-rich waters to the surface, along with marine life and big game fish.

La Niña can also intensify hurricane seasons along the East Coast, as we’ve seen this year. During La Niña years, weaker trade winds and reduced vertical wind shear over the Atlantic create favorable conditions for hurricanes. Vertical wind shear refers to changes in wind speed and direction at altitudes between 5,000-35,000 feet. When strong, this shear can disrupt or weaken hurricanes. But with less shear, storms can develop and strengthen more easily, leading to a more active hurricane season.

El niño

El Niño, the warm phase of the ENSO cycle, was first identified by Peruvian fishermen who noticed unusually warm waters along the coast. We don’t have a record of the indigenous Peruvian name for the event, but Spanish settlers referred to it as El Niño, which translates to “the little boy”. When capitalized, El Niño means the Christ Child, and was used because the phenomenon often arrived around Christmas.

El Niño events are the counterpart to La Niña. During El Niño, trade winds are weaker than usual, and push warm water eastward back toward the Americas This disrupts the usual cold-water upwelling along the coast of the Eastern Pacific. Without this upwelling, the euphotic zone of the eastern Pacific can no longer support its normally productive coastal ecosystem. Fish populations die off or migrate, which in turn has a devastating impact on Ecuadorian and Peruvian economies, which rely heavily on fishing.

The warmer waters also shift the jet stream southward, bringing warmer, drier winters to the Northern U.S. and Midwest, while the Southwest and Southeast often experience increased rain and flooding. Last winter was the warmest winter on record in the lower 48, with both El Niño and global warming in play. Whether La Niña or El Niño, these patterns pack a punch on our weather—and this year, it looks like we’re in for a chillier, wetter winter up north.

Sources:

National Geographic- El Niño

National Geographic- La Niña

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association- What are El Niño and La Niña?

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association- Impacts of El Niño and La Niña on the hurricane season

The Science of Rewilding: Severson Dells Joins the Global Rewilding Alliance

ann@seversondells.org (Ann Wasser) — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:07:41 GMT

New Title

At Severson Dells Nature Center, we have always been deeply committed to nature conservation. From our educational programs to our Conservation Crew restoration days, our mission is to connect people to nature. Now, we are proud to announce a new step in that journey: Severson Dells Nature Center has officially joined the Global Rewilding Alliance .

But what exactly is "rewilding," and how does it align with our plans for Elliot Golf Course?

What Is Rewilding?

Rewilding is a conservation strategy aimed at restoring natural ecosystems to their wild states. The science behind rewilding focuses on using holistic solutions to remove barriers and reintroduce native species, restoring ecological processes, and allowing nature to reclaim its course. Rewilding supports the mass recovery of ecosystems and the life-supporting functions they provide.

Rewilding vs. Restoration

Rewilding, broadly defined as facilitating the development of self-sustaining, self-organizing and resilient ecosystems shaped by natural processes, differs from classical restoration in a few ways:

rewilding aims for minimal ongoing management in the long term;
it focuses on present and future ecosystem functioning and resilience, allowing the ecosystem to continually adapt and self-organize in response to environmental change

The Science Behind Rewilding

The core scientific principle behind rewilding is the restoration of ecosystems by reintroducing diverse native species and enabling natural processes, such as plant succession, and water cycles, to function as they once did. By doing so, rewilding addresses the biodiversity crisis while also offering a nature-based solution to climate change.

Rewilding and Climate Change

Beyond biodiversity, rewilding offers climate benefits. Restored ecosystems—especially forests, wetlands, and grasslands—act as carbon sinks, absorbing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Furthermore, resilient ecosystems are better equipped to withstand the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events, droughts, and floods. Rewilding can also restore degraded landscapes that have lost their ecological functionality, turning barren lands into thriving ecosystems that provide clean air, water, and habitat for countless species, including humans.

Severson Dells Nature Center and the Global Rewilding Alliance

By joining the Global Rewilding Alliance , Severson Dells Nature Center is connecting with a global network of organizations committed to rewilding projects. This partnership allows us to collaborate on best practices, share scientific data, and contribute to global initiatives that are restoring ecosystems worldwide.

For us, this step is more than a symbolic gesture; it represents a concrete commitment to rewilding efforts as we restore the Elliot property . Through the rewilding of native prairie, oak savanna and wetland ecosystems, the removal of invasive species, and the promotion of biodiversity, we aim to ensure that the landscapes at Elliot property thrive in perpetuity.

Our Rewilding Plans

Severson Dells, rewilding plans are already underway. Before we purchased Elliot Golf Course from the Rockford Park District, we worked with them to establish an agriculture lease on the property. The use of conventional agriculture on the property is the most efficient way to remove the turf grass and flush the weed seed bank that has accumulated over time. The process will allow us to begin seeding the native prairie in clean soil and reduce the need to fight turf grass and invasive weeds long-term.

Joining the Global Rewilding Alliance will help us learn from other organizations' efforts and contribute our lessons learned as we go through the process. Some exciting projects include:

Native Prairies : By restoring parts of the property into wet (mesic) prairie and dry prairie, we are able to provide high quality habitat for pollinators and ground nesting birds. We are especially excited to restore the old golf course sand traps into sandhill prairie patches.

Restoring Oak Savannas : Once abundant across the Midwest, oak savannas are now one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. We are working to restore these habitats, benefiting countless species, from migratory birds to native wildflowers.

Waterway Rewilding : Our work in riparian restoration will daylight the creek to improve water quality and reintroduce native plant species along riverbanks, benefiting aquatic life, improving flood resilience and regional stormwater management. We are looking forward to seeing the diversity of waterfowl this restoration will support. Sandhill cranes have already been observed on the property and we are hopeful that they will be more regular visitors and in greater numbers. If we’re lucky, maybe Whooping cranes will follow their lead.

What Rewilding Means for Our Community

Our rewilding efforts aren’t just about restoring the landscape—they’re also about reconnecting our community with nature. We believe that by helping ecosystems recover, we are also helping people rediscover the joy and wonder of wild places. Severson Dells staff look forward to developing education programs and volunteer opportunities specific to the work happening at Elliot to involve the public in rewilding, fostering a sense of ownership and stewardship.

We also understand that rewilding involves a shift in thinking. It’s about allowing nature to take the lead, trusting the resilience of ecosystems to heal when given the opportunity. It requires patience, long-term vision, and a willingness to embrace a level of uncertainty, as the outcomes of rewilding are not always immediately apparent but profoundly transformative over time.

Looking Ahead

Joining the Global Rewilding Alliance is a great opportunity for Severson Dells Nature Center to be a part of international conservation efforts and a professional learning community, so we can be utilizing current best practices. As we look ahead, we are excited to deepen our involvement in global rewilding initiatives while making a local impact. Together with our community, we are committed to creating a future where nature thrives.

We invite you to join us in this journey. Whether through participating in our restoration efforts when we get started, attending educational programs, or donating to support the restoration, you can be a part of the rewilding movement here in our corner of the world.

Rewilding isn’t just about saving nature—it’s about saving ourselves, by restoring the wild, resilient ecosystems that make life on Earth possible. Together with the Global Rewilding Alliance and a broad range of supporters, we will make this vision a reality.

November Bird Blog

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 19:58:03 GMT

Shorter days and longer nights bring with them cold winds and the chance of snow. Though this change in the weather has driven away most of our summer time friends it brings in a whole new enclave of birds. Because even though we think our winters are quite cold, they are nothing compared to the frigid areas of Canada and the arctic whose intense winters actually push their species further south into the great lakes area. So we will be exploring several species that have decided to stick around our parts

Bufflehead

Bucephala albeola

It gets its name from its bulbous cranium with “bufflehead” being a combination of the words “buffalo” and “head”; as their heads share a similar shape to the large American mammal. Their large heads are often made even larger by the males who will puff out their feathers. The large head of the bird is quite comical given that it is the second smallest species of duck in North America, with only the green-winged teal being smaller. Only weighing about 1 to 1 1⁄2 pounds and having a wingspan of less than two feet, no one could blame you if you missed while out birding. Like most other ducks they show clear differences in color between the sexes. Females are drab with a gray underbelly and breast, a dark brown-black back and head, complemented by white splotch on their cheeks. Males have their wings and undersides covered in snow-white feathers and have a black back. Their large heads are iridescent purple and green and have the same white splotch as the females but larger, wrapping around the back of the head. Both sexes possess a solid white speculum on the wings. . Though since it isn’t breeding season expect the males to be less colorful. Buffleheads are in the family of waterfowl known as “sea ducks” which is quite funny because the preferred habitat isn't the sea at all but actually forest wetlands, making them more similar to wood ducks in behavior. The best place to spot them while they are in Rockford would be along the forested edges of the Kishwaukee and Rock rivers or in the lakes and ponds of your local forest preserves. Males and females have different calls with males quelling and growling but the females make a cuk-cuk-cuk call.

Pine Siskin

Spinus pinus

This species belongs to the family of birds that includes finches, grosbeaks, and Hawaiian honeycreepers; thus they share quite a few similarities with several other local species. Most notable the siskin is a similar size to the American goldfinch, making it quite small. They are a good example of a LBB, little brown bird, since both males and females are overall tan in color with brown flecks peppered throughout. The only real color comes from the black and pastel yellow color on their wings. They spend their summers breeding in the large pine forest of canada and alaska but with the onset of colder weather will begin to move south. During migration they form very large groups with them being easy to identify thanks to their high-pitched, elongated zreeeeeeet call . When they spend their winters here their habitat becomes more varied as they won't just stick to pine forests but will branch out to live in deciduous forest, grasslands, and backyards. These birds are a common sight as they will form large groups around good food sources. To increase your chances at spotting one it's best to put out a feeder filled with thistle or millet.

Mute Swan

Cygnus olor

This bird often triggers images of beautiful gardens, elegant princesses, and artistic ballet. However, in her in the United States it would only trigger thoughts of INVASION, because the mute swan isn’t a native species but instead was brought over from Europe in the late 1800s due to their beauty. This beauty comes from their solid white bodies, save from the tannish discoloration present on the upper neck and head which is caused by iron and rooting plant matter staining it. The face is covered in a black mask and ends with a bright orange bill which possesses a distinctive knob. Hard to miss due to their large size, the mute swan is one of the heaviest flying birds currently living on earth at around 25 - 30 pounds. On land they stand taller than other large waterfowl, such as canada geese, as they can reach height up to 5 ft. This size makes them easy to spot on their preferred habitats which in the USA are mainly manmade lakes and other bodies of water near people. The US population also does not migrate meaning that you can see them throughout the whole year. As you might be able to tell from their name, these birds are not very vocal but they aren't truly mute. The sound you are most likely to hear would be an aggressive hiss or a territorial call that sounds like a muffled trumpet . The types of calls they make allude to why they are so problematic, that being that they are very aggressive. They are quick to attack native waterfowl species that venture to close, often drowning them or beating them to death with their wings. This has reduced the population of certain species in where they take up residence. Several land management agencies have tried to control population but have been stopped due to the popularity of the bird amongst the general public and other special interest groups.

Northern harrier

Circus hudsonius

Harriers are not spoken about as much as other birds of prey such as hawks, eagles, owls, and falcons; but that doesn’t make them any less interesting than their cousins. This might be attributed to the fact that the northern harrier is the only species native to the United States. They are open land specialists who spend their summers living on the tundra, grasslands, and marshes of Canada and Alaska before migrating south to the prairies and wetlands of Mexico and the continental USA. Though here in Rockford we are lucky enough to have them present year around. Overall they are medium sized birds with long, broad wings and long tails Unlike most other medium to large birds of prey this species is sexually dimorphic in plumage. Males are overall gray in color with black edges on the wings and tails. Females are pale brown to white in the body with dark brown head, back and wings. The brown parts of the body have white streaking across the body. The best places to view them in Rockford would be to keep your eyes on the prairies and crop fields where you might see them flying low across the areas looking for small mammals. Their calls are higher-pitched kek notes used when they feel threatened, coupled with the occasional scream.

Northern hawk Owl

Surnia ulula

A solitary hunter of rodents in the cold forests of Canada, Alaska, and Eurasia; the northern hawk owl is a rare sight here in Winnebago County. Occasionally young birds will disperse into the northern United States and from their parents' territories in their natural range; similar to what happens in snowy owls, especially when the winters become too harsh further north. They are on the smaller size of North American owls being larger than the screech but smaller than the barred. They have an oval-shaped body with a long tail. They are overall off-white in coloration. Their breast, tail, and wings have brown bars with two especially thick ones being present on the upper breast and neck. The backsides of the bird are chocolate brown with white speckles. The head is quite gray with two black borders around the facial disk and plays host to two bright yellow eyes. These birds are quite easy to spot as unlike other owls they show little fear for humans and, more importantly, they are active during the day. These use their large eyes to locate small rodents from up to half a mile away. Different sexes employ different calls in different contexts. When perching at a possible nest site, the male typically makes a sound like tu-wita-wit, tiwita-tu-wita, wita, and rolls his whistle to attract a partner. Typically, the female calls with greater shrillness and less consistency. The northern hawk-owl makes a sound like "rike, rike, rike, rike" to warn of impending danger.

Introducing Sydney

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 20:44:16 GMT

Hello everyone! My name is Sydney Sherbitsky (she/her) and I am excited to join the Severson Dells team as an Environmental Education AmeriCorps member! I’m from Long Island, New York, so I am looking forward to experiencing the beauty of the Midwest and its changing seasons for the first time.

I graduated this past spring from Stony Brook University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies as well as minors in coastal studies and urban planning. My studies have allowed me to deepen my experiences in the natural world where I studied abroad in Ecuador, led the Stony Brook Environmental Club, and conducted ecotoxicology research.

My curiosity for nature began at a young age, with my family frequently visiting local parks and nature centers. This early spark carried into young adulthood, where I took a high school hands-on environmental science class that explained environmental complexities I could observe outside and fueled my passion to pursue an environmental career.

As an environmental educator, I believe that people can’t care about what they don’t know about, so I’m excited to help bridge that gap and ignite new curiosity for the natural world in others.

While I am in the Midwest I would like to explore the many conservation areas nearby, but when I’m not at Severson Dells or hiking you can find me catching up with friends and family, embroidering, painting, or reading.

I look forward to learning with you all soon!

The Importance of Spiders

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 21:27:47 GMT

While most people are scared of spiders, spiders are more afraid of humans. People will claim that spiders are scary and will bite you, but the truth is, they’re helping you more than they’re doing any harm. Spiders play a very crucial role in the food chain: they are the link between other insects, such as flies and mosquitos, to small mammals, such as birds and amphibians. This means that spiders are both prey and predator, so they are an essential part of the food chain. Although spiders tend to be forgotten about when discussing the ecosystem, they still are of great importance to humans.

Spiders are small, light creatures, and they are incredible hunters. Most spiders have eight eyes, which allows them to have a keen sense of motion in almost 360 degrees. However, spiders rely on their other senses more than their vision, primarily touch, smell, and taste. Spiders have an extensive array of sensory organs and appendages situated throughout their pedipalps (the second set of appendages located next to their mouth) and their legs. Pedipalps are flexible joints that are covered with short hairs, these are sensory hairs and they allow spiders to touch and taste things. Their bodies are covered in tiny hairs and slits, which can sense vibration as well as the direction the vibration is coming from. These hairs and slits are extremely sensitive, to the point that spiders can identify what type of insect is on their web just from the different vibration patterns. Spiders are considered generalist predators , meaning they eat a wide variety of prey, not just certain species. A spider's diet primarily consists of insects, making them extremely helpful creatures when it comes to pest elimination and population control; many people consider having a spider in their garden to be useful because it stops annoying pests from eating their plants.

Spiders are unique and beneficial creatures because of their silk production. Spiders make their webs out of silk, which is a useful material due to its strength properties. Silk is extremely flexible and can withstand high stresses, making it a very useful textile material for clothing, ropes, nets, bandages, and so much more. While humans have many uses for silk, the spider's use of it is by far the most interesting. Spiders produce silk and then weave it into a web, which the spider then uses as its habitat. Webs do more than just protect spiders from the elements, they also act as a catch-and-trap system for other resources such as food and water. Spiders use their weaving skills and the durability of their web to trap and entangle their prey, making it almost impossible for them to release and ultimately suffocating them to death. Silk has a high porosity, meaning spider webs can collect water droplets as they fall from the sky or neighboring plants. Silk can shift its fiber structure in the presence of humidity, allowing the falling raindrops to adhere to it, and travel along the smooth strands of the web; where it will bubble and stay until the spiders decide to collect and drink it. Spider webs are great bioindicators of air pollution and heavy metal seepage because of the silks' highly absorptive properties.

Silk isn’t the only useful material that comes from spiders. Spiders also produce a very intriguing kind of venom , which can be used for more than just a defense mechanism. Spider venom contains proteins and polypeptides, meaning it can modulate channel ions, which is very helpful in the medical field, as these peptides have proven to provide antimicrobial and neuroprotective effects for humans. Studies from the National Library of Medicine have proved that biotoxins have antitumor potential; when peptides are separated from the venom they can “impair tumor cell membrane, inhibit cancer cell growth, or induce apoptosis”. This is extremely beneficial when it comes to treating cancerous tumors, cells, and chronic pain. Spider venom has been used in pharmaceutical production for many years; due to its potency, accurate target detection, and fast-acting capabilities. The venom is already an active ingredient in some medications used for strokes, cancer, pain, erectile dysfunction, epilepsy, and high blood pressure. As more research is done, we may discover that spider venom might have more benefits and uses than we currently know about.

Now that you’re aware of how important and helpful spiders are to humans and the environment, the next time you see a spider in your house, think of moving it outside instead of killing it. Think of all the benefits the spider could provide for you or a loved one as you’re relocating it. Remind yourself how spiders are equipped with unique venom and silk, how much they can tell us about the health and management of the environment they live in, and how helpful they are to humans. Spiders are essential creatures, so let's treat them like they are and give them the respect they deserve!

Sources:

Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology. “Smithsonian Learning Lab Collection: Smithsonian in Your Classroom: "Under the Spell of ...Spiders!".” Smithsonian Learning Lab, Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology, 20 Jul. 2016, https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/RbTjJfyet3B6ru3d

Admin. “The Many Benefits of Spiders.” Southern Pest Control, 18 Oct. 2022, www.southernpestcontrol.com/the-many-benefits-of-spiders/#:~:text=They%20are%20important%20not%20only,enriches%20it%20with%20vital%20nutrients.

Laviopierre, Frederique. “Garden Allies: Wandering and Hunting Spiders.” Pacific Horticulture, 10 May 2024, pacifichorticulture.org/articles/wandering-and-hunting-spiders/.

Wu, Ting, et al. “Spider Venom Peptides as Potential Drug Candidates Due to Their Anticancer and Antinociceptive Activities.” The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 3 June 2019, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6551028/.

All About Nuts

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 11:00:01 GMT

Trees like hickories, walnuts, and oaks produce various kinds of nuts, which are the trees' mast. “Mast” is the botanical term for the food that trees and shrubs produce, which is stored and eaten by wildlife. While trees produce mast annually, certain years, known as "mast years," see an exceptional abundance of nuts. These mast years occur irregularly, around every 2–5 years, and the forest floor becomes carpeted with nuts. This overproduction plays a vital role in forest regeneration. By overwhelming the animals that feed on these nuts, trees ensure that some nuts escape consumption, allowing them to germinate into new saplings. If trees produced only a small number of nuts each year, most would be consumed, leaving no seeds to develop into the next generation of trees. However, this event does not come without cost. Producing nuts in such large quantities requires significant energy, so trees have to conserve their resources, saving up for these occasional mast years.

What’s most fascinating about mast years is their synchrony. Even though each tree is an individual being, with individual energy reserves, they all mast at the same time. To quote Robin Wall Kimmerer, “If one tree fruits, they all fruit—there are no soloists. Not one tree in a grove, but the whole grove; not one grove in the forest, but every grove; all across the county and all across the state. The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective.” In Northern Illinois, our most recent mast year was 2023, meaning that this year we can expect fewer nuts compared to last.

Something I admire about nuts is their subtle presence in nature. Unlike the vibrant colors and fragrant aromas of summer fruits, nuts don't demand our attention. Instead, they remain patiently in the background, protected by tough shells and husks, patiently waiting for their time to come. They're prepared for the season ahead, and are designed to endure winter conditions—they store well and are packed with protein and fats, essential nutrients when resources are scarce. They're a lifesource for many animals in our region, and have been one for people, too. Nuts have significant importance both biologically and culturally, and to honor that, we are going to do a deep dive into three nuts that you’re probably beginning to see around: the hickory, the walnut, and, of course, the acorn.

Walnut :

Hickory:

Acorn:

Sources:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

USDA Plant Database: https://plants.usda.gov/home

Introducing Shannon

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:04:29 GMT

Hello! My name is Shannon (she/her/hers) and this is my first year serving as an AmeriCorps Environmental Educator here at Severson Dells! I am from Poplar Grove, IL and have spent most of my childhood exploring familiar Stateline attractions.

In Summer 2023, I graduated from Iowa State University with my bachelors degree in Geology and a minor in Environmental Studies. I’ve spent the past year exploring the United States and trying to see as much as I can (37/50 states, and counting). I’m looking forward to applying my education and travel experiences towards teaching the community.

Since a young age, I have always had a great passion for nature and the great outdoors. Some of my earliest memories as a child are being at Rock Cut State Park, either fishing or floating on a kayak in the middle of the lake. I love going on road trips and I am always down for an adventure!

In my free time you can find me watching movies, hiking with my dog, at concerts, or nerding out on rocks.

I’m grateful to be a new AmeriCorps member at Severson Dells and I can’t wait to see what I accomplish in my time here!

Composting 101

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:04:02 GMT

It is the worst-kept secret that we are making too much waste. The two main landfills that Winnebago County uses, Orchard Hills and Winnebago, have life expectancies of six and sixteen years respectively. There are currently no plans to expand these landfills, which is a process that can take around twenty years. This means that it is on us to reduce the amount of waste we are sending to our landfills before they fill up. Around 60% of the residential waste that is produced in Winnebago County is organic waste, which means that it comes from something that was once alive. Thankfully, nature has a way of recycling organic waste that we can learn from. It's called composting!

Composting is the process of turning organic material into fertile soil. Composting works by balancing the inputs and altering the conditions of a compost pile to promote the growth of certain types of organisms called decomposers. There are two types of decomposers: physical decomposers and chemical decomposers. Physical decomposers are animals like worms and millipedes that break down dead material by grinding or chewing. Chemical decomposers are bacteria that produce chemicals to break down small organic matter into even simpler components.

The process of composting involves controlling the conditions of the pile to select what decomposers are present. Creating compost is all about balance, and there are two main factors that must be balanced in order to make compost: the ratio of carbon to nitrogen and the ratio and the amount of air and water.

All living things contain both carbon and nitrogen which means that all dead things do too. However, different compostable materials contain different ratios of carbon to nitrogen. “Browns,” for example, are carbon rich with a roughly 50:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen. Browns are dry plant material that has been usually dead for longer, including dead leaves, straw, woodchips, and even paper. “Greens”have a much higher portion of nitrogen than browns with only about a 15:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio. Greens include plant material that was alive a lot more recently like vegetables, grass clippings, and coffee grounds. Using roughly twice the amount of Browns to Greens by weight will produce an optimal ratio of carbon to nitrogen for the decomposers to flourish and make the finished product a great fertilizer for plants. In most home composting setups meat can not be composted because the pile does not get hot enough and it can attract large animals; however, some large scale composting techniques can be used to compost meat.

It is very important to create a balance between air and water in the compost pile to ensure that the compost pile has the right kind of decomposers. Bacteria can be grouped based on if they need oxygen to breathe or not. Bacteria that need oxygen are called aerobic and ones that do not need oxygen are called anaerobic. Aerobic environments are favored for compost because aerobic bacteria break down organic matter faster and don’t do not produce odorous gasses like methane. In order to create an aerobic environment, it is important to occasionally turn a compost pile over to make sure it is loose enough to let air in. It is also important to find a sweet spot between too wet and too dry. The bacteria need moisture because water is required in cellular respiration. However, if there is too much water, it can create an anaerobic environment.

Composting benefits our environment in numerous ways when compared to landfill disposal. Composting has lower greenhouse gas emission, it has less odor, and it reduces our dependence on synthetic fertilizers. Landfills create around 15% of all human caused methane emissions . Methane is a greenhouse gas that is the second largest contributor to climate change. It is created in landfills by anaerobic bacteria called methanogens that produce methane as a byproduct of decomposition of organic matter that could be composted.

Anaerobic bacteria are also responsible for the bad odors associated with landfills and garbage. Sulfate reducing bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide as a byproduct of decomposition, which is the gas responsible for the rotten egg smell. While these odors do not have direct negative health impacts that we know of, they can have indirect health impacts by causing immense stress, nausea, and lack of sleep that can greatly increase your risk of other health disorders. The aerobic bacteria in compost do not produce these gasses and thus it does not smell bad!

The best benefit of composting is that it creates an organic fertilizer that can be used in gardens and on farms. Producing compost reduces our dependence on synthetic fertilizers that cause environmental problems like eutrophication in wetlands, lakes, ponds, streams, and oceans.Composting is an essential part of natural farming and has been used for thousands of years.

Composting your organic household waste can be easy if you have the time and space; however, a lot of us don't have the space, time, or energy to set up a compost pile. This is where community composting organizations can help. The organizations collect people’s compostable waste and turn into compost at a larger scale. Here at Severson Dells, we have recently partnered with a new community composting organization right here in Rockford called Nettle Curbside compost. Nettle comes and picks up the food scraps from our field trips and other events like Golden Hour in the Grove that produce too much food waste for us to compost ourselves. Nettle even offers curbside compost pickup for household residences! If you are in the Rockford area looking for a way to lower your carbon footprint and send less to the landfill, check out our friends at Nettle to see if they can take your waste and turn it into soil.

https://www.nettlecompost.com/

Sources:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54f7d1eee4b056cf8def292a/t/62ebd97b4af6c371eb8c5167/1659623829221/20221304R1_SW_PlanDraft_V1.2.pdf

https://www.globalmethane.org/documents/gmi-mitigation-factsheet.pdf

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/landfill/html/ch3.html

https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/composting

Introducing Rowan

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 14:45:41 GMT

Hello! My name is Rowan Mermel, and I am joining the Severson Dells team as a community science AmeriCorps member!

I graduated this May from Beloit College with a Biology degree and a capstone in ecotoxicology. This is my second AmeriCorps term after working with the Natural Land Institute in the summer of 2023 as a Natural Resource AmeriCorps member. I also have experience working as an environmental educator and camp counselor at Farmers Rising in Caledonia.

I am passionate about community science because it gives us unique insights into our ecosystems, gets people out into nature, and empowers people to protect their environment. I am excited to work on Community Science projects with Severson Dells and partner organizations, and I hope to see you all collecting data!

Growing up in the Rockford area, Severson Dells has always been an important place to me. I fondly recall playing predator-prey games on field trips, hiking with my family, and exploring our watershed at canoe camp. I am honored and excited to have this opportunity to share these experiences and more with others in this community.

OAKtober

elly@seversondells.org (Elly Salazar) — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 21:22:58 GMT

October is full of celebrations! Many people are familiar with the Germany born celebration of Oktoberfest, a widely attended festival centered around food, beer, and culture , of which celebrated agriculture in the 19th century. But now, October is celebrated in a variety of ways! Sometimes it’s a one day local event, or a weekend with food trucks and music, but my favorite variation has come from the naturalist community in the form of “OAKtober fest”. This celebration is conservation forward encouraging the appreciation of oak trees and their indisputable ecological value.

Oak trees are a staple of the midwestern landscape often featured in photographs, paintings, and storytelling. Their sprawling branches and whimsical acorns contribute to their intrinsic beauty but they are also essential ecosystem builders. Oak trees support more fungi, birds, insects, and mammals than any other genus of tree in North America . This makes them a keystone species and they are imperative to the structure and balance of the ecosystem in almost any environment. There are over 90 species of Oak that call North America their home and over 20 species native to Illinois. Illinois’ state tree is actually the White Oak!

Unfortunately Oak trees are in decline due to climate change and habitat destruction. According to a report by the Morton Arboretum and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), roughly 31% of the world's Oak species are threatened with extinction. Many Oaks have already been lost and this level of degradation would be devastating. But hope is certainly not lost! The state of Illinois officially recognized the month of October as Oak Awareness Month in 2015. The goal of this designation is to honor the significance of these trees by spreading awareness and promoting OAKtober celebrations all across the state.

These celebrations have grown in both popularity and diversity since 2015. Some events focus heavily on the educational component introducing conservation practices and Oak identification while others may be more kid friendly with hikes, crafts, and games. The city of Glen Ellyn includes an Acorn toss and Acorn obstacle course in their celebration! Many of the gatherings also end in an Oak planting to signify the growth and resilience of the species. OAKtober programs have even spread past the borders of Illinois. My college in Iowa hosted an OAKtoberfest event during my junior year and it is still one of my favorite memories! There was a guided nature hike focused on the species and history of oaks on campus, an oak leaf craft, and a Kombucha tasting. It was such a meaningful way to embrace the fall season and offer our respect to a well deserving species.

For a local celebration you can attend the Natural Land Institute's (NLI) OAKtober hike. Check out their website for more details! Participating in an OAKtober celebration is one of the many ways you can combat Oak decline and raise awareness for such incredible organisms. If you are unable to attend an OAKtober event there are other ways you can help! You can:

Preserve Oak saplings by joining a restoration work day focused on clearing the invasive species Buckthorn and Honeysuckle. Severson’s upcoming restoration work day is October 12th but there are many more in the area!
Read Doug Tallamy’s book ‘ The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees’ .
Communicate the importance of Oak trees to those around you and encourage them to join the conservation efforts.

OAKtober is a great way to highlight the importance of the amazing keystone species we are lucky enough to see here at Severson every day. But the fun doesn't have to stop at the end of the month! Oaks can be honored all year long for their intrinsic value as an essential part of the ecosystem and their magnificent presence. Next time you see one of our burly Oak friends, offer it thanks and a happy OAKtober!

How Climate Change is Making Hurricanes More Destructive

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:54:16 GMT

If you’ve been following the headlines—or even stepped outside and felt the wind this past weekend—you likely felt the power of Hurricane Helene. It made landfall on September 26, 2024, arriving as a Category 4 storm that slammed the Gulf Coast. While Helene slowly weakened as it moved northward, it left a trail of devastation across the Southeast, hitting states like Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas the hardest. The southern Appalachian region was especially affected, as communities faced relentless rain, flooding, landslides, and wind. The toll the storm has taken on communities is staggering. At least 200 lives have been lost, with many still unaccounted for, and more than a million people remain without power. The full scope of the damage is still unfolding, as rescue teams work tirelessly to reach isolated areas. Hurricane Helene, however, is more than just a statistic. It is a glimpse into what future hurricanes may continue to look like, as climate change continues to intensify storms with each passing season. It's a reminder that climate change is not a problem 'over there' - it is happening here, now, and affecting us all. As we continue to watch aftermath of tis disaster unfold, I can't help but to remember the quote that "climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you're the one filming it."

Simply stated, climate change is making hurricanes more destructive now than they were in the past. Although the number of hurricanes we experience each year isn't necessarily increasing, their intensity is. The hurricanes we see today are often stronger and more devastating than those of the past. In fact, researchers have found that the proportion of major hurricanes (Category 3 or above) in the Atlantic has nearly doubled since 1980 . This trend is driven by rising ocean and atmospheric temperatures, as well as higher sea levels—all of which are consequences of climate change.

Warm oceans fuel hurricanes, and the oceans are heating up. Human-caused climate change has trapped enormous amounts of extra heat on the planet, and over 90% of that heat has been absorbed into the ocean. The Atlantic waters, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, are getting warmer, creating the perfect conditions for storms to grow. As hurricanes move across these warmer waters, they absorb more heat and moisture. This extra energy supercharges the storm, leading to stronger winds, heavier rainfall, and increased flooding when it makes landfall.

It’s not just the oceans heating up. The atmosphere is also warming, and that plays a major role in the changing behavior of hurricanes. Think of heating up a pot of water on the stove. Once the liquid water becomes hot enough, it boils and creates steam (or hot water vapor), and evaporates into the air. A similar process happens at Earth’s surface. As surface temperatures rise, more liquid water evaporates from the land and ocean. The warmer the air, the more water vapor it can hold. So as global temperatures rise, the air becomes more saturated with water molecules. This excess moisture often turns into torrential downpours during hurricanes. In the case of Hurricane Helene, much of the flooding in Appalachia was exacerbated by unusually heavy rainfall that preceded the hurricane. The already saturated ground could not absorb anymore water, resulting in flooding far beyond what we’ve seen in previous decades.

Another key factor is the jet stream, which has been slowing down due to climate change. The jet stream is a fast-flowing air current that helps guide weather systems. As it slows, hurricanes are lingering longer over certain areas, rather than quickly moving on. This means storms are not only more intense, but also more stationary, causing them to dump significantly more rain on the same region. Studies suggest that these slower-moving storms can unleash up to twice as much rain as they did just a few decades ago. We saw this with Hurricane Helene, which lingered over parts of the Southeast, leading to prolonged flooding and destruction.

Storm surges are also rising and becoming more dangerous during hurricanes. A storm surge occurs when the sea level rises far beyond normal high tide. Rising sea levels, another effect of climate change, are pushing water farther inland during hurricane-related storm surges than before. In the last century, sea levels along the U.S. coast have risen by about a foot. This may not sound like much, but when combined with the power of a hurricane, that extra foot of water can inundate coastal areas, destroying homes, infrastructure, and entire communities. During storms like Hurricane Helene, these surges can be catastrophic, contributing to the extensive flooding and damage along the Gulf Coast.

As we reflect on the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, it's clear that climate change is no longer a distant threat—it's here, and it's reshaping the world we live in. The science shows that rising temperatures, both in the ocean and the atmosphere, are making hurricanes more intense and more destructive. While we may not be able to prevent hurricanes, understanding the link between climate change and these extreme weather events is crucial to preparing for the future. It's not just about adapting to stronger storms, but also addressing the root causes of climate change to protect our communities from even greater destruction in the years to come.

How to Help:

Hurricane Helene is already shaping up to be one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. History. If you wish to contribute to relief funds, here are some options. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has said that giving money is better than donating materials, that way organizations on the ground can put financial contributions to use where they are needed most. The agency also recommended making a donation to trusted organizations.

For those unsure where to donate, Charity Navigator rates charities based on their cost effectiveness and efficiency. Otherwise, here are some good places to start:

North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: https://pay.payitgov.com/ncdonations

North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund : https://pay.payitgov.com/ncdonations

Florida Disaster Relief Fund : https://www.volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf/

Send Relief: https://www.sendrelief.org/projects/hurricane-helene/

Americares: https:///my.americares.org/give/623680#!/donation/checkout

American Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org/donate/dr/hurricane-helene.html/

References:

Mortality caused by tropical cyclones in the United States Peer Reviewed Study by Young et al. Published in Nature.

Recent intense hurricane response to global climate change Peer Reviewed Study by Holland et al. Published in Climate Dynamics.

Hurricane stalling along the North American coast and implications for rainfall Peer Reviewed Study by Hall et al. Published in Nature.

How climate change makes hurricanes more destructive published by the Environmental Defense Fund

A force of nature: hurricanes in a changing climate published by NASA

How to help victims of Hurricane Helene : an article by the New York Times

October Bird Blog

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 11:00:03 GMT

As almost every avid birder and hunter knows, October is the month of waterfowl. This is because it's around this time of the year where a majority of the species of ducks, geese, and swans begin to leave their breeding grounds in the northern latitudes for places warmer in the southern latitudes. Illinois is a great locale to witness this as we not only sit directly in between the lush breeding grounds of Canada and the Gulf Coast, but we are also a part of the great Mississippi flyway which is host to some of the largest waterfowl migrations in the world. This is coupled with the fact that Rockford specifically is still relatively close to the Great Lakes, which serve as an important stopover for most species. Fall migration is even larger than the spring migration since the flocks of birds are flush with the young birds on their first migrations. So you can count this blog as a waterfowl special as all of the birds we will be covering this time are gonna be waterfowl you might catch flying overhead or spending time at your local water body.

Hooded Merganser

Lophodytes cucullatus

Fall is a great time to catch a glimpse of this species of duck because unlike the other species on this list we actually have a year-round resident population of hooded mergansers. Come fall the migratory populations of Canada begin to pass down which drastically increases the number of birds present here. They are the smallest species of merganser in the United States and the second smallest in the entire world; only about 1 - 2 pounds in weight and having a 2-foot wingspan. Like all other mergansers they are piscivorous, meaning they eat fish, to help with this diet their beaks aren't very duck-like but instead are skinny, serrated and end in a hook. Males are ornate and strikingly patterned, they have a black body, white veins on their wing feathers, reddish brown flanks, and white breast feathers. Females are brown over most of their body though the breast is lighter than the flank and head. Their wings and back are a more gray-brown color. Both sexes have head crests, giving them their “hooded” title, the crests of the males are black but have huge white patches on both sides and the female’s crest is a reddish-brown. The wing speculum of the species is white and black, like an inside-out Oreo. Mergansers are a common sight in small ponds and rivers as they are filled with minnows and crayfish, so areas such as the rock and kish tributaries and the ponds of local municipal parks would be good places to look for them. Although they are usually silent, hooded mergansers make noises during courtship and near their nests. When a male is pursuing, it produces a deep, rolling sound similar to a pickerel frog's call, which gives it the Georgian nickname "frog-duck." When courting, females make a hoarse gack call. The rough croo-croo-crook that females use to call to newly hatched ducklings or while in flight is akin to that of many sea ducks.

Northern Shoveler

Spatula clypeata

The first and only dabbling duck, a duck that tips over and places its head into the water and it's rump up, we’ll be covering today. Its dabbling prowess is brought upon by its distinctive large, spoon-shaped bill. They have long, thick bristles along the protrusion on the bill that let them easily filter through the water for aquatic seeds and tiny crustaceans. Females look similar to a wide variety of other female dabbling ducks such as the mallard, black duck, and mottled duck. The only real difference to tell them apart from the females of the other species is the bill shape and the blue pastel blue, white, and green patterning on the wing. Males have a blocky coloration pattern with the head being iridescent green, the body being white, the flanks reddish-brown,and the wings, back and rump being a dark brown-black color. Males have a black bill, unlike the female’s yellow one but they still possess the same wing coloration. During the fall and winter months Wildlife Refuges and state parks are an excellent location to search for Northern Shovelers during their migration. Search the edges of shallow water for flocks of ducks that are concentrating on their feeding. You might also find them in smaller, murkier pools of water because they prefer to use stagnant pools of water. Their call is quite quiet and is a raspy “took-took” that is said in quick succession. Females let out a mallard-like quack, but are more raspy .

Red-breasted Merganser

Mergus serrator

Its name in Latin translates to water bird sawyer. Clearly, the forest part of its name comes from the fact that like all other ducks the merganser is most at home in the water, specifically it loves large lakes and the coastlines. The second part of its name comes from its bill which is similar in shape and function to that of the hooded merganser with it being thin and hooked. However, the serrated teeth-like protrusion on the bill are more numerous and distinct on the red-breasted, giving the appearance of a woodman’s saw. Surprisingly even though both sexes look distinct, both are quite colorful. Males have a strange assortment of colors and patterns. Firstly their heads are jet black save for their bright red eyes and bill; possessing a scraggly crest of feathers. Under the head is a white collar around the neck and the titular red breast. Their back and wings are jet black save for a white tripe located on the flight feathers. The flanks of the bird are a mottled black, gray, and white like that of a scaup or ring-necked duck. Females have a red-brown head with matching crest and the same red bill as the males but lack the red eyes. The rest of their body is a mottled gray. Of the five birds covered today, this species will be the hardest to get your binoculars on as they don't spend much time here only stopping over to sleep, drink, and eat as a recharge on time journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Your best bet might be to travel outside of Rockford to the Chicago area to catch them on Lake Michigan or test your luck at one of the local wetlands. Males meow like cats while females make a raspy or croaking noise. Females grunt harshly when in flight. Red-breasted Mergansers are usually silent otherwise.

Canvasback

Aythya valisineria

Holding the title of the largest diving duck in North America is the canvasback. They spend the migration and winter in large lakes and coastal waters where they can dive deep underwater to forage for their favorite foods, the roots and tubers of aquatic plants. The first thing you would notice about the canvasback is its unusual head shape which results from their foreheads having a heavy slope which blends into the sloping shape of the bill. The second noticeable feature would be the coloration of their bodies and wings which in males is a snow white and in females is a more gray or off-white coloration, giving the birds the appearance of a clean artistic canvas. Males have a black rump and breast while their head and neck is a reddish brown color. Females have a brown head and a more pastel or pale black on the breast and rump. Both sexes have a gray speculum on the wing though the eyes of the male are blood red while the females are black. Even though canvasbacks live through the entirety of North America the largest migrating population fly through the Mississippi flyway, giving you excellent opportunities to spot these birds at locations such as the Nygren and Pecatonica wetlands. Most of the time, canvasbacks are silent. When other Canvasbacks approach a feeding area, nonbreeding birds let out a wheezing call. Occasionally, females quack as they take off . Canvasbacks were once considered an aristocrat's delicacy with many banquets across the 1800s featuring the duck in their menus, as the wild celery that they ate gave them a sophisticated flavor.

Ruddy Duck

Oxyura jamaicensis

They are the only member of the stiff-tailed duck family that is native to North America, living across the continental USA, Southern Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Like all other members of their family, the Ruddy ducks have long brittle tails features that make the tails stand erect while walking and swimming. This feature is the easiest way to tell them apart from all other local ducks. Ruddies are compact and stout only having an 18-inch wingspan and weighting a little over 1 lb. Males have a striking bright blue bill and a head that is white on the for end and cheeks but black on the backside and around the eyes. Their bodies are a chestnut brown with a gray-brown breast that resembles a granite countertop. Females have a brown-gray coloration throughout the body except for light off-white areas on the cheek. They do not have the blue bill but instead have a black one in which a brown strip erupts from; passing under the eye. Typically, Ruddy Ducks don't say much. The female hisses when threatened and uses a high-pitched cry to drive off lustful males in addition to her nasal call to attract her brood. The male makes a single call during courting displays that resembles a belch . To steal a peek at this spectacular species look for marshy and muddy ponds or lakes as these provide them with the most food and cover. Interestingly these birds show us a case of an American species being moved overseas and becoming invasive. They escaped from captive populations across the UK and Europe and threatened the existence of the endangered white-headed duck which they dominate and interbreed with.

Alex's Farewell

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 20:04:05 GMT

I want to close out this final blog with a quote from Thomas Fuller “If thou hast knowledge, let others light their candle at thine.”

K nowledge is like a candle, lighting another candle doesn’t diminish the first one but spreads the heat and light to reach farther. Everyone at Severson had their own candles of knowledge that they happily shared with me out of kindness and I appreciate them all greatly for it. Thank you to everyone at Severson for sharing your knowledge with me. I hope to light up every future place I go to with my own candle.

Thanks you all truly from the bottom of my heart, I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful group of people to spend my time with!

The Surprising Health Benefits of Time Spent in the Forest

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 20:38:23 GMT

There is a quote by Franz Kafka that has always resonated deeply with me where he states “I don't feel particularly proud of myself. But when I walk alone in the woods or lie in the meadows, all is well.” This sentiment encapsulates a profound connection that I’ve felt with nature throughout my life, a connection that has guided many of my choices and shaped the path I’ve walked. My first experience of this solace came during a childhood trip deep into the wilderness of Quetico, Canada. At just 9 or 10 years old, I spent a few weeks camping among ancient trees and pristine lakes, feeling a sense of peace that I couldn’t fully articulate at the time—a quiet tranquility that only the forest could offer. As I’ve grown older and spent more time in the wilderness, this feeling has become more than just a fleeting moment of mindfulness. It has become a central aspect of my well-being, something I actively seek out. The forest, I’ve found, offers a kind of therapy that every day life often lacks. It transforms my mental space, and after periods of time spent in the wilderness, I come back and find myself changed. This connection to the natural world has driven my curiosity to understand the science behind why time spent in nature, particularly in forests, has such a profound impact on mental and physical health.

For centuries, people have sought comfort and renewal in nature. However, the practice known as "forest bathing"—or Shinrin-yoku —is a relatively recent concept, emerging in Japan in the 1980s as a response to the mounting stress and physical strain caused by the technological revolution. Unlike simply spending time outdoors, forest bathing is a mindfulness practice that involves a deliberate, immersive experience with the sights, sounds, and scents of the forest. While it may initially seem like new-age fluff, the benefits are not just anecdotal—they are supported by a growing body of scientific research that underscores the transformative power of nature on the human body and mind.

Research over the past few decades has demonstrated that forest bathing offers a wide range of health benefits, from boosting the immune system and lowering blood pressure , to helping with depression . It can reduce stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline , helping to calm the body's fight-or-flight response. If those effects aren’t compelling enough, studies also indicate that forest bathing enhances human natural killer activity and the expression of anti-cancer proteins thanks to the inhalation of phytoncides—chemicals released by trees . In one study , a group of 12 men aged 37-55 spent three days practicing forest bathing in various forests. The results showed a remarkable 50 percent increase in natural killer cells—known for their ability to target tumor cells—as well as a rise in anti-cancer proteins like perforin, granzymes, and granulysin. These findings suggest that forest bathing could potentially have cancer-preventive effects through its immune-boosting properties, though further research is needed to fully understand this phenomenon.

The idea that forests can heal, however, is intuitive when you consider our evolutionary history. In the study of ecology we know that species are best adapted to the environments in which they have evolved. The fossil record shows that early humans, in various forms, have existed for approximately 2-6 million years, and for nearly all of that time, we thrived in close connection with nature. We evolved in forests, savannas, and along riverbanks, where our physiological and psychological systems were finely tuned to the rhythms of the natural world. It's only in the last few centuries that we’ve moved away from these natural settings into urban environments. The modern urban landscape—characterized by concrete, noise, and artificial lighting—is a relatively recent development that has rapidly evolved in contrast to our biological evolution, which is an incredibly slow process that requires thousands of years to take place. Physiological anthropology suggests that our physical and mental health is deeply intertwined with the environments we inhabit, and our bodies and minds, still hardwired for the natural world, can struggle to adapt to the sensory overload and isolation from nature that often accompanies modern life. In natural settings, such as forests, our bodies respond positively to the stimuli that align with our evolutionary past—the sun rise and set, the scent of trees, the sound of moving water or singing birds, and the visual complexity of natural landscapes. These elements trigger a relaxation response, lowering stress hormones, and enhancing immune function. More urban environments, with their lack of natural stimuli, often fail to provide the same benefits, and can actually disrupt our bodies most basic systems, such as our circadian rhythm and sympathetic nervous system

Forest bathing, then, can be seen as a way to reconnect with the environment we are biologically suited for. It allows us to reset our overstimulated systems and tap into the natural healing processes that have been part of our species’ survival for millennia. By immersing ourselves in the forest atmosphere, we are not just indulging in a pleasant experience—we are realigning ourselves with the conditions that our bodies and minds were designed to thrive in. As we continue to understand the science behind forest bathing, it is becoming increasingly clear that this practice is not just beneficial, but essential in a world where natural environments are becoming more scarce. It is a reminder that, despite the advances of modern society, our roots still lie deep within the natural environment.

The best part? Forest bathing is accessible to everyone—it can be practiced anytime, anywhere, and it doesn’t cost a thing. Here’s how to get started:

First, find a quiet spot surrounded by trees. The forest at Severson Dells is an excellent choice, but if you don’t have access to a forest, a park or even your backyard can offer a similar experience. A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that walking in a forest had a more significant impact on cardiovascular function than walking in an urban park—though both environments can help reduce stress levels.

Next, set aside some time. For the best results, researchers suggest spending 2-6 hours in the woods. If you’re pressed for time, don’t worry—even shorter intervals offer benefits. A 2019 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health showed that just 15 minutes of walking in the woods can reduce stress and anxiety.

As you begin, find a comfortable pace. Forest bathing isn’t about exercise, so move or sit in a way that feels natural and relaxing. Focus on slowing your breathing and heart rate. If you push yourself too hard, your body may produce more stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol—the very ones that forest bathing is meant to lower.

Practice mindfulness and take in surroundings. Take slow, deep breaths and inhale the scent of the surrounding trees. Make note of the sounds you're hearing and the sights you're seeing. Make forest bathing a regular practice, and over time, you’ll feel the lasting benefits of spending mindful time in nature.

References:

Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors by Franz Kafka

"Feeling Grumpy and Stressed? Try Taking a Forest Bath" by NPR's LifeKit Podcast

"A day trip to a forest park increases human natural killer activity and the expression of anti-cancer proteins in male subjects" - Peer reviewed study by Qing Li et al. published in the National Library of Medicine

"Effects of forest bathing on pre-hypertensive and hypertensive adults: a review of the literature" - Peer reviewed study by Katherine Ka-Yin Yau and Alice Yuen Loke published in the National Library of Medicine

"Effects of forest environment (Shinrin-yoku/Forest bathing) on health promotion and disease prevention -the Establishment of 'Forest Medicine'" - Peer reviewed study by Qing Li published in the National Library of Medicine

"Forest bathing enhances human natural killer activity and expression of anti-cancer proteins" - Peer reviewed study by Qing Li et al. published in the National Library of Medicine

Introduction to Human Evolution by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

"Forest Bathing Is Better than Walking in Urban Park: Comparison of Cardiac and Vascular Function between Urban and Forest Parks" - Peer reviewed Study by Tsung-Ming Tsao et al. published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

"Effects of Walking in a Forest on Young Women" - Peer reviewed study by Chorong Song et al. published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

September Bird Blog

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 00:30:00 GMT

Green-winged Teal

Anas Crecca or Anas Carolinensis

This is the smallest species of dabbling duck in North america. It is quite the beautiful little bird with males having a cinnamon colored head and a green crescent emerging from the eye. Their bodies are an overall gray with thin black and white mottles on the breast and a more solid gray-brown coloration on the wings. Females are more drab with an overall brown coloration reminiscent of the female mallard barring their yellow streak on the tail. Both sexes can be easily identified in flight as they possess their titular “green wings”, which is actually a green patch of flight feathers known as a speculum. More vegetarian than other ducks as most of their diet is focused on the aquatic seeds and leaves from plants such as pondweeds; with only occasional consumption of aquatic invertebrates. The green-winged teal doesn't spend a great deal of time in the area as they spend the breeding season across Alaska, Canada and the great lakes; while spending the winter months on vacation in the southern states, the west coast, and Mexico. As such we will mainly catch them appearing during their spring migration and their fall migration which often peaks in the month of September, meaning that this month is your best time to catch a glimpse of one. Unlike other waterfowl they prefer to live in shallow calm water associated with marches, ponds, and streams. But most important to their selection of habitat would be the presence of dense vegetation that offers them plenty of food and protective cover. So good locations spot one would be the wetlands at Nygren, Pecatonica, Ferguson, and Sugar River. Interestingly there is heavy debate in the scientific community over whether or not the green-winged teal is its own species or just an American subspecies of the Eurasian common teal. Their call is quite whistley .

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Aegolius acadicus

In my opinion this bird definitely holds the title of North America’s cutest bird of prey. It is a rather miniscule bird, being only 8 inches in height and having a two foot wingspan, making them relatively similar in size to the American Robin. To help camouflage in forest they are an overall brown color with a lighter tan belly and a few white spots across the back and wings. The round face of the owl plays host to a pair of large yellow eyes and a light colored “Y-shaped” mark between the eyes. They lack the ear tufts present on some other owls. A fun fact about their wings is that if you shine a UV light onto the underside they glow a bright neon pink. There is no visual difference between the two sexes. They’re small size and cute appearance hides the fact that they are voracious predators, specializing in eating small rodents such as deer mice. Unlike many other owls who swallow their prey whole, the saw-whet must shred them into pieces and one has to eat their prey over the course of two days. Most of the birds we are looking at in this month's blog are migratory and the northern saw-whet is no exception, but it is unique. This is because though the saw whet migrates it doesn't do so in a normal pattern. In fall some individuals will choose to move to lower altitudes or migrate south for the winter while others will choose to stay in their homes year round. But every 4 years an increasing number of individuals will migrate south for unknown reasons. In rockford we have both resident and migratory populations present being found in their preferred habitat of dense forests. Though they won't be hanging around your bird feeders you can attract them to your area by hanging up nest boxes in trees around your property. The appearance of these owls can be deduced from the sound of their interesting call .

Olive-sided Flycatcher

C ontopus cooperi

Another passerby like the teal, the only times we can regularly find the olive-sided flycatcher in our neck of the woods is during their fall and spring migrations as they head towards the tropics. This bird shares many physical characteristics with other tyrant flycatchers such as the eastern phoebe and the eastern wood pewee; most notably their shape and coloration. These birds are rather small, being between the size of a song sparrow and a robin. Their head and wing plumage ranges from olive-gray to gray-brown except for their breast and throat which are white, the olive coloration they get their names from is located on their flanks and can only truly be seen in good lighting for when they molt. Like other flycatchers they possess a small crest atop their head and beak that ends in a shallow hook. They can be visually separated from other similar looking species based on minor coloration and size differences and the fact they rarely flick their tails. You should bring along your binoculars with you if attempting to see them as they are normally perched higher in the trees, to give themselves a better view of prey. Speaking of prey, as their name suggests these birds exclusively eat insects quickly catching them while in flight before returning to a perch. While on their perches you hear their calls which sounds like a high-pitched “quick, three beers” however don’t have high expectations since they can be more on the silent side in fall. Unfortunately like many tropical migrants they have seen population declines of up to 79% due to climate change and habitat loss reducing the abundance of the insects they eat.

Palm Warbler

S etophaga palmarum

There are two distinct subspecies of this bird which differ in appearance and where they live. The eastern palm warbler, Setophaga palmarum hypochrysea , lives east of the great lakes while the western palm warbler, Setophaga palmarum palmarum , lives from the great lakes across the Canadian boreal forests. Here in Illinois we get the later subspecies, meaning that our palm warblers are a little more drab in coloration with both sexes being overall brown with a tint of yellow. They have a rusty red crown, a yellow face, and a black stripe running from the bill past the eye in the breeding season. But it's likely that we'll catch them in their non-breeding plumage where they are going to be an olive-bron all over except for a lighter colored breast and their yellow rumps. Like lots of other warblers their favorite foods are insects which they will pick off from tree branches, shrubbery, and the ground. They will also eat berries as they come into season. To give themselves easy access to their food palm warblers are normally found in open woodland areas and shallow wetlands. They are unique amongst the warblers as they are one of two species that will bob their tails while standing on a perch. Their call is a monotonous buzzy trill .

Red-eyed Vireo

Vireo olivaceus

In the late summer forest while enjoying the shallow warmth of the early morning or late afternoon you might lock eyes with a pair of piercing red eyes. These eyes belong to a small but brutal predator of the forest canopy, the Red-eyed vireo. These are a small song bird, about the size of a tufted titmouse, that makes its summer home across the Central and Eastern United States and Canada. They are not sexually dimorphic and both males and females have their iconic red eyes, though immature individuals will have brown eyes instead. Adults are primarily olive green in color with white underparts and an ‘oreo’-pattern eye stripes (black - white - black) around the eye. Their legs are blue-gray and their bill is short and stout, ending in a shallow hook. There is a slight yellow tinge to their flanks and undertail feathers. Like the warbler and the flycatcher these birds are insect eating specialists, though they will eat fruits to build up energy before migration, but they hunt them in a different way. Instead of on the wing or pursuing them on foot the vireo uses a strategy called gleaning, where the bird will fly past an insect on a leaf and catch them before returning to the perch. Their favorite prey include caterpillars and other soft bodied larvae. They are prolific singers and you can hear them still filling the treetops with their iconic nyaah calls and slurred noted song. They hold one of the records for most songs sung in a single day with one individual singing over 20,000 songs.

Meet Elly

elly@seversondells.org (Elly Salazar) — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 04:45:00 GMT

Severson Dells' New School programs coordinator

Hey everyone! My name is Elly Salazar and I am joining the Severson team as School Programs Coordinator! I am super excited to be here and have the opportunity to share my passion for environmental education. It is my belief that everyone can connect with something in nature and passionate people protect what they love.

I have a degree from Drake University in environmental science with an emphasis in biological conservation. My professional experience has taken me to some amazing places and I am grateful for everything I have learned! I have spent time educating in Florida at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, a sea turtle rescue and sanctuary, as well as Cosley Zoo here in Illinois working with ambassador animals.

In my time outside of Severson, I always enjoy hiking but I particularly love searching for spring ephemerals or experiencing the beautiful colors of Illinois prairies. I also have three kitties, Onion, Sylphrena, and Bonsai that I love spending time with when I am not at my Nature Nerds book club or at the horse rescue I volunteer at.

I can’t wait to meet everyone and continue educating here at Severson Dells!

PFAS Found in Every Fish Tested in Northern Illinois

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:20:50 GMT

A recent study by the University of Illinois found PFAS in every fish they tested in Northern Illinois. Since this study took place somewhere I care deeply about, my home, let's dive into what this means for those of us who live in northern Illinois.

PFAS , or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are synthetic chemicals that have been used in everyday products since the 1950s. These chemicals help make items waterproof, keep food from sticking to pans, make clothes and carpets stain-resistant, and even improve firefighting foam. While PFAS are great for these uses because they’re tough and long-lasting, that same durability also makes them particularly problematic for the environment and for our health.

PFAS are incredibly stable because they contain carbon-fluorine bonds, which are some of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. This stability makes them almost impossible to break down, earning them the nickname "forever chemicals." In fact, many PFAS can take over 1000 years to break down. Due to their widespread use, PFAS are now found almost everywhere—in soil, water, and even in the air. People can be exposed to PFAS by drinking contaminated water, eating tainted food, using PFAS-containing products, or even just breathing the air. These chemicals are especially problematic because of their ability to bioaccumulate, or build up, in the environment and organisms over time, and people are no exception to this rule. As of 2013, The National Health Institute has found PFAS in the blood of 98 % of Americans.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that there are nearly 15,000 PFAS chemicals that have been in use both in the past and the present. PFAS can be divided into two main types of structure of the chemical: short-chain PFAS, which have fewer than six carbon-fluorine bonds, and long-chain PFAS, which have six or more (see example chemical structure below). Long-chain PFAS were commonly used in the past before their harmful effects were fully recognized. Nowadays, many industries have shifted to short-chain PFAS, which initially believed to be less toxic and more easily broken down than long-chain PFAS. This, however, has not been the case.

Today, both short- and long-chain PFAS are found in groundwater, soil, and in the tissues of animals and humans. Research is ongoing to understand how exposure to these chemicals impact human health. Current studies suggest that certain PFAS can lead to negative health effects, but more research is needed to clarify the risks associated with different levels of exposure and the long-term effects, especially in children. What we do know from peer-reviewed studies, however, is concerning. Exposure to PFAS can lead to reproductive issues in both men and women, such as reduced fertility, and can lead to high blood pressure in pregnant women. It may also affect child development, causing low birth weight, early puberty, bone density issues, and behavioral changes. There’s also evidence linking PFAS to increased risks of cancers like prostate, kidney, and testicular cancer, as well as a weakened immune system that might affect vaccine effectiveness. Additionally, PFAS exposure is associated with higher cholesterol levels and a greater risk of obesity.

Now that we are familiar with PFAS and the associated risks, lets get back to the study concerning northern Illinois. The researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focused on fish in northern Illinois rivers because of their close proximity to urban and industrial areas. This is an important factor because industrial emissions and urban rainwater runoff are known to contaminate our local waterways with PFAS. Because PFAS bioaccumulate in tissue, fish are a good indicator of how contaminated the environment may be. The researchers focused on fish in the Pecatonica River, Rock River, Sugar River and Yellow Creek from 2021-22. The team collected dozens of samples from nine species of fish, including bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, northern pike, smallmouth bass and walleye. The fish represented different trophic levels on the food chain, from those that feed only on plants, like bluegill, to those eating other fish, such as channel catfish and northern pike.

Four chemicals known as perfluorooctanesulfonic acids, or PFOS, were detected in fish from every site tested . PFOS are long-chain PFAS that have been in use over the past few decades, and they were found in all the sites, along with a few short-chain PFAS. Back in the lab, the scientists analyzed fish tissues for 17 PFAS chemicals. They found PFAS-contaminated fish in every river they tested and in every one of their 15 sampling sites. Fish from the Rock River had the highest concentrations of PFAS in their tissues, and contamination levels were highest in channel catfish, which are at the top of the food chain, and lowest in the plant eaters, which can be attributed to bioaccumulation. Researchers on the project stated that “further studies are warranted to comprehensively evaluate the occurrence and sources of PFAS throughout the state of Illinois,” and that “such information is crucial to better understand the distribution and potential risks of these compounds to the environment.”

So, what does this mean for those of us living in northern Illinois? Given the widespread nature of PFAS contamination, completely avoiding exposure is challenging. However, there are steps we can take to reduce our risk. The primary concern for human health is ingesting PFAS, so it’s crucial to be mindful of what we put in our bodies. Choosing less processed, less packaged, and more locally sourced foods can help minimize exposure, as grease-resistant wrappers and packaging used in prepackaged, processed, and fast food often contain PFAS. Additionally, eating lower on the food chain—meaning more plants and less meat—can reduce PFAS intake since these chemicals accumulate higher up the food chain. As highlighted in the study, it’s also important to avoid consuming fish from contaminated waters, especially fish of higher trophic levels. For drinking water, testing your sources before consumption is key. In April of this year, the first-ever national, legally enforceable drinking water standard was passed to protect communities from exposure to PFAS. Currently, the EPA does not require the City of Rockford to take any action to lower PFAS levels in drinking water, but it’s wise to stay informed about local water quality (for the most recent PFAS tests in Rockford, click here ). Lastly, consider becoming a more conscious consumer by choosing PFAS-free products whenever possible. Here’s a list to help you get started.

Overall, we can't really "avoid" PFAS in the environment. It's in the water. It's in the soil. It's in the air. It's in you and me. It's still being manufactured and used in the United States. As we move forward, it is my hope that we can learn from our mistakes in using PFAS, and take stronger actions to protect our environment and health. The widespread contamination we've witnessed should serve as a stark reminder that our current practices are unsustainable and that stricter environmental regulations are not just necessary, but urgent. Even though we are continually learning about the harmful effects of PFAS, we are slow to regulate the use of it, and unfortunately this story echoes true for many harmful chemicals that we manufacture. We may not be able to undo what was done in the past, but going forward we must push for more rigorous research, better policies, and greater accountability from industries that produce and use these harmful chemicals. By doing so, we can work towards a future where our rivers, soil, and air are free from toxic substances, ensuring a safer and healthier world for generations to come.

References

"PFAS assessment in fish – Samples from Illinois waters"- Peer-reviewed study by M. Sands et. al published in Science of The Total Environment

"Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)" - Article from NIH: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

"About PFAs" - Article from PFASfree, a project run by Firdra, an environmental charity

" Legacy and alternative per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the U.S. general population: Paired serum-urine data from the 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey " - Peer-reviewed study by Antonia M. Calafat et. al in Environment International

" Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS " Article from EPA: United States Environmental Protection Agency

" Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard to Protect 100M People from PFAS Pollution " Article from EPA: United States Environmental Protection Agency

"What are PFA's?" Article and test results from the City of Rockford Public Works

"PFAS-Free Products" A list of PFAS- free products made by the Green Science Policy , an environmental non profit based in Berkeley, California

Readings from the Rookery: Connecting Children with Nature Through Stories and STEM

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 19:00:56 GMT

Bryce's Farewell

education2.americorps@seversondells.org — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 11:00:02 GMT

Seemingly over as soon as it began, my time working as an AmeriCorps Member at Severson Dells will unfortunately come to an end today. When I started at Severson I was simply looking for a seasonal position that was relevant to my career path, but from my first week here I had realized that this position was so much more. However, like the birds you all associate me with, I will be migrating south to embark on the last leg of my academic career. I will be working towards my PhD in wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida.

When I initially started working at Severson I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. Even though I come from a family of educators, I had never worked in such a teaching focused position before, for I had always focused on more wildlife focused positions in the past. But I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed it. Being able to share my knowledge and passion for all aspects of nature was a fulfilling and cathartic experience; a soft skill that has been increasing in need as there has been a growing distrust of the sciences.

The most rewarding aspect comes from the children. We live in a tumultuous time, as society has had to come to come to terms with how we have and are negatively affecting the planet. But seeing the love that children have for the Earth showed me that there is still hope. With the proper teaching, we can nurture the next generation of environment enjoyers and advocates. Working with such a wide range of people has greatly increased my soft skills involving communicate, conflict management, and creativity; all of which aren’t normally prioritized in the scientific community

This isn't to say that I haven't been able to hone my hard, scientific skills as well. It was an absolute pleasure to help members of the natural resources and community science teams with their work. Having done some herbicide work out west in the past, expanding my library of knowledge involving different invasive species and how to control them is a plus. My inner zoologist was appeased by helping collect frog data during surveys. Further fostering my love for the sciences and providing me with transferable skills for my PhD.

Severson Dells served me as equal parts cradle and canvas, in an abstract sort of way. The seasoned and capable staff were able to teach me so many things about how to be a better educator, scientist, advocate, and team member. They have become more than just coworkers or bosses, but rather mentors and lifelong friends. The work we did has given me opportunities to do more than just follow directions to accomplish a task, but rather lead and create through lesson planning and public programs. Both of which increased my confidence and set me on the path to stand tall as a leader in my field.

All in all, Severson Dells Nature Center has fostered my creativity, collaboration, and humor so much, as well as all the individuals that contribute to it. This job has introduced me to a plethora of incredible individuals, and the personal and professional connections I've made here have shaped me into the person, scientist, communicator, and educator that I am today. No matter how far I move away, Severson Dells will always hold a special place in my heart.

August Bird Blog

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 20:25:20 GMT

We are coming towards the climax of our warm summer days. In about a month the cold air will begin to sink into our city and drive many of our species away. But that time hasn't come yet, so we still have an absolute charcuterie board of bird species available for our viewing pleasure. And some of the best places to look for them are on the water; because just like you they are looking to make the most of that resource before it freezes over in the coming months.

Belted Kingfisher

Megacercyle alcyon

That's not a funky-looking blue jay you're seeing, that's the belted kingfisher, though I couldn't blame you for thinking that due to their similarities. The first similarity you can notice is in the coloration, like the blue jay, the kingfisher has a trichromatic, 3 color, patterning with white coloration on the breast and neck, blue-gray coloration on the back and head, with black barring on the tail. This species holds the title of the United States only species of kingfisher. Differences between the birds lie in their bodily proportions. Kingfishers have longer and heavier beaks than blue jays, needed for dispatching their prey. The beak sits on a massive head, one that is almost disproportionately large for their body size. Their heads are host to a large erect crest of blue-gray feathers, which are both larger and taller than that of a blue jay. Their namesake feature is their belt, or in females their belts, which is a band of blue feathers that wrap around the upper breast. In females, they have a second belt of rusty red-brown feathers that wrap around the lower breast. They are a piscivorous, fish-eating, species of bird that specializes in catching its prey using a tactic called aerial diving. Here a bird will stay perched near a body of water and survey the area, upon spotting prey they will take to the skies then dive head first into the water to seize prey. Though they are primarily fish eaters they will also prey upon amphibians, crustaceans, small reptiles, small mammals, and other birds. Unlike most other birds they actually nest inside underground burrows, normally on the sides of cliffs or steep river banks. Both sexes of the birds let out loud mechanical rattles and screams . The best places to catch them in Winnebago County would be along the clearer waters of the rivers or at our very own Severson Dells Pond.

Double-crested Cormorant

Nannopterum auritum

If you are on the water and see a gangly black bird soaking up rays along the beach or standing on the tree or post; you’re in the presence of the double-crested cormorant. The reason for this behavior is because, unlike every other waterbird, they lack the oils in their feathers required to become completely waterproof. Which is quite problematic since they have to dive underwater to swim after fish. Some scientists believe that having water soak into the feathers actually makes them more agile underwater, but it's a trade-off as they must spend time drying off in the sun before being able to fly. The lack of oils on the feathers also results in their feathers not having any sort of shimmer or sheen, resulting in a matte black coloration across the whole body. The only part of their body with any color would be the mask of bare, orange skin that covers their face. Set into this mask are two eyes, blue, like polished sapphires. Their beaks are long and hooked, like if someone stretched out a hawk’s, and they have a long S-shaped neck. During the breeding season, adults will grow a crest of feathers above each eye, giving them the appearance of a frazzled, balding gentleman. They are a conservation success story, as they became very rare in the 1900s due to DDT. Following the ban on DDT coupled with an increase in fish farm abundance since the 1970s their populations have been allowed to absolutely explode. The population has reached such critical levels that it is not uncommon to see huge flocks even around small or poor water bodies. They are also a likely culprits aiding in the decline in the decline of sportfish such as bass and trout since they can eat several large adult fish every week, prompting concerns from the Fish & Wildlife Service and Fish farmers across the country. Common places to see Cormorants would be along any large body of water such as Rock Cut State park, Rock River, and Pecatonica Wetlands. Just keep an ear out for pig-like grunts from birds that are taking off or landing on the water .

Great Egret

A dazzling sight to behold like a snowflake in summer, the great egret stands out and steals the spotlight from other creatures on the water. These birds share a number of features with great blue herons, including long skinny legs, and long snake-like neck, and a heavily pointed bill for catching fish. The things different between them would be color and the egret’s lack of a head crest. Differences only increase in the breeding season as the adults of both sexes will grow absolutely massive spindly plumes of feathers. In flight they will look identical to a great blue heron with the folded neck, but just in all white. These birds are found across 5 of the 7 continents, where they will inhabit any body of water they can find. You will see them either standing still or slowly stalking across the water searching for fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and small mammals. The call of the great egret is a dry, raspy croak which they will par with the rapid clacking of their bills and loud, nasally squeals . We are lucky to have great egrets in our areas today because this bird was facing extinction in the 1800s and 1900s as there was an international hunting industry for these birds as the rich and powerful wanted to turn their breeding plumage into hat decorations. Thankfully the Audubon Society stepped up to protect this species and many like it from the feather trade; it still serves as their mascot to this day.

Osprey

Pandion halioetus

One of our region's most unique birds of prey as they are the most specialized of the fish-eating raptors, garnering them their titles of “sea hawk”, “river hawk” and “fish hawk”. Amongst their specialized physical features would be their distinct bill that has a proportionally longer hook than other raptors which makes it perfect for cutting into the scaly skin of fish. While most other raptors have some sort of cryptic coloration or camouflage; the coloration of the osprey is quite striking but simultaneously bland. Most of their bodies; including the legs, breast, and neck, are white. While the bird's backside, wings, and eye mask are chocolate brown. It's important to note that the osprey is not as heavily barred as other birds of prey. Ospreys are on the large size of our soaring birds, easy to distinguish in flight as their wings are long and sharper than those of bald eagles and the forest hawks, like red-tails and broad-wings. To further discuss their fishing specializations we need look no further than their feet. They have very long talons, but these are only compliments to the special toe pads they possess that stick to fish scales like Velcro. Their feet are also so dexterous that they are able to manipulate and rotate fish while in flight; this skill is what allows them to fly off with extremely heavy fish as they always point them in a direction to increase the fish’s aerodynamics. They are very adaptable nesters, being able to make their homes in any area near water that has a sufficient food supply. The best place to view ospreys would be at Rock Cut State Park, Blackhawk Springs Forest Preserve, and Kishwaukee River Forest Preserve where they have been recorded returning to nest over the past few years. Ospreys whistle in a high-pitched voice. Their sounds can be a slow series of chirps made while in flight, or they can be combined to produce a series that intensifies and then fades, like the sound of a kettle quickly removed from the stove .

Tree Swallow

Tachycineta bicolor

Though they may not seem like it, these birds similar to the other 4 covered this month in that they can be often associated with bodies of water. During the breeding season and summer months, tree swallows make their homes in open woodlands, especially those that are near permanent bodies of water. Lakes, rivers, and wetlands provide them with plenty of places to roost and stable populations of their preferred food; flying insects. This is because many insects start their lives as larvae underwater but emerge throughout the summer. The species name, bicolor , means two colors which is quite humorous given that these birds actually have three colors present on their plumage. From their chins and cheeks down the breast to the rump, they are completely white. The tops of the head, the shoulder, and the upper back are all a shimmering blue. The edges of the wings and the entire tail are a charcoal gray color. This species is not sexually dimorphic, so males and females will look identical. Immature birds have a more off-white coloration on their undersides while their backside, tails, and wings are all a blend of charcoal gray with a tinge of iridescent green-blue. In flight, their shape is fairly indistinguishable from other swallows, besides the barn swallow. They have a tubular body that is supported by a pair of very triangular wings. This time of year is the start of the wind-down period for these birds in this region. With this year's chicks finally having the know-how and physicality to take flight, it's time for them to start their migration. They'll still be around the area for a little while longer as they will need to fatten themselves up on insects before they head to Florida, Cuba, and Mexico for the winter. If you were to look towards the skies directly over the rovers and lakes here in Rockford you are almost certain to see them scooping water and catching insects. Bluebird boxes also inadvertently attract tree swallows as they mimic the tree cavities they naturally nest. Songs are a high-pitched trio of chirps, whines, and, gurgles made by males and females. They also have normal calls which are aggressive chatters and chirps.

Exploring the Four Rivers of the Rockford Area

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 20:24:17 GMT

Over 3 Trillion gallons of water falls in the Illinois Rock River Basin (that’s the Northwestern portion of Illinois) and that water has to go somewhere! Four rivers pick up the slack and carry the water through Winnebago county. I’d like to introduce you to the story of each river and offer some of the best places to visit if you are trying to enjoy everything they have to offer!

Meet the Rock River Watershed

A watershed is an area of land that channels rainfall and snowmelt through streams of water to a unifying body of water. The Illinois portion of the Rock River watershed covers about 5,650 square miles worth of land. The entire watershed is called the Rock River Basin and its about 10,915 square miles including parts of Wisconsin as well as much farther Southwest of Rockford towards the Quad Cities and the Mississippi River. Winnebago County boasts three rivers that flow into the Rock River, making up a portion of the Rock River Watershed.

We will start with the shortest river at only 63.4 miles (102 km) long: the Kishwaukee River. It is a lovely river that is teeming with wildlife around every bend. Next, we have the Sugar River! This wild and winding river stretches out to be 91 miles (146km) long. This river is a tributary (meaning it’s water flows into another river) for the Pecatonica River, which coincidentally is our next river running at 194 miles (312 km) long. It is a peaceful length of water with a slow meandering current. Lastly, we have the Rock River which all of the water from each of the rivers will eventually flow into. This urbanized river is a heartbeat of the watershed and it has been useful for many years by plenty of people. The Rock is a whopping 299 miles (481km) long and will eventually flow into the Mississippi River.

Ancient Rivers

The simplest way of tracking the age of a river is to track the gradient that the water is traveling on! The gradient of a river is the measure of how steeply it loses height. A river with a high gradient loses height quickly, has a stronger current, and is relatively younger. A river with a gentle gradient loses less height and is typically a slow-flowing, mature river. Some streams have such a gentle gradient that they aren’t measurable without special equipment. Here are the gradient rates for our Rockford rivers.

Kishwaukee : 3-6 ft/mile
Sugar : 3.0 ft/mile
Pecatonica : less than 1 ft/mile
Rock : 1 ft/mile

Here it is also visualized!

With just this one trait alone we can tell a lot about each of these rivers. The Kishwaukee and Sugar Rivers are relatively young, which is reflected in their gradient. The Rock and the Pecatonica both are probably older, more settled in. The figure representing the gradient of each river shows how much on average the river changes in feet over 1 mile. It also shows how much steeper the Sugar and Kishwaukee are compared to the Pecatonica and the Rock River.

Let's get a little bit more specific. We can track the age of a river on the geologic time scale as well! The rivers in this area can’t be older than 323 million years old because, back then, Illinois used to be a shallow sea of tropical warm water. Last I checked, rivers don’t flow under the sea (small red crab begins to sing). More recently, our landscape was covered by a few sets of massive glaciers traveling through Illinois. They existed between 300,000 and 130,000 years ago during the Illinoian glacial period. Shockingly, the Rock River was around at this period, and it used to connect to the Illinois River. It was heavily altered by the glaciers leaving behind loose rocks carried all the way from Canada! These Canadian Rocks blocked that path and pushed it towards its modern day streambed that might be more familiar to us on a map. That means on its current path the Rock River is about 130,000 years old but its older paths would put it easily into the millions of years old!

On the other end, the Kishwaukee is extremely young (for a river). It was made by glacial meltwash around 13,000 years ago and thus had not had much time to erode away at the slope that it flows along. We can tell it's on the newer side given the immense amount of diverse and unique rock that was brought from much farther north and deposited on top of the remains of the older glaciation periods. This data also confirms why the gradient of the Kishwaukee is so much steeper than the Rock River.

Best Places to Enjoy Each River and the Ecology that makes it so Wonderful

These rivers flowing together are essential for the ecology of the land with many interesting flora and fauna to find and enjoy! They act as a legacy piece of the last glaciation periods. All of these ecosystems are explorable too! Let me tell you about some of the best places to visit if you want to enjoy the rivers.

Rock River

This river is near and dear to my heart given I have lived right next to it my whole life. It is a constant source of support for everything around it, taking all the water from the other 3 streams and many more as it travels farther south. It is well known for its rocky waters (given that’s how it got its name) and the base is largely bedrock but has massive swaths of gravel along it and smaller segments with mud and silt. It averages a depth of 15 feet deep but at some points can get to 50 feet! The Rock is the biggest river of this group therefore I have the most suggestions for you to check out and explore for yourself!

The Cedar Cliff Forest Preserve is a magnificent preserve being actively restored into a shortgrass prairie.These efforts demonstrate the desire we have to improve and repair the land that has been essential for our continued existence. This preserve also hosts a mesic forest, its namesake of this area: massive limestone cliffs extending 800 feet along the Rock River. Here you can find wonderful woodland wildflowers. Some of these flowers include the Wild geranium, Red trillium, and Bloodroot along with a canopy of Bur, Red oaks, and a rare species of oak called the Chinkapin. These cliffs act as a unique habitat that supports diverse plant communities and give you an impressive view of the Rock River.

The next preserve to explore and enjoy is the J. Norman Jensen Forest Preserve with a beautiful spot by the dam to experience. Within it is one of the rarest prairies out there :a remnant dry gravel prairie hosting a rare ecosystem.

The Macktown Forest Preserve is also a beautiful spot along the Rock River. Macktown holds the confluence point of the Pecatonica and the Rock Rivers. It features a golf course and historic settlement. Macktown Living History, a non-profit friend of the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County, hosts programs dedicated to teaching about the people who have lived throughout the area.

Sugar River

Not much of the Sugar River flows into Illinois before it joins into the Pecatonica (only about 5 miles of its 91 mile stretch) but that doesn’t mean it's not an important aspect of Illinois. It's a clean river flush with trees and vegetation. The Sugar River Forest Preserve is 529 acres and helps accentuate the Sugar River’s wild and secluded nature along with the ability to experience it for yourself. The trails are serene and there are a variety of activities you can do! I really enjoy the camping spots which you can set up right along the winding river and its array of wetland animals. Sugar River is also a fun stream to take trips down on for paddlers and tubers alike.

Pecatonica River

The Pecatonica. A name originating from two Algonquian languages meaning Slow Water. It follows along a very crooked, slow moving channel that doubles back on itself regularly. Its soil bed is mainly sandy loam. The best place to experience this river is at the Pecatonica River Forest Preserve. Here is one must-stop place if you are trying to enjoy what our rivers around here have to offer. Along the border of this park is the slow meandering Pecatonica an ideal representation of a kind old river. Its water travels by at a relaxing pace. This park is 466-acres of woodlands and oxbow swamps with 2 major segments (the lower and upper parts). Some of the best places to enjoy the water are right off the peninsula past the lower parking lot where you can get very close to the water. The upper area has an observation deck that can give you a wide view point to enjoy all the beauty the Pecatonica has to offer. The oxbow lakes also act as living history showing how long the Pecatonica has been around. Oxbow lakes form in older rivers when a river cuts through a meander neck causing the old channel to be skipped for the more immediate channel.

Kishwaukee River

The Kishwaukee name originally comes from a Potawatomi word and it means the River of the Sycamore. They would use the large Sycamore trees nearby to make canoes and travel along the river with them.

If you had to pick one river to explore, I would personally suggest this one. Find a way to paddle or float down the Kishwaukee to really enjoy so much it has to offer. The Kishwaukee is one of the highest quality streams in Illinois with extremely clean water and a diverse ecosystem it supports. My favorite way to enjoy the Kishwaukee River is taking a kayak along its water and just breathing in all it has to offer. The water is a fun challenge of winding turns and fast straightaways. The plants and animals also always give you a new thing to look at. It's a generous river that holds so much potential for enjoyment and exploration. To quote a good friend here at Severson ‘Its almost like the Kishwaukee wants to be explored’ because of the amazing things it shows off regularly to its guests.

The best place to enjoy the Kishwaukee is at the Kishwaukee River Forest Preserve. The mature forests act as good places for migrating birds to rest and Smallmouth bass are famously common here, so if you are a fisher or a birder you are sure to enjoy it. I would check out the stone Fort Vicennes and the two bridges which were built back in 1934 to really feel a sense of wonder to the history that exists around you.

Explore and Enjoy the Rivers!

All in all there is a lot to learn about and experience with these rivers. The history of the region is ripe with knowledge and I barely scratched the surface about all we know about these rivers. What’s more important is to explore the rivers yourself. Go out there! Play in the water, travel the trails, spot some birds, and make sure to leave no trace so that everyone has the opportunity to experience these rivers for the first time!

World Population Day

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 20:17:46 GMT

On July 11, 1987, the global population reached 5 billion people, an event commemorated as the Day of 5 Billion. This milestone led to the establishment of World Population Day by the United Nations to raise awareness of the urgency of global population issues. Every year on July 11, we observe this day to reflect on population growth and its implications. Today, the world population exceeds 8 billion, which is nearly double what it was when World Population Day first began. World population can be a difficult topic to broach, so in honor of World Population Day, we are going to discuss the causes and effects of overpopulation, and their underlying presumptions for the future.

It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion, but only about 200 years to increase more than sevenfold. In 2010, the global population hit 7 billion, and it stands at 8.1 billion today. According to current UN projections, our population is expected to grow to 9 billion in 2037, and to 10 billion in 2058. The world population doubled from 3 billion in 1959 to 6 billion in 1999 and is estimated to increase by 50% over the next 40 years, reaching 9 billion by 2037. This exponential growth is staggering and incredibly hard to grasp. To put it in perspective, the current global population of 8.1 billion represents nearly 7% of all people who have ever lived on Earth. Simply stated, our population is growing too large and too quickly, putting us beyond Earth's sustainable means.

Overpopulation refers to a situation in which the Earth cannot regenerate the resources used by the world’s population each year. Experts say this has been the case every year since 1970 (the population then was ~3.7 billion), with each successive year becoming more and more damaging. Claiming that we are facing an overpopulation crisis is not hyperbolic, as our state of overpopulation is an indisputable fact. However, the conversation on overpopulation can become controversial and problematic when the question of who is responsible for, and what should be done about, the issue is broached. This question should under no circumstance be used as the framework to suggest that certain groups of people are to blame for the issue, and that certain groups of people have more of a right to the resources on Earth. Every human being has an equal right to a fair share of the Earth's resources. However, with a population over 8 billion, even if everyone adopted a modest standard of living the planet would still be pushed to its ecological limits. Unfortunately, the "average person" on Earth consumes resources at a rate over 50% above what is sustainable, and the average American consumes 5 times more than the planet's sustainable yield. As you’re probably piecing together, this is a recipe for an incredibly unsustainable situation. In order to mitigate this situation, we need to first understand the sources of overpopulation, and how this is affecting our Earth, from climate change to socio-political unrest. So let's talk about it.

In biology, we talk about populations in reference to a species carrying capacity, which is the number of individuals of a population that can be sustained by a given area. Once a population exceeds this threshold dieback will inevitably occur due to the ecosystem's limiting factors. These density-dependent factors include disease, competition, and predation, and they can have either a positive or a negative correlation with population size. With a positive relationship, these limiting factors increase with population size, restricting growth. Conversely, with a negative relationship, population growth is limited at low densities and becomes less restricted as it grows. When a species experiences overpopulation, these limiting factors intensify. The species will face higher rates of disease, greater food and water scarcity, and increased predation, all of which lead to a population decline. Humans, however, have altered this dynamic. Thanks to the agricultural revolution and modern medicine, we have effectively mitigated many of these limiting factors. This is great news for all of us on Earth today because we no longer have to worry about these things. However, it has also enabled our population to grow exponentially beyond Earth's carrying capacity.

Besides this, several other factors contribute to this growing population, including declining mortality rates, limited access to contraception, and inadequate education for girls. The primary cause of population growth is the imbalance between births and deaths. Infant mortality rates have decreased significantly, with 4.1 million infant deaths in 2017 compared to 8.8 million in 1990, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Simultaneously, lifespans are increasing worldwide, and current generations are likely to live longer than previous ones, as the global average life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900. These are remarkable achievements, but they contribute to an ever-growing population.

Lack of access to contraception in many parts of the world prevents women from planning their families. In fact, studies suggest that up to 44% of pregnancies worldwide are unplanned. Many studies also show that access to education plays a big role in how many children a woman will have. Although female access to education has increased over the years, the gender gap remains. Roughly 130 million girls worldwide are out of school currently, and an estimated 15 million girls of primary school age will never learn to read and write, compared with 10 million boys. Education among women and girls reduced the amount of children women have by delaying childbearing to later ages, and increased workforce participation.

It’s important to note that women are having fewer children today than ever before. 50 years ago the global Total fertility rate (TFR ) was around 5, meaning that on average women in the world had around five children. In 2024, the global TFR is 2.4. Women are on average having less than half of the children than previous generations, yet the global population is still rising – why? That is because there are more women in the age range to bear children than ever before. So even though there are less births on average, the current population increase is estimated at around 73 million people per year.

Overpopulation has many effects on our world, many of which we are witnessing today. As the global population continues to grow, the strain on our natural resources intensifies. More people means a higher demand for food, water, housing, and other essentials. Given the finite nature of these resources, this heightened consumption leads to ecological degradation. Overpopulation is already causing pressures that result in more deforestation, decreased biodiversity, and spikes in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, all of which exacerbate climate change. Climate change, of course, is making many areas inhospitable due to rising oceans and temperature, is causing the increase in the severity and frequency of natural disasters, and contributing to many other factors that make our world inhospitable for humans.

Socially and economically, overpopulation can strain infrastructure and public services, leading to overcrowded cities, inadequate healthcare, and insufficient educational facilities, which ultimately lead to increased socio-economic disparities. The competition for limited resources can also lead to heightened tensions and conflicts within and between nations, as groups vie for control over water, land, and food supplies. We’re already seeing wars fought over water, land, and energy resources in the Middle East and other regions, and the turmoil is likely to increase as the global population grows even larger.

Moreover, the dense and overcrowded living conditions associated with overpopulation can facilitate the spread of infectious diseases, increasing the risk of pandemics. The ongoing deforestation and habitat destruction also bring humans into closer contact with wildlife, potentially exposing us to new zoonotic diseases.

Overpopulation remains a pressing global issue with far-reaching implications for our environment, resources, and socio-economic stability. Addressing overpopulation requires a multifaceted approach that includes promoting access to education, particularly for girls, and ensuring widespread availability of reproductive health services. Additionally, fostering a collective responsibility to manage Earth's resources sustainably is crucial. This means not only reducing individual consumption levels, especially in more affluent societies, but also supporting policies and practices that encourage sustainable living. While the challenges posed by overpopulation are significant, they are not insurmountable. By understanding the causes and effects of overpopulation and committing to collaborative and equitable solutions, we can work towards a future where both the human population and the planet can thrive. Observing World Population Day serves as a reminder of the urgency of this issue and the need for continued awareness and action to ensure a sustainable and just world for all.

July Bird Blog

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 18:21:54 GMT

July is here, the sun is hot, and even more birds are here to see!

If you enjoy Bird Blog, please let us know! You can always e-mail me at education2.americorps@seversondells.org or call 815-335-2915 and ask for Bryce!

Black-crowned Night Heron

Nycticorax nycticorax

This heron is rather small when compared to the more well known species such as the great blue or the tricolored heron. Between the size of a crow and a goose with squat, thick proportions. This extends to their relatively short necks, board wings, and the heavy bills. These birds are not sexually dimorphic with all mature individuals possessing the same color pattern, though immature individuals look noticeably different. Mature birds have a white coloration from their face down to their abdomene, their flight feathers across the wings and tail are gray, their titular ‘black crown’ starts just before the bill and extends over the head down their back. Juveniles are far more drab, being brown all over with white spots scattered about. Something very interesting with their appearance is how their eye color changes with maturity, juveniles possess yellow eyes but as they age they become bright red. As their name suggests these birds are most commonly active at night; they emerge during evening and dusk to begin feeding on worms, fish, crustaceans, frogs and any other animals that can be found in or around water. Black-crowns migrate to our neck of the woods in order to breed, where they will form large nesting colonies of over a dozen breeding pairs being present. These are most notably found high in trees adjacent to bodies of water. One of the best places to see them is actually at the Lincoln Park Zoo where there is a rookery above the red wolf exhibit. Young will actually leave the nest at around 1 month old, which is strange given that they don't learn how to fly until at least 6 weeks of age. So for those 2 weeks after becoming independent they are forced to escape danger by using their feet to clamber through vegetation. Their call sounds similar to a raspy, bark-like squawk .

Barn Swallow

Hirundo rustica

I don't think that anyone across the United States can truly say that they haven’t come across one of these birds. They are ubiquitous with human inhabited areas across the entirety of non-arctic North America and most of South America. Making them the most abundant and widespread swallow species in the world. These birds have traded in their ancient homes of cliffs and shallow caves for the relative safety of buildings and other human structures. Nests of dried mud, grass, and feathers can be seen under bridges, inside abandoned builds and even in the rafters of your very own porches and attics. Their coloration is simply spectacular: an iridescent cobalt-blue back paired with a tawny yellow belly and an orange-brown face makes this bird a true American beauty. The tail is broad and forked; dark in coloration and position a line of white spots. The wings are of a similar color minus the spots. Even though they are quite common they aren't something that you'll be seeing at your local feeders. This is because barn swallows are aerial feeders who catch insects while they are on the wing. The best place to spot them while not on the nest would be to look towards the skies at nearby fields, meadows, and bodies of water; for these are some of the most common feeding grounds for the birds. This bird holds a special place in conservation history as when the hat making industry caused declines in barn swallow populations led to George Bird Grinnell’s editorial essay, one that inspired the founding of the first Audubon Society. Both males and females sing the same song which includes a rapid bunch of mechanical sounding warbles.

Common Grackle

Quiscalus quiscala

Colorful, kind of like oil, slicked and shimmering over black asphalt, is one of the best ways that I could describe the Common Grackle. This member of the blackbird family, as their name suggests, are quite common birds being found across a wide variety of habitats such as cities, farms, and open woodlands across most of the United States and Canada. They are taller and more slender than many other blackbirds and possess a proportionally long tail. Sexually dimorphic, the females are black and brown mix with slight iridescence in the feathers of the head. Males are far more spectacular with a blue-green iridescent head, and glossy olive-yellow body and a faint reddish-purple wings. Common foods for these birds include just about anything that is organic, from fruits to insects to human waste, with their favorite food being grains such as corn and rice. They are also highly gregarious, forming massive flocks. The 2 previously mentioned traits have led to serious human-wildlife conflict since birds can cause several hundred million dollars in crop loss when they descend upon some poor farmer's field. However, the common grackle might not be too common for much longer. Starting in the 1960s there has been a steady decline in their numbers with a nearly 4% decrease in their numbers. Most of this decline is attributed to changes in habitat as many of the abandoned fields and agricultural lands, their preferred habitat, are slowly being converted back into forest, a habitat they are not adapted for. If you would like to attract these birds to your property you can simply scatter seed and grain upon the ground, if they are in the area that should appear. Like any other songbirds that possess a variety of call but their most common song is a high-pitched, guttural variety of squeaks, whistles, and croaks.

Chimney Swift

Chaetura pelagica

‘Its a bird… it’s a plane… no you were right the first time, it is a bird’. Specifically, it's a chimney swift. This bird is most commonly seen as a fast moving silhouette in the sky of cities east of the Mississippi, the shape of which is most commonly described as ‘flying cigar’. The title is given to it because its entire body is rather tubular in shape with a short neck, bear, and tail. Feathers are a dark, dusky brown save for a lighter gray patch on the throat and chin. The wings are rather long, especially when compared with the tiny size of their body, and end in a point, giving the overall wingspan look sharp and almost boomerang shape. Wingbeats are very stiff and shallow, similar to those of a dragonfly. These physical adaptations have made them excellent aerial predators, being able to catch flying insects such as mosquitos, moths, flies, and beetles high in the air with pin-point accuracy. Those of you who have houses with chimneys might hear the chorus of many birds tweeting their fast-paced, high-pitched chips, which in some cases are only a half second apart resulting in an insect -like buzzing sound . And this is because, like the aforementioned barn swallow, this bird has become specially adapted to living in human inhabited areas. Chimneys are their preferred nesting sites for them since they emulate the dark areas with plenty of vertical surface area associated with their original natural sites such as caves and hollow old-growth trees. Vertical surfaces are required as the foot shape of the swift prevents them from perching like normal birds, they can only take off and land on walls and trunks of trees. Their nests are made from twigs woven together and glued together with saliva. Depending on the size of the chimney there can be up to 10,000 birds at one site, especially during the winter when they group up to conserve heat. Sadly, swifts like the common grackle have faced steep declines with 67% of the population dying off since 1966. This is most likely attributed to the fact that modern houses are not being built with the old-style brick chimneys. This coupled with the fact that natural sites have been destroyed for agriculture and housing has resulted with swifts losing most of their nesting sites, preventing successful breeding.

easter Whip-poor-whil

Antrostomus vociferus

These birds have been made famous after being featured in a plethora of folk music and pieces of literature given their association with warm summer nights. Whip-poor-wills, like all other Caprimulgiformes, are nocturnal using their huge eyes to safely navigate in low light conditions. They are aerial feeders who, like the bar swallow and chimney swift, catch insects on the wing by scooping them up with their huge, cavernous maw and gulping them down. To help with funneling their prey into their mouths they have "rictal bristles; which are long, stiff and hairlike feathers that are present around the mouth that male their mouths ‘larger’ without actually having to grow a larger beak or head. These birds have narrow, rounded and disproportionately long wings which can be twice the length of the bird itself. During the day they are normally found resting horizontally perched on tree branches or on the ground. To aid in not being spotted by predators both sexes of the species are cryptically camouflaged with a complicated pattern of mottled grays, blacks and browns. Their bodies are rather squat poses round bodied and large heads and tiny legs. The only difference between males and females would be the presence of a white spot on the corner of the tail for males. Their call is quite easy to remember because it's just them constantly repeating their own names, ‘Whip-poor-will’ , in an emphatic tone. These birds are far easier to hear than to see as the males will continue to call at dusk throughout the night for extended periods of time. If you do want to see them the best way is to use a red-spotlight to catch them resting on barren pieces of ground in open woodlands.

Navigating Climate Anxiety

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 19:43:07 GMT

Every time you turn on the news or check social media, it seems like there’s another story about record-breaking heat waves, rising sea levels, or wildfires. It's no surprise that climate anxiety is becoming more common, especially among younger people. What used to feel like a distant threat is now an imminent issue that we’re experiencing the effects of firsthand. Climate anxiety , also known as "eco-anxiety," isn't a medical diagnosis, but rather a way to describe the stress and worry about the state of the environment. This type of anxiety involves a chronic fear of environmental disaster that can feel overwhelming and paralyzing. Climate change is a real threat that we are all affected by, and therefore it's normal to experience worry and fear about the consequences. Since there aren't many precedents of this kind of anxiety and pre-traumatic stress in the United States, it can be tough to know how to deal with it. In this blog, I want to share some tools to help you manage your own climate anxiety and support younger kids in coping with it too.

Worry can be a positive and constructive emotion because it motivates us to take action. When you worry about something, you’re driven to find solutions. In fact, we need more people to be concerned about climate change, and anxiety in the face of climate change is a healthy response to a dire situation. It’s our body’s way of giving us time to react in the face of danger. However, worry becomes a problem when it overwhelms you and stops you from living your life. A study by Lancet Planetary Health in 2021 reported that among an international cohort of more than 10,000 people, 84% of children and young adults ages 16 to 25 are at least moderately worried about climate change, and 59% are very or extremely worried. This makes sense, as children and young adults will disproportionately suffer the consequences of environmental changes. But climate change is far beyond any one person’s control, leaving people frustrated by the limits of their own capacity, and making them unable to rid themselves of resulting worry and negative emotions.

So, what should you do when you're feeling hopeless and helpless? The first and most important step is to acknowledge the reality of the situation and the validity of your anxiety. Global climate change is not a distant issue; we are in a climate crisis now. We are already experiencing, and will continue to experience, rising sea levels, longer and more intense heat waves, and extreme weather events . There are numerous environmental, social, and economic challenges we will continue to face, and the effects of climate change are irreversible. Even if we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, we would still experience the impact of a warming world. Simply said, climate change is the biggest threat modern humans have ever faced . It's a complex and serious issue, and your worries are valid. The scope of this problem is vast, and it's natural to be concerned. Your fears are reasonable and rational, and they’re not yours alone. This is a global issue, and many people share this worry. Talking about your worries - whether with a friend, a coworker, a loved one, or a therapist- is a helpful way to cope with your worries. It will make you feel less alone, and it can be reassuring to know that others share the feeling.

When talking to children about climate change, it's crucial to speak openly about the threat of climate change and to acknowledge their fears. Kids are intelligent and perceptive people, and if they're worried about climate change, they understand what's happening in the world. This is a positive sign; it's important to raise well-informed individuals. So avoid sugar-coating the situation, it can make children feel unimportant and invalidated. Climate anxiety disproportionately affects younger generations, and many children and young adults may already feel betrayed by older generations for leaving them with such a significant problem. By being honest, we help them feel heard, respected, and validated.

The next step is to find healthy ways to cope with your climate anxiety. Recognize that climate change is a global issue that can't be solved by one person alone; it requires collective action. This can sometimes make you feel helpless and like there is not much you can do, but remember that when many people make climate-conscious choices those actions lead to a cultural shift in the right direction. Start by educating yourself on how to reduce your environmental impact. Make informed, conscious consumer and lifestyle decisions. I find that spending time in nature can also help reduce climate anxiety and reminds me of the resilience of the natural world. Something that helps me avoid climate anxiety on a daily basis is the community that I connect with, so I would recommend getting involved in advocacy or environmental groups to surround yourself with like minded individuals. It helps to surround yourself with people who are similarly worried about these issues and are also engaging with you on solutions in whatever capacity is meaningful to you. As I like to say, think global, act local. When you find meaning in your actions, you’ll feel a greater sense of agency and self-efficacy. This empowerment to take action can be a powerful way to manage strong negative emotions.

Maria Ojala, a psychology professor at Örebro University in Sweden, recommends a coping strategy that balances negative feelings about climate change with faith in the power of social forces working to overcome it. This approach, called meaning-focused coping , draws strength from individual actions and climate beliefs while trusting that other societal actors are also doing their part. According to Ojala, this method allows negative and positive climate emotions to coexist, making it easier for young people to maintain hope for the future. Afterall, the most detrimental belief in our fight against climate change is believing that the fight is hopeless.

Climate change is an enormous issue, and it's completely normal and valid to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem and the immense effort required to address it. I often find myself feeling hopeless about the issue. However, I do believe that society has the capacity to make the necessary changes for a greener, more sustainable future. I find a lot of hope in my generation and the growing awareness and activism around climate issues. By acknowledging our anxiety, finding healthy ways to cope, and taking meaningful action, we can transform our worry into positive change. Remember, you're not alone in this struggle, and together, we can create a more sustainable and hopeful future for everyone.

Severson Through Billions of Years

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 15:22:29 GMT

How Old is the Earth?

The Earth is extremely, unimaginably old- even now it's hard for me to truly comprehend given I have only been around this planet for a very short amount of time (25 years give or take a few). On the contrary the Earth is about 4.543 billion years old (± 0.05 billion years). That means the Earth is almost two hundred million times older than me, but to be honest that still barely makes any sense, so let's try to rectify that. From there we will develop a better understanding of each of the different eons that exist and view where Severson Dells might be in this situation.

Visualizing Absurdly Large Numbers

There are a couple ways to visualize big numbers. Let's start off with the ‘smaller’ number of 1 million. If you were able to count one number per second without stopping (a herculean feat that is impossible for a human but oh well). It would take 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds to count from 1 to 1,000,000. So that is with optimal conditions. Someone has actually counted to the number 1,000,000 and it was recorded all online for the history books. His name is Jeremy Harper and he counted to one million to raise money for charity ( Jeremy Harper Counting ). Averaging about 16 hours a day it took him 89 days to count from one to one million. Now let's look at that pesky billion number. There are a thousand millions in a billion, so with optimal conditions of one number a second it would take about 32 YEARS to count to one billion. If you were as dedicated as Jeremy Harper (who might I remind you spent 16 hours A DAY counting) it would only take you 243 YEARS to count to one billion…. Then just do that 4 and a half more times to get to the age of the earth at a simple 1103 years of counting non stop for 16 hours a day.

How do we know how old the Earth is?

There are a lot of techniques that people have used to determine the age of the Earth (some more unreliable than others but all similarly fascinating ). One of the more consistent ways to determine the age of something is looking at some isotopes of radioactive elements because they decay over time at a predictable rate. This means we can calculate how old certain rocks are by measuring this rate of decay. The issue is rocks go through a process called the rock cycle which is the method of transformation from one type of rock to another, so there likely are not any rocks that still exist in their original form from the first moment on the Earth. The oldest minerals found on Earth were found in Western Australia and these little Zircon are measured to be as old as 4.404 billion years old . This tells us the Earth is at least 4.4 billion years old but for more information we need to look elsewhere away from Earth itself. Other aspects of our solar system likely formed at the same time as the Earth itself. The moon has rocks as old as 4.5 billion years old and there have been asteroids that have ages that range between 4.4 and 4.5 billion years. These are more clues that aid in confirming this theory of earth being 4.54 billion years old (± 0.05 billion years). Now, lets visualize how old that really is. If you shrank down the 4.54 billion years old that the Earth is into a single calendar year there are a lot of things that are happening in that year but lets just focus on some special ‘holidays’.

Eons of Earth

Severson's Timeline

Utilize the graphic below to travel through the timeline of Severson...Click on the 'Eon' listed to learn more!

Chytrid Fungus and Frogs

education2.americorps@seversondells.org — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:08:47 GMT

Our amphibians- frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders-are under threat. This probably isn't news for many of you, as ecological news outlets have been raising the alarm about how many species have been disappearing from our waterways and wetlands. However, you may not know which enemies we are facing. In many cases it's regular, repeat offenders associated with human interactions in the environment; things such as water pollution and habitat loss. Even though these are quite devastating, there is another, one that is far more sinister, going undetected by the general population and has non known solution for its destruction. This villain would be none other than a microscopic organism called the chytrid fungus, or as it is known in the scientific community, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans .

There are over 1,000 different species of chytrid fungus found around the world and not all of them are not problematic ( 1 ). Most live their lives as simple, microscopic fungus, who are perfectly content with freely living in soil and water where they break down decaying plant matter. The two species that I mentioned earlier, B. dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans , are very different from the others as they are parasitic. This means that they survive by living in or on another organism, known as a host, and taking nutrients from them which results in bodily harm or occasionally death. Chytrid fungus lives on and inside the skin of amphibians and feeds off of the nutrients that are in the blood vessels in the skin. This results in a disease called chytridiomycosis ( 6 ). The fungus can spread in two ways; the first is direct contact between an infected animal and an uninfected one as this allows the fungus to jump to a new host. The second is for the amphibian to come in contact with infected water as the babies of the fungi are free-swimming and will infect any suitable host they come across.

Chytrid fungus steal nutrients in amphibian skin and makes it more difficult for them to breathe through their skin. As the fungi feeds it begins to grow and spread inside the skin of the frog which eventually gums up the pores in the skin, thickening it and making it so that the skin is unable to do its job as a breathing organ. This would be akin to having our nose and lungs filled with mushrooms that prevent us from being able to breathe. The continued growth of the fungi in the skin further saps away nutrients from the animal resulting in severe emaciation, also known as weight loss. As the disease progresses the skin begins to change from the natural color to a sickly gray-white coloration and begins to have open sores form on it. Besides the physical attributes of the disease, it also puts a lot of mental strain on the animals, leading them to be sluggish and lethargic As both symptoms progress it eventually leads to the skin completely shedding away. Unfortunately the sum of these symptoms result in death in up to 100% of infected individuals depending on location and species ( 1 ).

This disease wasn't properly discovered until 1993 after a scientist was studying why there were huge declines in frog populations in Australia ( 2 ). After this information was made available to the greater scientific world, researchers in other places began to look at their own populations of frogs and salamanders to check for it. This is when they realized that it had already spread across the world, being present on every continent. Leading to the ascension of the fungus to being one of the leading reasons for amphibian population declines across the board ( 3 ). However, this illness is not an entirely new thing, as the oldest documented occurrence is from 1863 which showed a frog from South America being infected ( 6 ). Due to how widespread it is, it has been hard for scientists to determine where exactly it originated. The best hypothesis is from Southeast Asia or Southern Africa with it being spread through the trade of frogs in the 20th century for research, food, and pets ( 5 ).

All is not lost however. Research is well underway in many places around the world to understand how to treat the disease. The two most well-studied and viable treatments are through the use of antifungal medications and heat therapy ( 4 ). You might be asking, “what can I do to help?”, and there are some good ways for you to be a part of the solution. The best and most simple way is to limit your direct interactions with frogs and other amphibians. You should only touch them when necessary; like if you have to remove them from a dangerous or undesirable location, and when interacting with them make sure to wear disposable gloves. This might seem like a given but when interacting with amphibians do not move them from one area to another since that frog might be unknowingly infected and spread the fungus to a new population. Mud and water that are left on aquatic recreation equipment such as boots, boats, tires, and fishing gear all have the potential to carry the disease fungus from place to place. So it's important to clean and disinfect all of your equipment before moving between different bodies of water. You can use anything from vinegar and soapy water to harsher chemicals like lysol or bleach to kill the fungi. You can even get involved though the scientific research aspect of combating the scourge since many environmental agencies, such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, often run programs where they give out resources for everyday people to collect skin samples from local frogs to be used for detection and monitoring. Even if your local groups aren't doing a project like that you should always report mass death events or suspicious frogs to the department of natural resources Hopefully with a better understanding and more publicity this particular strife can be ended.

Amphibian Ark. (2022a, May 16). Chytrid fungus . Amphibian Ark. https://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/chytrid-fungus/#:~:text=salamandrivorans%2C%20commonly%20known%20as%20%E2%80%9Camphibian,as%20decomposers%20of%20plant%20material.
Australian Government: Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. (2013). Chytridiomycosis (Amphibian chytrid fungus disease). Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
Collins JP. Amphibian decline and extinction: what we know and what we need to learn. Dis Aquat Organ. 2010 Nov;92(2-3):93-9. doi: 10.3354/dao02307. PMID: 21268970.
Parker JM, Mikaelian I, Hahn N, Diggs HE (2002). "Clinical diagnosis and treatment of epidermal chytridiomycosis in African clawed frogs (Xenopus tropicalis)". Comp. Med. 52 (3): 265–8. PMID 12102573
Weldon; du Preez; Hyatt; Muller; and Speare (2004). Origin of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus. Emerging Infectious Diseases 10(12).
Whittaker, Kellie; Vredenburg, Vance. "An Overview of Chytridiomycosis". Amphibiaweb. Retrieved 29 September 2016.

Meet our Summer Staff Team

andrea@seversondells.org (Andrea Wallace) — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:45:22 GMT

Mary Miller | Severson Dells Wild Things Camp Lead

My name is Mary Miller (she/her), and this is my second summer at Severson Dells! When I am not at Severson Dells helping out with summer camp, I am teaching big kids (5-12th grade) Social Studies and English Language Arts! My favorite hike at Severson is the creek hike where you go out and explore the Dells under the guidance of a Severson staff member. The Dells here are millions of years old, and we even have some cool fossils we can share with the Rockford community. During summer camp last year, a kiddo was playing with rocks in the creek and discovered a coral reef fossil that is older than dinosaurs. It was a really cool day to be a camp counselor.

I love working at Severson Dells because the staff here are so passionate about the environment, love molding and nurturing young minds, and care deeply about preserving our beautiful space. Severson Dells truly is a rare gem in the Rockford community. It is the best spot to spend your summer vacation.

Liz Weiner | Severson Dells Junior Naturalist Camp Lead

Liz has climbed mountains, conquered white water rapids, learned how to fluently speak dragon, and is also our lead for Junior Naturalist Camp! Her expertise knows no bounds and she's excited to share her knowledge with campers- whether it's knot tying, team building, or creek walking. She's looking forward to camp classics like the "muddiest camper" competition as well as some new and exciting activities. Ask her about what the trolls have been up to, she's got a lot of stories to share!

Alex Marshall | Severson Dells Summer Camp Assistant

Hello nature people! My name is Alex Marshall and I will be returning as a summer camp staff member this summer. I have lived in Rockton for most of my life and love the northern Illinois area and all of its natural spaces. I have been involved in Severson in some capacity—whether as a camper, volunteer, or counselor—for the past decade. I still remember my first year as a camper, refusing to get into the creek until the very end of the week. Now, I love to get into the creek to look for crayfish and damselflies! I recently graduated from Hononegah Community High School and will be attending the University of New Hampshire in the fall to study Marine, Estuarine, and Freshwater Biology. I am passionate about social and environmental issues (grow native gardens!), and enjoy reading, gardening, bird banding, and getting out into nature in my free time. I am so excited to spend another summer at Severson, helping youth to connect with nature.

Mason Powell | Severson Dells Summer Camp Assistant

Hello, my name is Mason Powell, and I’m a part of the Severson Dells team this summer, as a camp counselor. I am a graduate of Hononegah, class of 2024. I have worked for over two years with children. I am super excited to spend my summer making lasting memories and going on lots of creek walks! This Fall, I will be attending UW River Falls, majoring in Environmental Science. I can’t wait to see what the summer has in store!

Alex Lunde | RPS 205 Summer Retreat Lead

Hello, Hello! My name is Alex and here at Severson Dells we give people the opportunity to enjoy and experience nature! I graduated from Augustana College majoring in Geography and Environmental Studies. This year I will be running the RPS summer camps for all our happy campers, I have tons of fun activities in store for all ranging from exploring our wonderful habitats, meeting (and catching) some wildlife, and playing all sorts of exciting games. This summer will be a blast!

Bryce Messer | RPS 205 Summer Retreat Lead

Salutations, my name is Bryce Messer and I serve Severson Dells as an environmental education AmeriCorps. I moved to Illinois from the south to get my Masters at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In my career, I have had the pleasure of working with public programs for all age ranges and have a passion for introducing new people to the great outdoors. I’m looking forward to sharing my knowledge and fostering an everlasting love for nature with my campers. This fall I will be moving to Gainesville, Florida to start my PhD in wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida. This summer’s going to be a blast; that’s a Bryce Messer guarantee!

June Bird Blog

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 20:53:36 GMT

The Warmth is here and So are the Birds!

Summer is here! The leaves have grown, the spring flowers have left and the longest day of our summer is June 20th which gives many of our birds ample time to collect all the resources they need to thrive for another glorious year. This month's bird blog holds a variety of unique birds, some very rare and others are very common. With luck you will be able to see all of our feathered friends on this list but one of our birds only has 600 left of its species in the world. With a whole lot of conservation work, they are slowly growing in size and if you want to read more about it you can read the rest of the blog! Without further ado: our June birds.

Spotted Sandpiper

Actitis macularius

The Spotted Sandpiper is a shorebird found all across North America. It's a medium sized bird with a narrow bill. They have a grayish brown coat covering the top side of their body and wings with a thin white stripe along the wing that can’t be seen unless they are flying. During the breeding season, the spotted sandpiper has dark spots on their bright white underside and in the winter they are not spotted but pure white. These shorebirds have a few fairly unique traits in the bird family, starting off with their unique teetering motion where they seemed to bob and shake their bodies for some reason including very quickly after they hatch as babies (no one has been able to confirm fully why these sandpipers teeter the way they do). I’ve seen them along Olson Lake at Rock Cut State Park if you want to look around Rockford for them. Another unique aspect of how they survive is through their breeding habits. The female Spotted Sandpiper is the dominant one. She will actively claim territory and sometimes participate in polyandry where the female mates with multiple males leaving a clutch of eggs for each male for them to care for. The Spotted Sandpiper song is a rapid string of weet calls which can be used for communication and courtship and if you want to hear it click here!

Orchard Oriole

Icterus spurius

The deep burnt red coloration of the male Orchard Oriole makes it unique among its other oriole cousins. The top half of the male Orchard Oriole is a striking black coloration with the burnt orange covering its lower half. The females and juveniles are a greenish yellow color with bars of white. They are slimmer songbirds with a medium length tail, rounded heads, and a sharp bill. They prefer to live along river edges and tend to nest in groups around them but if they aren’t in a desirable habitat they will likely be more solitary. Orchard Orioles eat insects as well as fruit, nectar and pollen from trees and flowers. Sometimes they pierce the flower directly to access the nectar which means they avoid getting covered in pollen and don't spread it (which is not very nice to the flower). They are long distance migrants and have a fairly short breeding season (going north late into the season and then heading south early) in the north before they quickly return to Central America for the rest of the year. Their song includes a series of loud whistles with a tempo of different phrases and their calls are normally softer little chirps and if you want to hear either click here!

Whooping Crane

Grus americana

One of the rarest birds around, the Whooping Crane sports a pure white plumage covering its body except for its blacked tipped wings and its red accents along its head. This bird is a massive creature with over a 7 foot wide wingspan and almost matching many humans in height (reaching up to 5 feet tall). They prefer marshy wetlands for a habitat and have a tendency to browse by patrolling through the water looking for its food. Its food normally includes many small aquatic creatures (crawfish, minnows, aquatic insects, and frogs) as well as land critters (mice, voles, snakes). Their diverse diet also includes different types of vegetation like grains and berries too! When finding a partner these Cranes perform elaborate and energetic dances on the ground and through the air, once they decide on their partner they mate for life and will work together to build the nest and the male will more often than not be territorial to other birds not part of its flock. In 1941 the Whooping Crane faced near extinction with only 21 left alive in the entire world. Nowadays they are at a fragile 600ish where conservationists work tooth and nail to bring them to healthier numbers. Their name likely comes from the loud bugle call that they release that you can listen to here!

Eastern Phoebe

Sayornis phoebe

The Eastern Phoebe is a round little songbird with a medium-length tail which has a tendency to wag when it is perched. Their feathers on top are a brownish-gray coloration, the head hosts the darkest plumage of this shade. The lower half is more of a whitish coloration. This Phoebe has a short, thin bill used primarily for insect harvesting. While hunting they are very active, starting at one perch and watching for insects in the small area swooping down to capture it and then returning to the same perch. While doing this they tend to wag their tail up and down frequently … a bird wagging its tail, how strange?? There are many theories for why they might wag their tail but one of my favorite is it is a way for the phoebe to signal that it is aware of the potential predator sneaking up on it and wagging its tail because it's aware of your presence. If you are trying to spot an Eastern Phoebe, look for their nests in low hanging nooks and crannies like bridges, barns, and houses. They make a number of different calls and songs with their most notable being their raspy song. This song is a quick little burst that sounds like they are saying fee-bee .

Blue-winged Teal

Spatula discors

A splash of azure takes flight as the Eastern Bluebird sparkles in the sunlight as it spends its time hunting for food. This bird has a brilliant coloration of cobalt blue along its head and back with its chest and throat being rusty red. It has a big head and body with long blue wings. But it has a fairly short tail and legs. The Eastern Bluebird lives in the open country around trees with little understory, so agricultural fields and backyards are perfect places for them to set up and thrive in. They hunt for insects when it's available by scanning the ground from a low perch and dropping on them when spotted. The Male Bluebird will aggressively protect its cavity based nesting location against all kinds of birds. The Eastern Blue birds that live in Illinois tend to migrate but some who live farther south are permanent residents. The song of this blue bundle of feathers is fairly low-pitched with many phrases !

A lovely month of June. It gives us ample time to explore the warmer waters of Illinois where many birds call them home. I hope the best for you and your birding friends to see all of the rare birds around here. If there are any questions or stories you want to share with us feel free to leave a comment or tell any of us here at Severson Dells Nature Center! Take advantage of these warm months to really enjoy what the world has to offer!

Jillian's Farewell

jillian.americorps@seversondells.org — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 20:04:18 GMT

Is Living Green Surely Green?

education2.americorps@seversondells.org — Thu, 30 May 2024 12:42:06 GMT

This phenomenon is known as “green-washing”, when you label something as eco-friendly even though it's not completely that way to trick a customer, and there are many ways to go about it. ( 1 ) In many cases it can be as simple as changing the packaging color to green, or doing an advertisement campaign saying that you are going to eventually change, or by claiming that a product is now ‘biodegradable’ or ‘recyclable’. But what can we truly expect from corporations who, at the end of the day, have the primary objective of creating a product that will generate revenue. Greenwashing is far more sinister than it already appears since customers, like you and me, as nature lovers are hungry for sustainable solutions. So when potentially eco-friendly products are being presented to us we are willing to spend extra money to use their products in our everyday lives. Which, as they aren't truly ‘green’, continues to harm our environment. This is multiplied by the fact that normal people will consume green products faster and in higher quantities thinking it'll have less of an impact, which only causes more ecological destruction.

A prime example has made its way into our daily lives; unknowingly influenced by greenwashing campaigns and root in our kitchen and our laundry rooms. Over the past decade there have been a huge surge in the appearance of the laundry pods, laundry sheets, and dishwasher capsules. They came as replacements for the traditional liquid detergents, popularized for their ease of use, cleaning potency, and biodegradable nature. On the surface this seems like a very logical progression, like who wouldn't want to make the switch to an all around better product. However we have been led to, tricked, and utterly bamboozled! As with many greenwashed products.

PVA is used because it is great at holding in non-water based liquids such as soap and sand-like solids such as laundry powder due to its great barrier properties. It is simultaneously used as a coating to create the little bags of liquid and as glue to transform loose soap powder into the little bricks we place in our dishwashers. ( 2 ) The second superpower of PVA is that it dissolves into water. This results in the little plastic packaging of the products disappearing from our eyesight. Because the plastic disappears it seemingly puts a lot of people at ease about how biodegradable they are because many believe that plastic does not break down quickly if at all. This collective idea has been exploited by manufacturers so they can get away with their false claim of being plastic free.

You might be asking yourself “ if the PVA plastic does dissolve and break down isn’t that a good thing? ”, technically yes in the traditional sense of litter because there’s no large pieces of trash they gum up our soil or choke our wildlife. But this is a problem in itself because of ‘microplastics’. ( 2 ) Like their name suggests they are tiny pieces of plastic that can't be seen by the naked eye. These plastics are more dangerous than larger pieces because they have the ability to infiltrate the bodies of living things. Once PVA is dissolved and flushed away from our appliances it eventually ends up in the lakes, rivers, and oceans; where this water is then drunk by us and absorbed by our crops and livestock to eventually be eaten. These plastics can infiltrate our organs and have been found in lungs, blood, breast milk, and even placentas; a stud from the University of Amsterdam showed that around 17 out of 22 adults have some microplastic in them. ( 4 ) Scientists are still not entirely sure how having this plastic inside of us will affect us. Studies on fish and other aquatic animals has given us some ideas, including reproductive disruption, tissue damage, and stunting growth.

There are tried and true methods of getting rid of microplastics like PVA, they can be broken down by microorganisms like bacteria, this is the true claim to fame for their biodegradable label. Several species of bacteria actually eat PVA and convert it into environmentally safe carbon and energy. ( 3 ) Some water treatment plants utilize these bacteria to remove PVA and other plastics from wastewater. There is a caveat with the bacteria, that's because not every water treatment plant has them as most plants are designed to deal primarily with human waste, not plastic. PVA eating Bacteria require specialized equipment and processes to utilize them which can often be too expensive for many areas to afford. Meaning that people who live in rural areas that are isolated from treatment plants are unable to rid their waster of PVA, releasing it into their local environment So even though PVA is biodegradable it's only the case under very specific circumstances. ( 5 )

Overall its best to avoid products with PVA in their entirety, thankfully there are much more environmentally friendly options for cleaning. Common household items such as white vinegar, borax, baking soda, and lemon juice can be mixed together to create your own laundry detergent. For a plant based option you can purchase soap nuts which are the dried shells of a tropical fruit which has slight anti-microbial properties and a nice smell. There are commercially available powder detergents and all natural bar soaps that are PVA free, but of course you have to make sure to read the ingredients label to avoid charlatans. If you do still want to continue using your laundry pods be sure to contact you local water treatment so see if they have the facilities to process PVA.

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Laundry Pod image derived from: Pete from Liverpool, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Mushrooms, Mycelium, and Fungi Explained

Tue, 21 May 2024 20:25:42 GMT

It’s that time of year that budding mycologists and mushroomers alike look forward to! Spring is in full bloom, and mushrooms are appearing in the forests of Northern Illinois. With the emergence of morels and other edible species, mushrooms are on the mind of many, and there is no better time to learn about these elusive organisms!

Fungi have been on the Earth for over a billion years, but they're still not very well understood. Scientific estimates suggest there are between 2.2 and 3.8 million species of fungi in the world, although only about an estimated 10% of them have been identified! Despite their enigmatic nature, ongoing scientific inquiry continually unveils intriguing insights into these organisms. Understanding the pivotal role fungi play in ecosystems requires unraveling the unique characteristics and evolutionary relationships of the truly fascinating fungi.

Fungi Explained

When considering living organisms, the conventional dichotomy often revolves around plants or animals. Fungi, however, are neither. Like plants and animals, fungi are eukaryotes , meaning that their cells have a nucleus where DNA is stored. This is about where the similarities end though. Unlike plants, fungi lack the ability to perform photosynthesis for energy production, and unlike most animals, fungi do not have stomachs. Instead, fungi typically excrete digestive enzymes to break down materials outside of their bodies, which they can then absorb. Another quality that is unique to fungi is that they have chitin (the same material that makes up an insect's exoskeleton) inside of their cell wall which allows them to grow through hard surfaces like rock and concrete!

Mushrooms are the visible reproductive structures of certain members of the Fungi kingdom- think of them like an apple of an apple tree. The actual mushrooms, however, constitute only a fraction of the organism's entirety. The bulk of the fungus is composed of minuscule thread-like structures called hyphae, which grow underground or in wood. Cumulatively, these threads form vast, interconnected networks of hyphae known as mycelium . Mycelium networks can be incredibly expansive. In fact, t he world’s largest organism is a honey mushroom network ( Armillaria solidipes ) that spans 2.4 miles across the Malhuer National Forests in the Blue Mountains of Oregon!

Ecological Services of Fungi:

Mushrooms serve many important ecological roles; they aid in decomposition, nutrient transportation, and carbon sequestration. Revered as nature's recyclers, mushrooms adeptly break down organic matter, from decaying trees to animal excrement. They slowly decompose this material and return its nutrients to the soil, where the nutrients are then transported through the ecosystem. Without fungi, the forest would take considerably longer to regenerate. Organic matter isn't the only thing that mushrooms can break down either! A species of Pestalotiopsis discovered in the rainforests of Ecuador was discovered to even break down plastics and petrochemicals .

A crucial, yet often overlooked, service that fungi provide is nutrient transportation. Fungi are well known for their mutualistic relationships with other species, where both parties work together for mutual benefit. In forest ecosystems, many fungal species engage in mutualistic partnerships with plants through their mycelium. The mycelium of fungi species form exterior sheaths around the roots of partner plants, effectively extending their root systems and enhancing their ability to absorb water and nutrients. In return, fungi gain access to the carbohydrates produced by the plants. Remarkably, over 95% of plants form such partnerships with fungi through their roots, highlighting the widespread significance of these relationships. This interconnected network of mycelium has been aptly dubbed the " wood wide web " by German forester Peter Wohlleben, as it is through the mycelium that trees communicate. While ongoing research explores the complexities of these interactions and debates their purely mutualistic nature, certain fungi have demonstrated the ability to send warning signals to plants! One type of fungi was even found to stimulate immune responses in plant communities when individual plants face threats. Next time you’re visiting a forest, as you wander through the trees, take a moment to think about the complex exchanges happening underneath your feet!

Mycelium networks are also crucial carbon reservoirs of nature, and play a vital role in mitigating accelerated climate change. Through their mutualistic association with trees, mycelium receives carbon from them via the roots, facilitating their growth. Consequently, carbon is sequestered underground within the mycelium, rather than remaining in the atmosphere. This process contributes significantly to the regulation of carbon levels in the environment, underscoring the importance of mycelium networks in the global carbon cycle and climate stabilization efforts.

Anthropological Uses of Fungi

Beyond their ecological functions, fungi have substantial importance for humans as well, spanning culinary traditions, pharmaceutical innovations, and environmental remediation efforts. Despite being initially overlooked due to associations with human skin diseases, fungi have been pivotal in revolutionizing medical practices throughout history. Their contributions to drug discovery and development continue to captivate researchers worldwide. One of the most notable examples is penicillin, derived from fungi in the Penicillium genus. Although the discovery of penicillin may be old news, fungi remain at the forefront of medical innovation.

As mental health awareness continues to gain increasing prominence, fungi are once again being utilized. Psilocybin, a well-known psychedelic compound found in over 100 mushroom species, has recently garnered attention in The United States. Although previously stigmatized and marginalized during the 1960’s, recent scientific studies highlight psilocybin's potential as a therapeutic agent for conditions such as major depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD. Administered in conjunction with psychotherapy, psilocybin has shown significant improvements for those suffering with these illnesses, including long-term effects and instances of remission, underscoring its potential as a transformative treatment (Severson Dells Nature Center recommends that you speak with a primary care provider when considering treatment options; do not take this as medical advice).

Another use of fungi that is being explored is mycoremediation. Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation which uses enzymes produced by fungi to break down pollutants in the environment. Not only is this type of environmental cleanup cost-effective and eco-friendly, but it is also much more effective when compared to other methods we use today! Recent scientific research has shown that fungi can degrade toxic and persistent waste materials such as plastics, heavy metals, pesticides, and even polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s), a class of chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline. Better yet, fungi can actually and convert these pollutants into edible fungal biomass within a few days! Fungi’s ability to persist through five previous major extinction events on this planet just goes to show their powers of remediation, and how much we have yet to learn from them.

Fungi Conservation Challenges and Perspectives

Despite their ecological and societal significance, fungi remain largely overlooked in conservation efforts, with negligible representation in regulatory frameworks. Notably, the U.S. Endangered Species Act currently does not specifically mention fungi, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species currently includes a mere 551 species of fungi, compared to the tens of thousands of plants and insects listed While there is a growing interest in fungi, particularly among conservationists, efforts remain disproportionately focused on fungal pathogens, such as chytrid fungus in amphibians and white-nose syndrome in bats, as opposed to ecologically beneficial species, highlighting the need for greater awareness and advocacy.

While it can be challenging to motivate people to care about something that seems to be a common sight, especially considering the limited understanding of these organisms among scientists, there is hope for future fungal conservation efforts. Recent milestones, such as Chile's inclusion of fungi in environmental legislation, signal progress towards recognizing and safeguarding fungal biodiversity. Collaborative endeavors spearheaded by organizations like the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee offer hope for amplifying fungal conservation efforts and fostering broader recognition of their invaluable contributions to our planet's well-being.

Rusty Patched Bumblebee

jillian.americorps@seversondells.org — Thu, 16 May 2024 10:00:13 GMT

In celebration with the upcoming Endangered Species Day (May 17) and World Bee Day (May 20), we're re-introducing the following blog post that was originally posted by Jillian Neece on May 19, 2021.

Until a few decades ago, the Rusty Patched was one of the most common bumblebees on our landscape, as well as much of the upper midwest and east coast. Their distinctive rusty-orange patch on the yellow portion of their abdomen made them easy to identify and track, and since they were so common, experts were not concerned about their populations.

But all that changed around the turn of the century. Beginning around 2003, Rusty Patched Bumblebees started showing up less and less on annual bee surveys. Now, rather than finding them all across the midwest and eastern US, they are almost exclusively found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, which makes up only 0.1% of their original range.

With their populations declining so significantly, experts became very concerned. In 2017, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation succeeded in listing the Rusty Patched under the U.S. Endangered Species Act , making it the first bee to be listed.

While getting its name on a list may not seem like a big step toward protection, being a federally endangered species has its perks. Not only are researchers more likely to get funding for projects that study endangered species, but land managers can apply for more funding to protect and restore Rusty Patched habitat.

Why the decline?

Well, lots of things. Many researchers think that the decline was triggered by diseases that originated in commercial bumblebee colonies. Like honeybees, some bumblebees are raised to help pollinate crops. These bumblebee colonies are raised very close together, which allows disease to spread quickly between colonies. Then, once the colonies are released to pollinate agricultural fields or greenhouses, these commercial bees interact with wild bees and can pass diseases to them. In this case, commercial bumblebee colonies were raised in Europe and released in the U.S., which likely brought a pathogen called Nosema bombi to wild American bumblebees.

But disease isn’t the only thing putting pressure on Rusty Patched populations. Around the same time that Rusty Patched Bumblebees became scarce, the use of insecticides called neonicotinoids became more common. These insecticides have been shown to be deadly to many types of bees, so experts believe that they likely contributed to this decline.

Another factor that has put more stress on bumblebee populations, and the one that relates most to us in Winnebago County, is the loss of habitat. Rusty Patches need pollen, nectar, and resources for shelter in order to survive, so if their access to the habitat that sustains them is threatened, these bees are in trouble.

What kind of habitat does the Rusty Patched look for?

I’m glad you asked! They can be found in a variety of habitats, including woodlands, farms, and even city parks, but researchers think that the real estate they really can’t get enough of is oak savannas. These areas are similar to prairies, with tall grasses and bountiful flowers, but also contain a few trees to provide space for shade-loving plants as well. In general, savannas are characterized by having less than 50% of the ground shaded.

You may have noticed a significant removal-of-trees in the last few years by Forest Preserve staff, and if you’re like me, your first reaction was “Whaaat!? No!!” For so long, planting trees has been synonymous with environmental protection, so it was heartbreaking and confusing to see land managers cutting down what seemed to be perfectly good trees!

But let's take a step back. Think about the history of this land and which habitats it used to support. Prior to European settlement, much of what is now the midwestern United States consisted of tallgrass prairie and oak savannah. And this was no accident. The native tribes who stewarded this land (and continue to steward the lands on which they live), including the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ , Waazija (Ho-Chunk / Winnebago) , Myaamia , Bodéwadmiké (Potawatomi) , Sauk and Meškwahk i, Peoria , and Kickapoo nations, conducted periodic burns over the landscape to ensure that prairie ecosystems would not be encroached upon by forests. When European settlers backed by the U.S. government forcibly removed tribes from the land, fire was eliminated from the landscape, which allowed forests to take over.

Now let’s fast-forward to the Forest Preserve staff cutting down trees. Contrary to what gut-reactions might suggest, removing these trees and re-introducing controlled burns is actually restoring the landscape. And here is where our friend the Rusty Patched Bumblebee comes back in.

Thanks to the help of our all-star BeeSpotting community scientists, we have documented these bees in our area! This allows us to apply for funding from the federal government among other organizations to help us restore oak savanna and prairie habitat to support Rusty Patched populations. So, in the kind of coincidence that might not actually be coincidental at all, by installing habitat for Rusty Patched Bumblebees, we are simultaneously restoring our ecosystems to their pre-European-settlement glory! It’s funny how nature works that way.

While we know that there are multiple factors at play in bumblebee declines including competition with non-native honey bees, disease, and pesticide use, loss of habitat remains a major contributor. So next time you see some Forest Preserve staff removing trees out at preserves like Cedar Cliff, Stone Bridge, Four Lakes, Kieselburg, and even here at Severson Dells, make sure to thank them for doing the work needed to restore this land and protect its native species!

Can I do anything to help?

Here’s the fun part: there are steps you can take in your own backyard! One of the best things you can do is plant native flowers. Make sure you have a variety of species so that something blooms throughout the entire season. Also, avoid using pesticides, pesticide-treated seeds and garden plants (always check when you buy) and other chemicals like herbicides and fungicides. Leaving yard scraps like leaves, woodpiles and grass clippings in your garden can help create nesting habitat for bees as well.

If you don’t have a yard of your own, no worries: you can always take these steps in your neighborhood, schoolyard, or local park! Try reaching out to your neighbors or classmates to see if they would be interested in joining you; there’s power in numbers! Plus, you could join our team of BeeSpotters, a community science group that helps monitor bumblebees in our area!

Here Come the Cicadas

jillian.americorps@seversondells.org — Thu, 09 May 2024 10:45:00 GMT

The wait is finally over!

After seventeen years, cicadas of the Northern Illinois brood (Brood XIII) will be emerging from their time underground to reproduce and complete their life cycles. The last time these bugs emerged was in 2007, and after this summer, they won’t be back again until 2041.

I saw cicadas last year. What makes this year so special?

Well, there are two different types of cicadas in our area: annual and periodical cicadas. Annual cicadas, also called “dog days” cicadas, emerge every year during the height of summer. These species have a life cycle that lasts between two and five years, but their development is staggered so that some individuals emerge from the ground each year to mate, while others continue maturing underground.

The periodical cicadas that will emerge this spring have a much longer life cycle- one of the longest life cycles of any insect- with some species developing on a 13 year cycle and others on a 17 year cycle. Instead of staggering their development so that some bugs emerge each year, periodical cicada species all emerge together. This means that every time a periodical cicada brood emerges, we can expect hundreds of thousands of them to crawl out of their home in the soil and gather on trees and shrubs to look for a mate. We will still get the annual cicadas appearing in the late summer as they do every year, but this year we will also experience the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicadas.

Why are the brood emergences so spread out?

Most researchers think their life cycles are so long in order to avoid predators. When the entire species emerges at once, there are simply too many cicadas for their predators to eat. One study suggested that up to 1.5 million cicadas can emerge in a single acre! Not only will their predators have “forgotten '' that they exist since multiple generations of predators will have occurred without any cicadas emerging, the sheer number of insects overwhelms the predators and decreases the odds of any individual bug being eaten.

What does that mean for us?

Most importantly, we should be prepared for it to get loud. Male cicadas produce a buzzing sound to attract mates, and when hundreds of thousands of them call at the same time, the noise is about as loud as a lawn mower or chainsaw! Luckily, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that exposure to cicada calls (which are regularly recorded at 80-11 decibels) for short periods of time is not likely to cause long lasting hearing issues . That being said, it may still be better for your mental wellbeing to wear ear protection if you plan on being outside for multiple hours.

The cicada emergence may also impact those of us who have recently planted trees or shrubs. After the periodical cicadas breed, the females will lay their eggs in little cuts on tree branches. For most mature trees, this won’t cause any damage, but for young saplings, the damage could lead to a loss of branches. If you have any young trees or shrubs, experts recommend wrapping them in some kind of mesh fabric (with holes less than 0.25 inches across) to keep cicadas off of them. But again, this is only necessary for young or recently transplanted trees and shrubs, since mature plants should be healthy enough to withstand a little bit of damage.

Other than these precautionary steps, there isn’t much we need to do to prepare for millions of bugs that will be descending (or ascending?) upon our cities. Once they emerge, they usually only live for a few weeks, so the noise and threats to young trees will be short-lived. Take time to appreciate the awe-inspiring nature of these fascinating creatures while you can, and maybe plan to sleep with a fan running!

May Bird Blog

education2.americorps@seversondells.org — Thu, 02 May 2024 14:09:13 GMT

With spring in full swing, we will soon have our full repertoire of avian species present in Winnebago. So between our migrant species and those whom we share a home with all year, we will have a plethora of sightings with this I want to bring your attention to a selection of species of both varieties.

Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos

When one thinks of a wild duck it is nearly certain that the first species they’ll think of is the Mallard. This is one of the most widespread. Common habitats for them include wetlands, rivers, lakes, and park ponds; really anywhere that has water present. There is serious sexual dimorphism present with females being a mottled brown and tan while possessing orange bills and feet. Males on the other hand are more colorful with a brown breast, gray belly, a white collar, iridescent green head, orange feet, and a yellow bill. Both sexes will possess an area of iridescent purple-blue feathers with white fringe, called a speculum, on the wing. Mallards pose a significant threat across the world as they have a unique superpower to be able to successfully hybridize with other duck species, which messes with those species’ gene pools. Mated mallards pair up in the fall and spend their winter together until the female lays her eggs, in which case the male will abandon her so as to not draw too much attention to the nest with his bright colors. Mallards are the ancestors of nearly all domestic duck breeds, save for the Muscovy, and have a long storied history with humans in the form of food, feathers, and pets. You can hear their vocalizations here .

Downy Woodpecker - Dryobates pubescens

We present to you the smallest of North America’s woodpecker species. As stated before it is quite small, being only about 5 - 7 inches tall and having a wingspan of only 9 - 12 inches. This is an important identification feature as they are nearly identical to their large relative the Hairy woodpecker. Downy woodpeckers have a solid white belly with three black lines on their cheek, eyes, and cap. Their wings and tail are black with white spots and white barring respectively. Males possess a red spot on the back of their heads and have more pronounced bristles on their beaks. The birds are year-round residents of the deciduous and coniferous forest of northern Illinois, meaning that you get to see them snow or sun, rain or shine. They are consistent visitors of bird feeders especially those that contain suet even though their diet mainly consists of insects in the wild. Sound-wise they can be identified through either their whinnying vocal call or their steady, rapid drumming that can be heard here .

Red-shouldered hawk - Buteo lineatus

These birds are probably the 3rd most common species of hawk in Winnebago, following the red-tailed and the Cooper’s. Unlike their large cousin, the red-tailed, they prefer to live in forested areas and wetlands, as well as in suburban areas, instead of more open habitats. They are generalist predators who eat a wide variety of small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. They will become more commonly sighted in Winnebago as the weather continues to warm as many of the individuals and breeding pairs in our area are migratory and spend their winters in the southern United States. This will be especially true from April to July when they’ll be nesting across the region, including Severson Dells. Their most striking feature is their coloration, notably the reddish-brown feathers that are present on the head, breast, bellies, shoulders, and legs; with the reddish areas on the legs and belly being barred. In flight, they are easily recognizable with heavy black and white barring on the wing and tail feathers. Moreover, the titular red shoulders are more vibrant with the backdrop of sunlight. They are also noticeably smaller than red-tails when perched. Their call is a loud “kee-aah” which they screech in repetition as heard here .

Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis

Their colloquial name of “seagull” might make you believe that they are absent from our continental region, but that name is a fallacy as ‘gulls’ are associated with many of our large bodies of water. One of the most common gulls is the ring-billed gull due to their adaptable diet and their comfort around humans. They can be commonly seen flying over large lakes and rivers in the country during their northward migration in May; though they can be seen year round in Chicago and its suburbs. You might even find nesting pairs in some of our areas, but I doubt they'll be visiting your feeders. Their appearance is quite stereotypical amongst other gulls with a white head and belly, gray wings and back, with a black tail hosting white spots. The most iconic aspect of their look is the black ‘ring’ that runs vertically on the beak of the bird. Adult birds are ludicrously noisy and have a varied repertoire of sequels, squawks, and exclamatory notes. Hear some for yourself here.

Summer Tanager - Piranga rubra

This bird holds the distinguished title of being North America’s only all red bird. Due to the males entirely strawberry colored body, save for their eyes and bill. There is major sexual dimorphism in regards to coloration with females being far from red and instead being mustard yellow with olive wings. They are relatively medium sized songbirds coming in at about 7 inches in length and having a wingspan of about 12 inches. Their bills share the same generalist shape shared by many other birds such as robins, thrushes, and other tanagers, but are a little bit more broad. These birds are quite the rare sight in Winnebago county as we sit on the far northern fringes of their summer breeding range with them preferring to spend their summers directly to the west and south of us. To add insult to injury these birds are often out of sight as they forage high in the forest canopy and rarely come to bird feeders as their favorite food are bees and wasps. Their call is very distinctive with a robin-like song interlaced with the muttering of pit-ti-tuck call as heard here .

Spring Showers bring....Baby Showers?

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 14:02:46 GMT

Whether it's with a funny image on social media, a nature documentary, or looking at a heartwarming commercial your eyes will be assaulted with a buffet of adorable little creatures. With spring being well underway, we’ll soon be seeing the emergence of plenty of new and returning animal parents. Following suit, tons of brand new babies will be entering the world. However, not all of the animal babies are created equally. How they are born undoubtedly are extremely important aspects of shaping the life histories and ecology of animals. This is seen both when they are young and growing all the way through their adult years in determining what parental care strategies they’ll employ to increase their success.

Offspring broadly fall into one of two categories; Altricial or Precocial. Altricial offspring are those who are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. While on the other hand we have precocial young, relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching; being able to mature without parental care. However, these categories are not black and white with many animals falling into a gray area where they mainly show the traits of one group but not all of the titular extremes of it. Thus creating a sliding scale.

Altricial Species

Altricial species give birth to offspring that are born helpless, needing to have their parents take complete care of them. They are unable to perform basic bodily functions such as moving, seeing, feeding, or eliminating waste. parents provide care by creating milk for their young, feeding them high calorie diets, or teaching them important lessons in hunting, foraging, or social interactions. Babies are less developed upon hatching or being birthed, Because of relatively short pregnancies and brooding periods as they don't have enough time to mature before entering the world.

They also have sedentary, non-migratory lifestyles. If you are constantly on the move or have to travel long distances regularly it is unwise to have offspring that would have to be carried or move too slowly. At least in birds and mammals altricial species are smaller sizes, as they don't have the facilities to produce large, mature offspring. The altricial animals that you are probably most well acquainted with would be some Winnebago locals such as eastern cottontails, squirrels, coyotes, and all species of songbird and birds of prey. More exotic examples include kangaroos, chimpanzees, and the giant panda; the world’s largest altricial animal.

Precocial Species

The offspring of precocial species can either completely or mostly take care of themselves right after birth or hatching, or soon after! They can freely move around, hunt or feed themselves, and avoid predation. This is associated with animals having accelerated growth rates, things hastier than most. The most common trait amongst them is needing to grow and mature quickly, factoring into this is needing to move between food sources on their own and feeding themselves. This is because it's impractical for a parent to try to provide enough food for multiple babies to multiply in size in short periods of time, which is quite common. Another trait is a lack of intense parental care, though lots of precocial parents will hang around their offspring to serve as protectors or ‘gentle parents’ to them on what to eat.

As an opposite for one of the reasons to be altricial, precocial parents are often relatively large in body size. Being big simply makes it easier for a mother to produce either large mature offspring right off the bat or create large eggs that can in turn feed large, mature embryos. The environment can also serve as a catalyst for developing precocial young as they are some habitats that prevent offspring from not being able to do things on their own. Notably aquatic habitats because being unable to move can result in drowning or sinking to untenable depths. Good locale examples would include deer, turkeys, ducks, geese, and nearly all reptiles and amphibians.

Mixed traits

I mentioned before there is a sliding scale or spectrum between the two extremes. There are traits that supersede the binary naming system of precocial vs altricial by having their roots in other ecological faculties. One of these traits is making a lot of offspring which is common in individual species in both categories as a strategy to make sure that as many babies survive until adulthood as possible; seen in the super-precocial species like sea turtles and in altricial species like mice. Another is life span, since there are good examples of animals having both long and short life spans across both groups; such as ducks who are precocial living 3-5 years old, the altricial squirrel living for 5-10, and the precocial Canada goose living up to 10 as well. Humanity itself doesn't fully follow one strategy, we as a species are mostly altricial since our babies are born unable to walk, possessing underdeveloped skeletons, and needing heavy parental care. However, we are developmentally precocial in both the mind and body. We develop quite quickly with the care of our parents being able to move around, learn new skills, perform complex social behaviors, and technically feed ourselves; increasing the precocial nature of human juveniles. This is unlike many altricial animals which don’t become semi independent until they are sexually mature adults.

As you continue exploring the natural world around you, be sure to keep an eye out for all of the new lives taking shape and look for some of the aforementioned traits in those creatures.

The Spring Invaders Among Us

education2.americorps@seversondells.org — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 21:32:39 GMT

As spring quickly approaches it brings with it beautiful rain storms, warm air breezes, and longer sunny days we will be shedding out thick winter coats and emerging from our dens to properly enjoy this fairer weather. Humans aren’t the only organisms that are taking advantage of the change in seasons. Springtime is a great time of growth in rebirth as plants begin to germinate and sprout out of the ground and animals return to the area to give birth. Thus turning the midwestern forests and prairies from drab, cold doldrums into verdant wonderlands ripe for endless outdoor adventures.

However, not all of this growth is desirable since Illinois is unfortunately home to several 100 species of exotic and invasive plants, animals, and fungi. We, humans, are to blame for this as our desire to spread across the planet and to experience things from around the world has resulted either directly or indirectly in the spread of a wide variety of species from their native homelands to new areas. Just the appearance of an ‘alien’ species in a habitat is not innate, it's when these species begin to spread and become successful; resulting in economic or ecological harm to the native species, crops, and livestock through competition, predation and in rare cases, hybridization.

In the media charismatic, invasive animals like feral hogs, pythons, and lionfish get all of the hype since they can be played up as ‘big bads’. But the most notable invasive species for the average nature enthusiast would be one of the dozens of plant species. They normally possess adaptations that make them highly competitive when compared to native plants, most notably the ability to quickly germinate, leading to them being some of, if not the first plants to emerge from the barren ground. This means that they have first dibs on all of the nutrients and water in the soil starving out native plants, preventing their growth. Even if a native can sprout amongst them they will have a hard time photosynthesizing as the earlier invasives would have already fully unfurled their leaves, leaving natives struggling in the shade. So as we begin our journeys back into the woods and water of Winnebago County we must keep our eyes peeled for our most common culprits.

The first and most abundant of these plants would have to be garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) , a native of Europe and Asia which was introduced to North America in the mid-1800s. As soon as the snow melts and the sun peeks through the overcast winter and early spring skies garlic mustard begins to emerge and take over the forest floor. At this time of year if you are seeing green amongst the roots of trees it's these that you see, dominating the understory and reducing biodiversity. They can be identified by a circular arrangement of heart-shaped leaves with heavily toothed margins. In their second year they begin producing small, white cross-shaped flowers. It can also be identified by its namesake smell, for when you pick a leaf of the plants and crush it between your fingers it will give off a garlicky odor. Even though the plant is invasive it does have its uses, most notably the fact that it's edible. You can harvest the plants at any stage and eat them but it's best to harvest younger plants since they are tastier and require less thorough cooking as they contain far less cyanide than the older plants.

Another plant of note would be the orange daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) also known as the ditch lily. This plant is master of growing in poor habitats such as roadsides, cemeteries, railroads, and suburban green spaces. They can be identified by their 3-6’ tall stalks and their rosette of sword-shaped leaves located at the plant’s base. The leaves of this plant have a protective waxy coating which eleades it to being less affected by water loss and herbicide treatments. Even though their Orange flowers appear for only a single day in summer, the herbaceous body of the plant emerges early in the spring in huge clusters in order to drown out native plants and hog all of the sunlight, water, and nutrients. The plant is a persistent problem as they are a long-lived perennial that will renege in a location for years and years. However just like with garlic mustard this plant is edible, all parts of the younger plants are non-toxic and edible to humans.

Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) is a special case amongst the spring plants as this is the only time you'll see them above ground. This is because it's a spring ephemeral, meaning that the plant germinates, emerges, blooms, and enters dormancy all before spring is even over. Their cold-tolerance allows them to emerge right after the snow melts and gives them the ability to utilize resources because any other plant is able to compete with them. Early emergence aids in reproduction as well as seeds can enter the soil before those of other plants and also miss all of the seed predators that are still away or dormant due to cold. It is easily identifiable by its 5 inch grass like leaves, and bell shaped blue flowers which form in groups of 2-3 at the top of the stem. Its beauty has long made it a favorite among gardeners contributing to its spread.

The last plant I'm going to cover is going to be another old world invader, the wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). This is the wild ancestor of the parsnips that are seen commonly in kitchens and restaurants. Their flowers are formed in loose groups at the top of the stem; they are yellow in color and possess 5 small petals that curl inwards. The pinnate oval-shaped leaves of the plant are compound, hairy, broad, and toothed. Stems are 4-5 tall. The seedlings of the plants emerge between February and April soon after the snow melts. The seedlings are similar to the adults but smaller, less hairy, and having no flowers. Dominante in areas of rich, alkaline, moist soils; especially thriving in disturbed habitats such as abandoned pastures, croplands, and roadsides in which native plants have been removed or have yet to become fully established. Even though its cultivated cousin is a popular food crop this variety serves as a serious threat to human health and safety. Though the roots of the plant are actively nutritious for humans the leaves and stem possess a sap that is toxic though both eating them and skin contact, with the sap causing burning blisters to skin when it is exposed to UV rays from the sun.

Now that we've covered a few of the floral species of notes it's time to move on to a more mobile and active enemy of our natural spaces; the fauna. Invasive animals in Illinois are far more ‘naturalized’ and easy to pass over as they are either ubiquitous with living in the state or are very similar to native species. The species of note is a common visitor to bird feeders and urban green spaces, the European House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). This bird was introduced in the mid-1800s as a few Shakespeare fans in NYC wanted to experience their favorite writer’s birds firsthand. Even though they live in the area year-round, thanks to the abundance of food provided by feed and leftover corn in fields, they become more active in the spring as they begin to nest. This is of importance as they are cavity nesters who enjoy making their nests with human structures, increasing our interactions with them. They are aggressive competitors to native bird species like eastern bluebirds, purple martins, and tree swallows, being known to attack them and drive them off nest sites.

A species you’ll run into while on the water we have the rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus). Which is a vagrant that has migrated from our easterly neighbors of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Color ranges from greenish-gray to reddish brown but all individuals have two large rusty spots on the sides of their backs. Maxing out at 1.7 inches in length they are much larger than our native species. Couple this with their aggressiveness and you have a recipe for ecological disaster. Rusties have taken over most of the waterways in Illinois, displacing our native species and making it the dominant resident. Even Severson isn’t immune from their effects and you can see them in our creek as they begin to emerge from their burrows.

We need to keep in mind that our ecosystems, for as long as they've been around, are still fragile buildings whose architecture is dependent on the millennia-old interactions between species that have evolved together. So by disturbing this balance through continuing the tolerance and propagation of invasive species, we can bring the whole thing crashing down. For the sake of our posterity we should, no, we must do better about educating ourselves on the invaders that lurk among us.

Wild about Wildflowers

liz@seversondells.org (Liz Wiener) — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:30:00 GMT

Come on a journey through the woods and prairies in search of wildflowers!

Spring is a magical time as the snow begins to melt, and the landscape slowly returns to all its colorful glory. After a few months of grays, browns, and whites, the landscape starts to transform into a vibrant tapestry of colors. There's no better time to journey through the wonderful world of spring wildflowers in northern Illinois. From woodlands to prairies, Illinois boasts diverse habitats that come alive during the spring season. Let's take a closer look at some of these wildflowers that adorn the Illinois landscape during arguably the best time of year!

Click on each flower below to learn more!

As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, Illinois' spring wildflowers burst forth, transforming the landscape into a panorama of natural beauty. From the delicate blooms of bluebells and bloodroot to the cheerful faces of wild geraniums and Dutchman's breeches, each wildflower adds its own unique charm to the tapestry of springtime in Illinois. So, lace up your hiking boots, grab your camera, and venture out into the wild to witness this annual spectacle firsthand. You won't be disappointed. See you on the trails!

Tick-tock: It’s Tick Time

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:00:00 GMT

As much as we love seeing spring ephemerals pop up early, the startlingly warm temperatures so far this year come with another, less welcome, spring staple: ticks. This year’s mild winter and early spring are laying the groundwork for a thriving tick population, which is not necessarily good news for hikers. Luckily, researchers have found a way to keep tick numbers in check by doing something that many of our local land managers are already doing!

But, before we dive into the ways we can keep ticks from becoming a major public health issue, let’s review why we seem to see so many ticks nowadays. Here at Severson, we’ve already started seeing some Eastern Black-legged Ticks (Ixodes scapularis) this year, which is much earlier than normal. According to iNaturalist records between 2018 and 2024, the earliest we usually start seeing ticks in Winnebago County is about March 20th. This year, however, the first confirmed tick sighting occurred on February 8th - a full month and a half earlier!

To understand why there seem to be more ticks today than in previous decades, we have to look at the two main drivers of tick populations: habitat and hosts. Ticks need habitats that can protect them from drying out and keep their surrounding temperatures mild. Things like drought, extreme cold, and extreme heat can be deadly to ticks, so they look for more insulated places to call home.

Luckily for ticks, forest management “best-practices” for the last 200-or-so years has created a plethora of these moist, insulated habitats in the form of leaf litter. Researchers and forest managers refer to this time period as the fire-suppression era because it starkly contrasts the previous 5,000 years of Indigenous forest management that included periodic planned burns in forests across the continent. Whereas, historically, leaf litter would have been burned every few decades (thereby eliminating the moist, insulated habitat that ticks rely on), by intentionally excluding fire from the landscape since the 1800’s, we have allowed a dense layer of leaves, decaying wood, and brush to develop in many of our forests. This plant litter not only holds in moisture that protects ticks from drought conditions, but it also insulates the soil level during cold winters and hot summers to provide milder temperatures year-round.

Beyond providing the perfect shelter for the ticks themselves, fire-suppression practices also encouraged population growth in many of the major host animals that ticks feed from. Dense trees and bushes within a forest creates safe areas for small rodents like mice and chipmunks. That, combined with the forest fragmentation and over-hunting, which greatly reduced many natural predators (bobcats, cougars, etc.) of these rodents, allowed host populations to soar in recent decades. More food (host animals) + more habitat (leaf litter) = more ticks! And more ticks often increases the spread of tick-borne diseases like Lyme Disease and anaplasmosis.

Fortunately, more and more research is coming out about how we can keep tick populations in check, and one of the most effective strategies involves something many forest managers are already doing: prescribed burns ! Land managers across the country are putting an end to the fire-suppression era by returning controlled burns to the landscape. These burns are carefully conducted by trained “burn crew” members to ensure that the fire doesn’t get too hot or spread anywhere we don’t want it.

Burning is a great way to control invasive plant species, mitigate the risk of wildfires, and prevent forests from encroaching into prairies, and we’re also learning that controlled burns do a great job of clearing out tick habitat! Not only will any ticks that happen to be out and about at burn time get sizzled, but without a dense layer of leaves and decaying wood to keep them insulated from drought and extreme temperatures, any surviving ticks have a harder time living through the winter and summer. It can also remove a lot of the shrub layer of a forest, leaving host animals like rodents more vulnerable to predation, which will potentially decrease their populations. Less food + less habitat = fewer ticks!

The even better news for us is that most local land managers are already using controlled burns on their properties! The Rockford Park District, Natural Land Institute, and Forest Preserves of Winnebago County each conduct burns in the spring and/or fall to give our local natural areas all of the great benefits of fire. Unfortunately, constraints like weather conditions, staff availability, and funding often limit how many acres we can burn each season, but everyone is doing the best they can! And with luck, all this evidence supporting the benefits of fire will encourage more and more people to prioritize controlled burns in their natural areas. The landscape will appreciate it, and we may get the added benefit of fewer ticks to worry about while enjoying a hike!

Severson Sixteen Animal Tournament!

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:00:00 GMT

March Madness is finally here, and we’ve decided to host a little tournament of our own to get into the competitive spirit! For the rest of March, you can visit our Instagram and Facebook pages to vote for your favorite Severson critter. Who will be the ultimate winner? Only time will tell!

We’ve broken the competition into four Habitat Arenas: Forest, Creek, Pond, and Prairie. Although our official tournament is based solely on the number of votes each competitor gets (not the most scientific of competitions), we also wanted to think about who would actually win in a fight between these animals. Obviously, for most of these pairing, the animals in question would have no reason to directly compete against one another, let alone “fight”, but in the spirit of March Madness and silly bracket tournaments, let’s imagine they did!

Let’s take a look at our first round:

Forest Fighters

Our first matchup from the Forest Arena pitted the gray squirrel against the pileated woodpecker . This fight comes down to weight-class. Gray squirrels outweigh the pileated woodpecker by about 6 oz (0.4 lbs), putting the woodpecker at a disadvantage. Although woodpeckers are known for being aggressive fighters they can't compete with the strong teeth and jaws that cannot only crack open nuts but also skulls. The eastern gray squirrel wins our first battle .

For the second match-up, barred owl versus chipmunk , we have a very clear winner. Barred owls are strong, silent predators who regularly hunt down and eat chipmunks. The chipmunk likely wouldn’t see or hear its fate coming as the barred owl swooped in as victor of this round .

Creek Competitors

The outcome of the fight between the muskrat and green frog depends a lot on the battlegrounds. On land, the muskrat could use their sharp front claws to do some serious damage, and the frog would have a difficult time defending itself. Under water, however, the green frog would likely win by default after the muskrat is forced to forfeit after 15-20 minutes to return to the surface for air. Since this is the Creek arena, we will assume the battle takes place under water, giving the green frog the upper hand.

The painted turtle and the bat both have very different habitats, so the arena of this battle would once again make all the difference. Although the bat has the benefits of speed and flight, the painted turtle’s thick shell and sharp claws give them the advantage in both defense and attack. Our insectivorous big brown bat wouldn’t stand a chance against the painted turtle .

Pond Players

Raccoons would only have the upper hand over a snapping turtle if the turtle was very young. Adult snapping turtle shells are too thick and hardy for a raccoon to have much of an impact, even with their clever tricks and dexterous hands. One swift bite from the snapping turtle and it’s all over for our “trash panda” friend. Also, with an average life expectancy of 40 years, the snapping turtle could just wait out the raccoon and still be the victor in the long run!

Next up, we have the crayfish vs. water strider ! With their large pinching claws and built-in body armor, the crayfish is the obvious favorite in this battle. Despite having a speed advantage, the water stride would struggle to inflict any damage on the crayfish, so in a head-to-head battle, we would expect the crayfish to come out on top . Luckily for real-life water striders, they spend their time on the water’s surface, so they don’t need to worry too much about the crayfish beneath them.

Grassland Gang

The garter snake vs. bumblebee battle is tough to imagine because both “fighters” are actually very non-aggressive. But, let’s imagine a hungry garter snake stumbles upon a nest of bumblebees in the prairie (since bumblebees nest in holes in the ground, the garter snake would have easy access to the whole colony). Unfortunately for the garter snake- who eats its prey whole- bumblebees are capable of stinging multiple times when they feel threatened, and we would imagine swallowing a grumpy, stinging bumblebee would not be very pleasant, especially when combined with many more bees stinging you externally for attacking their nest, so the garter snake would not want to stay in this situation for long. For their ability to defend their nest and sting multiple times, the bumblebee is our winner .

For our next battle, the white-tailed deer will go against the yellow garden spider . Despite how many people fear spiders, the yellow garden spider is sadly not the best competitor. Their venomous bite is only effective against insects and other small invertebrates, which is unhelpful against something as large as a deer. The way I see this fight going down, the white-tailed deer inadvertently (or maybe on purpose, who can say?) walks through the spider's web, stepping on its opponent. White-tailed deer emerges victorious!

Victors

Congratulations goes out to the winners of each of these battles: gray squirrel, barred owl, green frog, painted turtle, snapping turtle, crayfish, bumblebee, and white-tailed deer! Who do you think would win in round 2?

March Bird Blog

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 12:00:00 GMT

The Big Thaw

As winter comes to a close you will begin to see the world around us come back to life as the snow and ice gives way to all of the colors of nature. Coupled with thawing of the winter ice you will begin to see a wide variety of faces return to the area, namely the various water birds who are following the resurgence of liquid water and the ever-northward forging warm air currents. These include most of our ducks, geese, loons, rails, cranes, gulls, and shorebirds. This is especially important as Illinois sits on the Mississippi Flyway which acts as a superhighway for a plethora of species moving from their overwintering grounds in the Southern States and the Caribbean to their breeding grounds in Canada. For the avid or aspiring birder, the best place to start looking for the ephemeral beauties would be any of your bodies of water such as the Illinois and rock rivers or any large standing bodies, especially those near agricultural fields.

Greater White-fronted Goose

Anser albifrons

The greater white-fronted goose is a medium-sized waterfowl species, larger than any of our duck species but smaller yet stockier than the more common Canada goose. Adults are overall grey in coloration with black barring on the breast and bright orange legs. They possess a pinkish-orange bill with a white ‘mask’ at its base, giving its name. Juveniles are similar in appearance but have much duller legs and more of a grey-brown. Winnebago County is on the far easterly range of the goose’s migration route meaning that you will have to work a little harder to catch a glimpse at one of these beauties. The best place to find these birds would be in large agricultural fields where they can be found in flocks feeding or floating on ponds and lakes across the county as they rest during their migration. Their call is often thought of as laughter with high-pitched yelps and whistles consisting of 2-3 notes. Click here to hear their call.

Snow Goose

Anser caerulescens

A medium size goose that has relatively short legs and a shorter neck than other North American goose species. They come in two color morphs across the USA, namely the traditional all-white coloration that gives them their name and the slightly more uncommon ‘blue’ coloration. Blue geese maintain a white head but the rest of the body is a blue-gray. Though both colorations still possess bright pink-orange bills and feet along with a black tail. They overwinter in the southern and western edges of Illinois but more often on the edges of the Gulf of Mexico. During their migrations, they often take to the skies very early in the morning as dawn breaks and don’t land again until dusk. The best place to catch them is in large cornfields where they gather to feed before taking off again. Even though they are rare to see in your neighborhood ponds they number some 5 million across the continent. Their call is a simple nasally honk, however, when heard in huge flocks it becomes a boisterous chorus. Click here to hear it.

Northern Pintail

Anas acuta

These are fairly large dabbling ducks, around the size of the typical mallard but have a far more slender, gracile build. The males of the species are unmistakable thanks to their elegant appearance; possessing a chocolate brown head, white breast, mottled grey & black feathers on the wing. As they are currently passing through Illinois on their way to the subarctic to breed you can catch their namesake elongated black tail feathers. Females are far more drab with a light brown-grey head and a mottled light brown body. However, both sexes can be identified by their unique speculum coloration of caramel brown followed by black with a white edge. Even though these ducks possess a large population with global distribution their populations have begun to decline in the US in part due to outbreaks of Avian Influenza. The best place to spot them would be near the shores of lakes and ponds while they are feeding on aquatic plants and macroinvertebrates. Their call sounds much like a wheezy train whistle for males and females make a loud quack similar to a mallard. Examples of the calls can be heard here.

American White Pelican

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

These are extremely large birds, rivaling the trumpeter swan as one of North America’s longest birds, and are second only to the California condor regarding wingspan. Almost all of their plumage is white save for their primary flight feathers, opposing them as a stark black, which are only visible during flight. Their most striking feature would have to be their large yellow-orange bill which becomes brighter and develops a crest towards the tip during the breeding season. The webbed feet of the species share the yellow-orange coloration. They used to be uncommon migrants in the region until two breeding pairs began nesting in Lake Michigan in the 1990s and since have continued to spread eastward with 4,677 breeding pairs being present in the late 2010s. Your search for them should begin near large bodies of water such as the Rock and Illinois rivers. Also, keep an eye out for double-crested cormorants as they are normally seen nesting and foraging alongside them. Adults are well known for being silent with only brief grunts occurring during spats in breeding colonies, however, chicks make bagging calls while attempting to solicit food from their parents. Examples of the calls.

Sandhill Crane

Grus canadensis

These are tall, slender birds about 4 ft in height with overall grey bodies save for their white chins and bright head caps. The species show no sexual dimorphism with males and females being identical though there are size differences depending on which subspecies of crane present at your locality. They can be distinguished from herons in flight as they fly with the necks fully extended as opposed to the tucked s-shaped form of heron species. Northern Illinois sits in a very important staging ground for the birds as they gather in large, boisterous crowds as they begin refueling before continuing onwards to Canada and Alaska to breed. The best places to look for them are large open areas especially prairies and cornfields, which the region has in spades. Their preferred migration habitat coupled with their flocking behavior makes them quite easy to locate. Sandhill cranes are extremely loud with their rattling bugle calls being heard up to 2 ½ miles away from them, this is exacerbated by the fact that cranes are extremely social and love to ‘talk’ to each other. Click here to hear for yourself.

Ocean Currents and our Changing Climate

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Having lived in the Midwest for my entire life, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the ocean. Sure, I appreciate the beauty of the coral reefs and kelp forests as much as the next person, but I have never felt a strong connection to marine environments. What I do feel a strong connection with, however, is the climate crisis and the future of our ecosystems. I’ve recently been ‘diving’ (pun intended) more into the role our oceans play in regulating the climate, and it has spurred a new appreciation in me for the world’s waters.

Water, in general, is great at absorbing and retaining heat. Think about those cold mornings where steam rises from a lake or river: this is because the water is holding more heat than the air. On an ocean-level scale, water absorbs most of the heat that enters our atmosphere from the sun, and this drives the water cycle. For those of us who haven’t thought about the water cycle since fifth grade, it’s just the movement of water around the world as it changes between solid ice, liquid water, and gaseous vapor. The water cycle allows us to treat water as a renewable resource, even though we never really create “new” water.

As global temperatures rise, the ocean tries to compensate for the warmer atmospheric temperatures by absorbing more heat energy. In turn, ocean temperatures rise and rates of evaporation increase. With more water vapor in the atmosphere, storms can generate more often and with a higher severity. For example, in 2023, for the first time in recorded history, a Category 5 tropical cyclone was documented in all 7 tropical storm basins around the world. This means each area experienced at least one hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone with sustained winds of at least 157 miles per hour !

Beyond the effects on the water cycle, climate change has been impacting ocean currents as well. Ocean currents distribute heat energy from the tropics towards the poles and moderate temperatures in the process. For example, Paris, France is actually farther north than Fargo, North Dakota, but because the west coast of Europe sits along a warm ocean current, the climate is much milder in Paris.

Many factors drive the strength and direction of ocean currents, including winds, tides, water salinity (saltiness) and density, and solar heat. You can think about global currents as a conveyor belt that wraps around the oceans and pushes or pulls water in a pretty consistent direction depending on a combination of these factors.

To help us understand this, let’s imagine that we are a drop of water making our way through the global ocean current . We’ll start in the North Atlantic off the coast of Greenland, surrounded by sea ice and glaciers. We don’t have a lot of heat energy because of the cold polar temperatures, and the sea water seems unusually salty. Since salt water leaves behind its salt when it freezes, all the sea ice around us has left the water extra salty. This combination of cold temperatures and extra salt is making us more dense than other surface water would be, so we sink from the surface into the deep ocean currents. When other surface water flows in to take our place, the cycle begins.

We can stay in this deep ocean current for a long time (deep ocean currents only flow a few centimeters every second ), following the topography of the sea floor south towards Antarctica. Since we are so deep, tides and winds don’t have a huge impact on us anymore, so we just keep flowing south! Near the coast of Antarctica, we will be “recharged” with more cold and salty water as the same process occurs for the southern hemisphere.

Now, our deep current splits into two: one that flows along the eastern coast of Africa towards the Indian Ocean, and another that flows through the western Pacific Ocean around the eastern coast of Australia and Asia. Regardless of which current we travel on, we will soon make our way back to the ocean surface through a process called upwelling. When strong winds blow surface water away from an area, the deep ocean water flows in to fill that space.

Now that we are back on the surface, we can be warmed by solar energy again, which makes us slightly less dense and helps keep us up on the surface. From here, winds and tides will push and pull the currents around the globe until, eventually, we reach the cold water near the poles and the cycle starts again. In total, it can take upwards of 1,000 years for water to complete a trip around the global ocean current conveyor belt.

When we factor in warming global temperatures to our ocean current, researchers have come to the alarming conclusion that the global conveyor belt be slowed or stopped due to climate change . As warmer temperatures cause sea ice at the poles to melt, the surface water won’t be as salty, making it more difficult for that water to sink and pull water into the deep ocean currents. Since this is the first step of the global current, it would throw off the whole cycle. Not only would warm surface water be more likely to remain in the tropics (goodbye mild Paris climate!), but the cold, nutrient rich water from the poles that supports the global marine food chain would be less likely to flow around the world, disrupting marine ecosystems and the human economies that depend on them.

The moral of the story: even if we in Illinois won’t necessarily feel the impacts of climate change in the form of sea-level rise, we still depend on the ocean for regulating our climate. Melting sea ice and glaciers will add more freshwater to the ocean that has the potential to disrupt the global circulation of water and heat, which impacts everyone, regardless of where on the planet you live. Being far from a coast, it’s easy to forget all the benefits we enjoy from the oceans, so it’s important that we take the time to understand and appreciate how connected we still are to this global force. Thanks oceans!

Severson Dells Adventure Packs

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Do you want to turn “I’m boreeeeed…what do you mean go explore outside, there isn’t anything to DO outside” into “Can we turn this tablet off and go explore at Severson Dells with an Adventure Backpack?” in one simple step*?

*Number of steps to amazement and wonder not guaranteed

With the new Adventure Backpacks by Severson Dells, your outdoor wanderings can turn to outdoor amazement!

Take your day from this… To this!

These Adventure Backpacks were graciously sponsored by the Alpine Kiwanis Club and expertly curated by the Severson Dells Nature Center education team! Designed for the modern explorer, these backpacks are your ticket to experiencing the great outdoors like never before.

Each backpack is stocked with a variety of tools to help enhance your experience while out on the trail. We’ve also included a handy dandy guide of activities, scavenger hunts, and tips and tricks in each pack!

Let’s dive into each pack to learn more about what is inside them!

Beaks and Binoculars

Do you have a budding birder on your hands? The Beaks and Binoculars backpack is designed for avian enthusiasts, complete with binoculars, bird ID guides, bird song books and even a monocular with a cell phone adapter! We’ve included an “Adventure Log” so you can write down all of the feathered friends you encounter on your journey.

Bug Watch

For those that love the “creepy-crawlies”, be sure to check out the Bug Watch Backpack. This pack comes with a bug net, magnifying bug viewers, ID guides, hand lenses, and story books to enhance your outdoor time. “Good Trick Walking Stick” is a staff favorite!

Nature’s Palette

Move over, Monet! With Nature’s Palette, your aspiring artist can draw, paint, sketch, and color everything that inspires them. This pack includes watercolor postcards, a sketchbook, paints, crayons, colored pencils and more! When you have finished your creation, you get to keep the postcards and sketchbook!

Rock On!

This pack rocks…literally! Explore the 458 million year old Dells and surrounding area with this pack, and really get in touch with a piece of history! Included in this pack are hand lenses, a bag of fossils to inspect, a geological calendar, and a “Mohs Scale” for testing the hardness of different rocks and minerals.

Plant Pursuers

Let your imagination bloom with this pack! You can use this pack to identify trees, flowers, grasses, and more! Use the Super Secret Smellum Potion™ to unlock secret smells of the prairie (we recommend smelling the bergamot!). Take home a rubbing of your favorite leaf or bark, and be sure to check this pack out every season to see what’s growing!

These packs are designed to inspire curiosity and foster a deeper connection with the natural world, and are packed with resources and tools to ignite a passion for exploration and discovery.

The best part about these packs (besides all the amazing hands-on learning contained inside them)? They are completely FREE to check out! You can use a pack from 8am-4:30pm any day the Nature Center is open (Monday-Saturday). If you are a Severson Dells member, you can reserve a pack by calling 815-335-2915 or emailing admin@seversondells.org . All packs must be returned on the day they are checked out.

So, what do you think? Are you ready to get out on the trails and explore with a Severson Dells Adventure Backpack? Come on in and then get out! We can’t wait to hear what you discover!

10 Animals in Love

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Love, in its myriad forms, is perhaps the most remarkable force in the universe. From the tethering familial love found in the relationship of a parent and child, the intense, passionate and all consuming nature of romantic love, to the unbreakable bond between lifelong friends and companions, love manifests itself in countless ways. As Valentine's Day approaches, it's a perfect time to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of love found in nature. Whether it's the playful courtship dances of birds, the intricate displays of devotion among mammals, or the symbiotic relationships that thrive in even the most unexpected habitats, the love intertwined throughout the animal world is nothing short of awe-inspiring. I love love, so in the spirit of one of my favorite holidays, here are some animals in love:

Prairie voles:

In the world of rodents, Prairie voles stand out as ambassadors of affection, as their very name, an anagram for "love," suggests. These diminutive creatures, native to the Midwest, are renowned for their inclination to settle down with a single mate, often for life—a behavior uncommon among their rodent counterparts. Once paired, Prairie voles form strong bonds, sharing nests and nurturing their offspring together. Notably empathetic, these voles are deeply affected by the well-being of their partners. Stress in one mate reverberates to the other, prompting mutual support through comforting touches and cuddles. Remarkably, the parallels between Prairie vole pair bonding and human romantic love have intrigued scientists, leading to studies aimed at unraveling the complexities of human affection.

Bonobos:

Among our closest relatives, Bonobos epitomizes the philosophy of "making love, not war." Conflict resolution in Bonobo society hinges not on aggression but on affection, both within groups and between them. Particularly valued are the bonds of friendship, with female camaraderie holding particular significance. Bonobos forge enduring friendships, often spanning decades, with a capacity to remember and mourn departed companions. Empathetic observers of others' emotional states, they offer solace to distressed friends through gestures of affection, mirroring human tendencies.

Lovebirds:

In the avian realm, few species embody devotion as fervently as lovebirds. These feathered companions, comprising nine distinct species, thrive on deep emotional connections, without which they struggle to survive. Lovebirds are ardent proponents of monogamy, often forming lifelong partnerships beginning in their youth. Rarely seen apart, these avian duos engage in behaviors reminiscent of human affection, such as cuddling and mutual feeding. With lifespans averaging 15 years, lovebirds spend the majority of their existence in each other's company. The loss of a mate has detrimental effects on the well being of the other mate, and often the lone lovebird will experience depression and stop eating. They truly beg the question, what is life without love?

Penguins:

Love knows no bounds in the world of penguins, where affection transcends gender distinctions. Homosexuality is an important, common, and accepted aspect of penguin communities, with both male and female pairs exhibiting similar parental responsibilities. Despite reproductive barriers, same-sex penguin couples demonstrate remarkable parenting skills, often adopting surplus eggs to nurture and raise as their own. Through such inclusive practices, penguins challenge conventional notions of family dynamics and offer lessons in tolerance and compassion.

Orangutans:

The bond between an orangutan mother and her offspring epitomizes one of nature's most enduring relationships. Over the course of six to seven years, young orangutans depend entirely on their mothers for sustenance and guidance. Even after reaching maturity, they maintain close ties, often visiting their mothers until they begin families of their own. This maternal investment underscores the importance of familial connections among orangutans, shaping their social dynamics and nurturing behaviors.

Wolves:

In the intricate dynamic of wolf packs, monogamy reigns supreme, exemplifying a commitment to partnership. Within wolf packs, alpha pairs form exclusive bonds, marked by affection and shared parental duties. Beyond mating, these pairs continue to demonstrate mutual support and affection, sharing the duties of raising offspring. Such monogamous unions endure until death, symbolizing the enduring strength of familial bonds within wolf communities.

Albatrosses:

While many avian species practice lifelong monogamy, albatrosses stand out for their commitment to keeping the spark alive with their dedication to courtship rituals, which persist throughout their relationships. However, the specter of climate change poses a threat to these love birds, as diminishing food sources jeopardize breeding success. Rising water temperatures disrupt nutrient cycles, leaving albatross pairs in poor health and diminish their ability to reproduce effectively, which drives breakups . These bird relationships highlight the interconnectedness of environmental and social dynamics in bird communities.

French Angelfish:

Beneath the ocean's surface, French angelfish demonstrate the power of partnership, forming inseparable bonds with their mates from an early age. Together, they navigate life's challenges, from hunting for sustenance to defending their territory against intruders. Once paired, these fish are not seen without each other again. Together,they traverse through the sea as a unified entity, symbolizing the strength of their mutual devotion.

Elephants:

In the expansive landscape of elephant relationships, love manifests in enduring friendships and familial ties that transcend time. While not always monogamous, elephants maintain steadfast connections with their mates, rarely straying far from each other's side. Yet, it is their profound sense of familial loyalty that truly distinguishes elephants, as they mourn the loss of loved ones and commemorate their memory through shared rituals. Through these displays of affection and remembrance, elephants affirm the enduring nature of love in all its forms.

River Otters:

Among nature's cutest couple, river otters epitomize monogamous devotion, engaging in tender displays of affection with their mates. Whether lazily drifting down the river or hunting for sustenance, these otters remain inseparable, their bond strengthened by mutual care and companionship. As they navigate life's currents together, river otters embody the enduring power of love in the animal kingdom by holding hands as to not drift apart from each other.

Environmental Philanthropy

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Nonprofit organizations rely on donor dollars, most of the time from individual or business donors, to help sustain the organization’s mission. Nonprofits, like Severson Dells Nature Center, have an engaged community looking to support an idea, a group of individuals, or nature education, in our case.

An organization called Climate Switch (focused on helping guide us towards a more sustainably life) released a report utilizing data from 2020 giving trends from “ IRS tax returns, ProPublica’s non-profit API, and foundation grant data .” The results were interesting, so I thought it we could to take a “behind-the-scenes” look into environmental giving.

The facts are this: environmental giving is one of the most least funded causes in philanthropy. In 2020 , roughly 2% of charitable giving was designated towards environmental causes. Roughly $471B was given to nonprofits in 2020, but only $8B was given to environmental nonprofits. To add an additional layer onto this data, Climate Switch notes that the “environmental” category of nonprofits also sometimes includes animals and does not specify the type of environmental cause such as gardens versus environmental education versus land trusts. Due to this, giving can be even less to organizations who are similar to Severson Dells Nature Center’s mission of environmental education. Of the $471B, it is very possible that less than $1B makes its way to environmental education.

The “why” behind this isn’t as clear as the data. I could ponder all of the reasons why this data presents the way it does, but instead I’m more interested in the reasonings behind why people do decide to donate.

If you’ve read this far, please let me know! If you donate to Severson Dells Nature Center or support our programs, I would love to know more behind that. Here is an anonymous survey where you can help us make sense of environmental giving here at Severson Dells Nature Center. If you’d rather reach out to me directly, please do at becca@seversondells.org ! I’d love to hear from you.

Meet Bryce

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 03:35:29 GMT

Salutations Everybody! My name is Bryce Messer and I am happy to be serving Severson Dells, for the first time, as an AmeriCorps Environmental Educator. I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia but moved to Illinois a little over 1 year ago, so I am excited to learn everything I can about the natural wonders of the area.

I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Biology with minors in Geology and History of Science. Then I received my master’s degree from Southern Illinois University majoring in Zoology. As a requirement for graduation, I developed a habitat management plan for the American Pronghorn across a 140,000-acre ranch in New Mexico.

Before my time at Severson Dells, I worked in wildlife rehabilitation with WildCare Oklahoma to nurture sick, injured, and orphaned animals back to health. Following leaving Oklahoma I served as a natural resource technician at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico then traveled to Trinidad & Tobago to study the evolutionary histories of guppies.

I have had a lifelong love for wildlife and the outdoors which means I spend most of my time outside hiking, fishing, birding, and hunting. When not outside I enjoy playing video games, live-action role-playing, and watching movies & anime.

Defining Seasons

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Defining Seasons

Now that winter has arrived in full force, I’m sure many people are wondering when warmer temperatures will be gracing us with their presence again. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of fun outdoor activities to enjoy in the winter like sledding, skiing, and winter hiking, but when temperatures are as cold as they have been, I can’t help but look forward to spring. That led me to wonder: When does spring officially start? After doing some research, I realized that the answer is not as straightforward as it might seem.

Seasons can be tricky because there are two popular ways of defining them: the astronomical way and the meteorological way. Astronomical seasons (think astronomy; the movement of planets) are distinguished based on where the Earth is on its orbit around the sun. This method uses the dates of equinoxes (when day and night are equal lengths) and solstices (the longest and shortest days of the year) as transitions between the four seasons. Any time after the winter solstice (December 21st or 22nd) but before the spring equinox (March 19th, 20th, or 21st) is considered winter, and so on.

Since the Earth’s orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle, there is some variation in the length of the seasons and on which calendar day the seasons will begin. This can make it difficult for scientists and weather forecasters to compare weather and climate information between different years. Weather from some day in 1990 might not actually be comparable to that same calendar date in 2024 if the Earth was in a slightly different place in its orbit. Thus we needed a different way to track the seasons that is more relevant to our human activities. Enter: meteorological seasons!

Meteorological seasons (think meteorology; forecasting weather) are grouped together in three-month blocks based on average temperatures. Instead of including only the last ten-ish days of December in the official definition of winter like the astronomical method would, meteorological winter includes all of December, January, and February, since those tend to be the coldest months of the year.

This way of classifying seasons is much easier to work with when predicting things like weather and crop schedules because there is less year-to-year variation in the length of seasons. The length of seasons always stays the same, with the only exception being leap years , when winter is one day longer. Meteorological seasons also match better with our standard calendar since it’s able to be broken down into full months, allowing us to say things like, “students don’t have classes in the summer” instead of, “students don’t have classes during the last third of spring and the first two-thirds of summer.” That would be quite the mouthful!

Additionally, meteorological seasons surround the solstice and equinox, including some time before those astronomically significant days and some time after them. So while the astronomical seasons would consider the warm days of mid-June to be spring (because the summer solstice doesn’t occur until around June 20th), the meteorological seasons recognize all of June as a summer month because it has some of the warmest yearly temperatures.

Both of these ways of defining seasons have value, which is why we keep them both around! For the average person, the meteorological seasons are more comprehensible because they follow the calendar that we are familiar with and are distinguished by something we all experience: temperature. Astronomical seasons, on the other hand, give an important context for why our temperatures vary throughout the year the way they do. Most ancient calendars were based on the astronomical seasons because there were clear and measurable events (namely the solstices and equinoxes) that signaled the change of seasons.

Whether you want to use the meteorological definition or the astronomical definition of spring, we still have a few weeks of winter before we should start expecting warmer temperatures and ephemeral flowers popping up. So instead of spending our time longing for the green leaves of spring, let’s choose to take advantage of the short-lived beauty of snow lining the trees! There are plenty of ways to stay active and connected to nature, even when it’s cold. Be sure to check out our events calendar to see how you can stay connected to people and nature this winter!

Third Places: Bringing Back Social Connection

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:00:00 GMT

It is inherently human to socialize. Really, it’s inherent to many animals to socialize. However, over the last few years, humans have become increasingly isolated in America. Some say this is due to the rise in online communities; others believe that this is due to the shift in American work weeks. Either way, there is an increase in “loneliness.”

In fact, the US Surgeon General released a report in 2023 on Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation detailing the decrease in social connection and the impact this plays on health, well-being, and community resilience. The last 20 years have seen a significant decrease in social connection (see above graphic).

Further, the report goes on to detail the benefits of social connection, such as higher levels of social connection correlating to better physical health when assessing cardiovascular health, rates of diabetes, cognitive function, and depression & anxiety. When we have social connection, we tend to be less stressed, find more meaning or purpose, are more likely to be more physically active, all of which contribute to better physical health.

So how do we regain our social connection? Third Places.

Most of us have a ‘first place’ in our homes, and a ‘second place’ in our work, but what about outside of that? Ray Oldenburg coined the term ‘third place’ to describe the place where we build community. Third places are where we build social connection, and in turn improve our health and the vitality of our community.

With the rise of isolation, it may seem like our eagerness to seek out third places has decreased, and this may be true. A third place might’ve been a local grocery store or hardware store down the street owned by our neighbors. We were able to stop in the aisles to get all of the town gossip and connect with our community members. However, now we have big box stores that have everything we need in one place and are usually owned and operated by strangers to us. Or, we can order anything we need with a click on our phone. We lose that social connection.

Americans are also spending more time in their ‘second places’: work, which leaves less time for their ‘third places’. Americans who are employed full time work an average of 8.61 hours a day and commute an average of 55.2 minutes a day. The American standard work week is assumed to be 40 hours, which is comparable to many similar countries . However, in the United States, there is no statutory limit on the amount of overtime hours you’re allowed to work, nor any federal requirement for paid vacation leave. Compare that to France who offer 36 total paid days between statutory paid days and public holidays, the United Kingdom with 28 days , and Germany with 29 days . Between the amount of hours worked by Americans, the steep amount of commuting, the lack of limit on overtime, and no federal requirement for paid leave, the amount of time dedicated to a third place is drastically decreasing. It’s no wonder Americans are being plagued by loneliness.

How do we fix this? Apart from some grand culture shift into refocusing on third places in America, a great place to start is to consider how third places can be integrated into things you’re already doing. I know we may be a bit biased here, but here are some examples on how to integrate outdoor spaces, parks, and preserves back into your lives as a third place:

Attend an evening event
Most events hosted at Severson Dells Nature Center are held after 6pm. We’re just a few minutes off the highway. Stop over on your nightly commute home to join a group for a Full Moon Hike . Or, join us in town this spring at Lucha Cantina for our Snackin’ on Science events. Either way, you’ll get an opportunity to engage with your community and build up your third place.
Make family time, community time
Spending quality time with your family is essential for a healthy balance within your first place. Who’s to say you can’t spend family time in the community? Take your family for a walk along a trail or go bird-watching. Or, bring your family to weekend events in the community, such as Science Saturdays , Family Shelter Building , Family Tracking , or many more weekend programs .
Advocate for nature in your community
Local parks within walking distance of your first or second places help to build a third place. A common space where communities can come together to relax and build camaraderie contribute to the vitality of those communities. Unfortunately, this is not common in much of the United States. Advocating to our local representatives to invest more in green spaces instead of new ‘second places’ such as factories or office buildings, will make a difference in helping address our society’s lack of accessible third places.
Help us help you
We’re working on bringing more opportunities to our community offering a third place. This includes more programming, both here at Severson Dells and a little closer to the city center. We welcome any feedback on programs we should integrate into our schedules or new opportunities we should explore! Plus, we have our own little community of our own: Friends of Severson Dells , which is a membership program for those who view Severson as their ‘third place.’ Learn more about memberships here .

For the health of our community and ourselves, third places need to make a return back into American society. A great place to start is spaces like Severson Dells.

2024 In The Sky

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:00:00 GMT

The New Year brings new opportunities to view astronomical events. From once in a lifetime comets, to dazzling meteor showers, and a total solar eclipse, you will not want to miss these astronomical events of 2024. Whether you're a seasoned stargazer, or you’re hoping to view your very first meteor shower, here is a glimpse of what you can look forward to viewing this year:

Meteor Showers/Comets:

Jan. 3-4: Quadrantid meteor shower

Quadrantids are known for their short, intense peak, dazzling the skis with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes, but can appear anywhere in the sky. They are best seen in the Northern Hemisphere.

April 12, 2024: 'Devil comet' crosses the sky

While the total solar eclipse will no doubt be in the the headlines this week of April, a second, even rarer event will occur at the same time. A large comet commonly called the "devil comet" will make its closest pass by Earth in 70 years. The comet, 12P/Pons-Brooks, got its nickname because of two ice and gas formations that mimic the shape of horns. The last time 12P/Pons-Brooks was visible to us was in 1954. To increase the chances of seeing the devil comet, gaze on the part of the sky where Jupiter appears.

April 21-22: Lyrid meteor shower

The Lyrids are usually a moderate meteor shower, producing up to 20 meteors per hour at it’s peak, best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Lyra, but can appear anywhere in the sky. The full moon will block out all but the brightest meteors this year.

May 6-7: Eta Aquariid meteor shower

The Eta Aquariids are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere and can be prolific, producing fast and bright meteors. The meteors will peak at 60 meteors per hour in the Southern Hemisphere, and up to 30 miles per hour in the Northern Hemisphere. The nearly new moon means dark skies for what should be an excellent show this year. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky

July 30-31: Delta Aquariid meteor shower

The Delta Aquariids can be seen best from the Southern Hemisphere, peaking at 20 meteors per hour. Their fast, faint meteors radiate from the constellation Aquarius.

Aug. 12-13: Perseid meteor shower

My personal favorite meteor shower, the Perseids are an annual shower that produces up to 100 meteors per hour at its peak. They are known for their bright meteors and fireballs, which are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This shower can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere and best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Oct. 7: Draconids meteor shower

The Draconids are a minor meteor shower producing about 10 meteors per hour that can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere. The Draconids are an unusual shower in that the best viewing is in the early evening instead of early morning like most other showers. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Oct. 12-13: A newly discovered comet makes its closest approach to Earth

First detected by Chinese astronomers in January 2023, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comes within 44 million miles of Earth just a couple weeks after a close encounter with the sun. If the comet survives it’s proximity to the sun, scientists expect an impressive sight .

Oct. 21-22: Orionid meteor shower

The Orionids are best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere and are known for their fast-moving meteors associated with Halley's Comet. The shower will peak at 20 meteors per hour. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky

Nov. 4-5: Taurid meteor shower

The Taurids are known for their long duration and relatively low meteor rate, producing 5-10 meteors per hour at its peak. They are visible in the Southern and Northern hemispheres. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Nov. 17-18: Leonid meteor shower

The Leonids are unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen, last occurring in 2001. During an average year, the Leonids produce up to 15 meteors per hour at its peak. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower

The Geminids are one of the most reliable and active meteor showers of the year, producing up to 120 meteors an hour. The Geminid meteor shower is most prominent in the Northern Hemisphere, but can be seen in the Southern Hemisphere. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Gemini, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Dec. 21-22: Ursid meteor shower

The Ursids typically produce 5-10 meteors an hour originating from the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper). The Ursid meteor shower is visible in the Northern Hemisphere, and best viewing is after midnight.

Eclipses:

March 25: Penumbral lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse, or partial eclipse, occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth's partial shadow, or penumbra. During this type of eclipse the Moon will darken slightly but not completely. This eclipse will be visible from the Americas, western Europe and western Africa.

April 8: Total solar eclipse

Arguably the most anticipated meteorological event of the year is the total solar eclipse happening this April. The last total solar eclipse visible in the continental United States occurred in 2017 and the next one will not take place until 2045. The path of totality will begin in the Pacific Ocean and move across parts of Mexico and the eastern United States and Nova Scotia. The total eclipse will be visible in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Sept. 17: Penumbral lunar eclipse

This lunar eclipse will be visible from the Americas, Europe and Africa.

January Bird Blog (2024)

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 12:00:00 GMT

New Year New Birds

Welcome to the new year my friendly bird enthusiasts. The bird blog continues to thrive as we dive deeper into the realm of avian wonders. The 2024 year is here and I am here to share more about birds! This month we have two bird themed events going on. First off we have the end of the Christmas Bird Count which starts the 14th of December and ends the 5th of January. And to mark the end of the Christmas Bird Count (on January 5th) a holiday has been made called National Bird Day.

The Christmas Bird Count is a conservation based event created by ornithologist Frank M. Chapman in 1900. The Audubon Society people worked together to count and track how many birds go through specific areas to develop an accurate census that can be used to protect birds and their habitat.

Inspired by this communal work of counting the Avian Welfare Coalition started National Bird Day. So on the last day of the Christmas Bird Count, a holiday made in part to raise awareness about birds held in captivity and the problems that come with it. Many birds are captured from the wild and even more are bred in captivity, which neither are good for the longevity of the birds as a whole. There are over 10,000 bird species in the world and about 1,500 of them are considered globally threatened. The end goal of this campaign is to show the world the importance of birds living free and in the wild!

Now onto the five fascinating birds I want to highlight this month

Carolina Wren

Thryothorus ludovicianus

Adding a little bit of southern charm into Illinois the Carolina Wren is a noisy little critter with a variety of piercing vocal noises and its sounds like they are saying teakettle-teakettle . The Carolina Wren has a cinnamon-y plumage that becomes lighter towards its underside, white eyebrow stripes racing away from its eyes, and a long tail at the end. This Wren tends to be hard to see so you have to keep an ear out for them. This wren has a thicker body with just as stocky of a neck connecting to its large head. Fortunately they don’t migrate so you can always find them year round out. When the Carolina Wren form a bond with another of its kind they stay together for life and stay on their territory year-round. They do enjoy backyards if food is given so make sure to keep an eye out along fences and grasses for them! The Carolina Wren defends their territories with constant singing so if you want to hear what that sounds like click here .

Northern Flicker

Colaptes auratus

Our next bird up is another residential bird. One that either doesn’t migrate or might go a very short distance, the Northern Flicker. A variant of the average woodpecker, they tend to prefer to not slam their head into trees to drag food out of it. The Northern Flicker mainly eats ants and beetles so they tend to spend a lot of time on the ground digging around for bugs. They also use their hammering ability, that woodpeckers have, to break into soil to find nutritious insects in the ground. When insects aren’t as plentiful (like in the winter) they won’t turn down some seeds or berries. This flicker has a unique variety of patterns and colors along its brownish-gray body. It hosts a striking black bib, speckled underparts, a ruddy red or bright yellow on its tail (a regional difference), and a flash of red on the back of its neck. If you are trying to find them here at the Severson Nature Center look along the creek on either side and you might have some luck! Click here to listen to their calls .

Swamp Sparrow

Melospiza georgiana

To find the Swamp Sparrow look into the hidden corners of marshes or wetlands, or here at Severson check on the sedge meadows on the eastern edge. This bird has a simpler coloration of earthy tones with a splash of rust along its head and wings, streaks of black, it also has longer legs than other members of the sparrow family to allow it an easier chance at wading through shallow water. The rest of its body is much more compact and short with a small bill. When they nest it's only in wetlands among the lower foliage like grasses or reeds. They can eat a variety of things (seeds, fruits, and invertebrates). The Swamp Sparrow hunts for invertebrates while wading through the water and sometimes fully submerging their head to catch their prey. These sparrows are medium distance migrants but even during their travels they stay near water almost all of the time. If you want to listen to the rich notes from their songs click here .

White-Throated Sparrow

Zonotrichia albicollis

A ground-dwelling bird most of the time, the White-throated Sparrow is a larger sparrow with a short but wide bill. It has a longer body with a long tail and legs to complete it. Its coloration involve brown on the top side with black stripes and a gray and white underbelly. Its head is more striking with its white throat, a black and white head, and two bold yellow marks on its face. Spending time near the ground it scratches through leaves in search of food, mostly seeds from grasses and weeds, but aren’t too picky. If you have bird feeders you might be lucky enough to see them just keep an eye out for those yellow splashes on their face. They make their nest hidden in a depression in the ground and gather up all kinds of material for it like moss, twigs, grass, hair, and leaves. The White-throated Sparrow sings throughout all the seasons frequently even in the coldest months click here to listen !

Eastern Bluebird

Sialia sialis

As we embark on this avian journey into 2024 the wings of curiosity continue to carry us through the boundless skies of knowledge. Part of why I do these blogs is to show the variety of birds that exist just in our little area. We have so much interesting and dynamic life around us and I think it would be a shame to not learn a little bit more about them every day that we can. Birds are an important aspect of life on every continent and we have so much to still learn about them. May the melodies of birdsong and the wonders of these feathered creatures deepen our appreciation for the world. So make sure to keep an eye to the sky as the birds fly by.

Welcoming the New Year at Severson Dells Nature Center

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:45:18 GMT

As we bid farewell to 2023 and welcome 2024, I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible journey we've had at Severson Dells. The past year has been filled with challenges, accomplishments, growth, and shared experiences that have strengthened our bond as a nature-loving community.

As we stand on the threshold of 2024, I am filled with excitement and anticipation for the possibilities that lie ahead. The new year brings with it a fresh start, new opportunities, and a chance to continue making a positive impact on our environment and the lives of those who visit our center and experience our programs.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to each and every one of you for your dedication and passion for our mission. Whether you're a supporter, volunteer or attended a program at Severson Dells, your contributions have been invaluable, and I am grateful for the commitment you've shown to preserving and celebrating the wonders of nature.

In the coming year, let's continue to work together to inspire a love for the outdoors, foster environmental stewardship, and create meaningful connections with the natural world. I am confident that, with our collective efforts, we can make Severson Dells an even more vibrant and impactful space for our community.

As we embark on this new chapter, I wish you and your loved ones a joyful New Year filled with health, happiness, and awe-inspiring moments in nature. May our shared journey at Severson Dells continue to flourish, and may we make a lasting difference in the lives of our local natural and human communities.

Thank you for being a part of our nature-loving family. Here's to a year of growth, discovery, and endless possibilities!

Warm regards,

Ann Wasser

Executive Director

Welcoming the New Year at Severson Dells Nature Center

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 12:00:00 GMT

Thank you for being a part of our nature-loving family. Here's to a year of growth, discovery, and endless possibilities!

Warm regards,

Ann Wasser

Executive Director

Solstice, Sunlight, and Seasonal Affective Disorder

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 16:51:00 GMT

As we approach the winter solstice and step into a new year filled with longer days, I invite you to consider some of the following practices. Thursday, December 21st will have the shortest day of the year for residents of the Northern Hemisphere. Rockfordians will experience only 9 hours and 4 minutes of daylight. This is due to two factors:

After the solstice passes, the days will grow longer and nature begins its quiet awakening into spring. Animals are highly sensitive to day length; their circadian rhythms and other systems depend on signals from the sun. Goldfinches turn from brilliant gold to muted tawny, Groundhogs metabolism decline in preparation for a long slumber, some birds lose or change their song, antlers drop off Deer, flighted friends gather for migration, Coyotes grow a coat of thick guard hairs, and so on. If other citizens of the natural world are so in-tune with the seasonal ebbs and flow of light, it makes sense that humans still feel the same.

Our daily life is pumped full with artificial light: fluorescent bulbs overhead in your office and grocery stores, LED screens, street lights, and even holiday displays. These are no substitute for the radiance of the sun, though. Illuminance (light) can be measured in lux, which is a measurement equal to the illumination of one square meter of surface that is one meter away from a candle. Here’s how some natural and artificial light sources compare:

It’s clear that, while we spend a lot of time in well-lit spaces, they don’t compare to the brightness of the sun. In the cold month of December, we are offered less sunlight and tend to spend less time outside. Our total light exposure drops from 4,140 kJ of solar irradiance/ square meter (a measurement of sunlight exposure) in June to 1,625 kJ of solar irradiance/ square meter in December ( CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network ). Our artificial light doesn’t match the varying color of natural light either.

I remember sitting in a packed lecture hall in college listening to a lecture from a crew member of NASA’s Hera missions . While the lecturer never went to space, he spent weeks in a simulated Mars module where NASA scientists monitored the impact of environmental conditions on his health. It became clear that blue-toned, cooler daylight acted as a stimulant for the brain and boosted performance on tasks. Cool light diminished the quality of rest, though. Instead, dim, orange-toned light during early morning and late evening improved the quality of his sleep.

For those familiar with circadian rhythms, or the cycles our bodies experience throughout a day, this is probably not surprising. Our bodies are naturally responsive to shifts in light color temperature as our brains depend on signals from the sun’s light. The sun’s deep angle in the morning and evening means that light moves differently through the atmosphere, giving it a warm hue (think of “golden hour”). Warm, dim light from the sun during dusk and dawn triggers a melatonin release in the brain. As the sun rises throughout the day, its rays are scattered differently and come across as bright, clear, cool-toned light. This improves productivity and activity levels.

When most of us spend the winters inside and under artificial light, our circadian rhythms are disrupted . Our body craves the bright, varied light of the sun throughout the day. Time in the sun actually elevates serotonin- a neurotransmitter responsible for happiness- levels in the brain. It also encourages vitamin D production, which can improve bone health, reduce inflammation, help control infection, and reduce cancer cell growt h. The lack of “sun-time” can lead to feelings of melancholy, sensitivity, fatigue, anxiety, and more that are often attributed to “winter blues.”

Many Americans experience some degree of winter blues throughout these darker, colder months. Sometimes these symptoms escalate to a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 5% of adults experience clinical SAD . If you are feeling some of these winter blues, there’s good news for you! First, and most importantly, this disclaimer from the American Psychiatric Association:

“If you feel you have symptoms of SAD, seek the help of a trained medical professional. Just as with other forms of depression, it is important to make sure there is no other medical condition causing symptoms. SAD can be misdiagnosed in the presence of hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, infectious mononucleosis, and other viral infections, so proper evaluation is key. A mental health professional can diagnose the condition and discuss therapy options. With the right treatment, SAD can be a manageable condition.

If you feel your depression is severe or if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, consult a doctor immediately or seek help at the closest emergency room. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 800-273-TALK (8255).”

Therapy and medications are both proven treatments for SAD , according to John Hopkins Medicine. Another treatment that may help on its own or in conjunction with other treatments is free and readily available to everyone: the sun. In its own way, the sun can serve as medicine for our brains! Sunlight therapy can be as simple as taking a walk in the morning, or over lunch. Time outside even improves stress levels, muscle tension, heart rate and blood pressure, and your immune system. Be sure to prioritize time outside during this season, even if it means putting on a couple of layers!

We like to tell our students that animals have three choices in the winter- hibernate, migrate, or adapt- and you have the same options. Taking a walk outside to combate symptoms of SAD can be considered an adaptation! Consider what else the season might be calling you to. No other being in nature operates at peak productivity year round! It may be time for you to enter a light hibernation and allow your body more time to rest. Maybe it is a season for you to gather together with loved ones and “burrow up” like some of our mammalian friends. Or, if you have the means, maybe you should try a short-term migration to a warm and sunny climate on vacation!

Bringing Nature to Schools: After School Programs with 21st Century Community Learning Centers

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 14:39:00 GMT

We are a few weeks into an exciting new program and community partnership with 21st Century Community Learning Centers! From now until mid-April, our education team is bringing hands-on nature experiences to Welsh, Haskell, and West View Elementary schools in Rockford every week. Students will use binoculars, build habitat models, play predator-prey games, experiment with bird beak shapes, roleplay the water cycle, and so much more! These after school programs give us the ability to reach students who might not otherwise have access to Severson Dells or Natural Areas. Ongoing programs like this have an added appeal because we can better develop relationships with the students. We are thrilled to have this opportunity.

The students seem equally excited! Here’s what they have had to say so far:

“You are only coming out for 18 weeks? Why can’t it be 800 weeks!”

“You mean we are going to learn about ALL of those animals?! For real?!”

“Do you really have to leave now? Can we keep doing this?”

“Thank you for this experience.”

“You invited me to Science Saturday at Severson Dells. I went with my family and it was SO MUCH FUN! I can’t wait to go to Luminaria this weekend.”

“I can see the hawk’s talons through the binoculars! Just like you were talking about inside!”

The joy and wonder on kids’ faces as they handled pelts and furs for the first time was contagious. Their curiosity was palpable. These things are hard to quantify, though, and we strive to show data-driven success as a result of our program. We asked students to complete a pre-evaluation to benchmark their attitudes toward Science and Nature. Students ranked their response to various statements like “I know a lot about nature” on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 5 being “strongly agree.” Here’s what we found:

Many students showed that they like being in nature, with the average of responses being a 4.08 (agree). A lot of them enjoy learning about nature and science. Fewer students felt like they know a lot about nature and are good at science, with average responses for those statements being 3.57 and 3.38 (not sure). We hope to see these attitudes trend toward “strongly agree” or 5 in our end-of-program evaluation!

We have tons of in-depth and interactive lessons about local wildlife planned for these after-school programs, but we wanted to see what knowledge our students were starting with. We presented students with several animal pictures and asked them to circle which animals live in or around Rockford. We considered Deer, Fox, Rabbit, Raccoon, and Frog as present in and around Rockford while Tiger, Bear, and Alligator as not. The following chart shows the percentage of correct responses per animal.

Students were fairly confident that Tigers do not live around Rockford, which is a relief for multiple reasons! Students also performed well on their assessment of Rabbit and Raccoon presence in Rockford. However, over half of the students are convinced that Deer are not present locally, and almost half believe the same about Fox.

This data tells the story of our students’ disconnect with the natural world and local ecosystems. They aren’t alone in this, though! Some chaperones who come to Severson Dells for field trips ask if they need to be concerned about lions and tigers and bears (oh my!). Many factors have hindered our connection with and understanding of the natural world. We aim to further our mission of “connecting people to nature” through these programs. If we do our job well, these percentages should be much higher by the end of our program.

We hope to keep you updated with stories and pictures from these programs, and I am especially looking forward to seeing the results of the post-evaluations. For now, consider supporting this effort with a donation to Severson Dells or volunteering at our other community outreach programs! Thank you for following this journey.

Low-Waste Holidays: A Guide to a More Sustainable Holiday Season

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 12:00:00 GMT

The holiday season can be a stressful time. Between finding the perfect gift for your loved ones, family obligations, and work deadlines, it’s easy to see how people can get overwhelmed. But just because winter holidays can put extra stress on us, doesn’t mean it needs to put extra stress on our planet. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that people the the U.S. generate at least 25% more waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day , but hope is not lost! Here are some tips for decreasing your footprint this winter.

Decorations

Have you ever noticed that many mass-produced holiday decorations are just plastic versions of natural items? I’ve seen more plastic evergreen bough garland, plastic wreaths, even plastic nature-inspired ornaments than I could count, but if you are interested in moving away from plastics this holiday season, try out some of these ideas!

Foraged Wreaths:

Instead of stocking up on fake plastic wreaths to decorate your front door, consider making one with all natural supplies! Take a walk through your neighborhood or local park to collect some grapevines, berry clusters, dried flower heads, or anything else that catches your eye. The grapevine will become the frame of your wreath: make a loop with the grapevine that is about the size you want your wreath, then just twist the remaining vine in and out of your loop to give it some structure. Everything else you collected can be stuck into your wreath to give it some more flare!

Compostable garland:

If you’re looking for something to brighten up a doorway or railing, try crafting some garland! Using twine or natural yarn to string together things like pine cones, dried slices of orange or other citrus fruit, cranberries, dried flowers, or even dried slices of root vegetables can make a beautiful garland that can be completely composted once you’re done with it.

Upcycled ornaments:

When it comes to upcycled holiday ornaments, the opportunities are almost endless! Do you have extra mason jar lids lying around? Make them into a photo frame ornament! Just finished a roll of paper towels? Use the cardboard to make a holiday star! Have some old clothes or loose fabric you want to transform? Make some sewn fabric ornaments in your favorite holiday shapes!

Host a decor swap:

If you have any decorations that no longer suit your style or space, there’s no need to run out to the store to buy something new. Host a decor swap with friends or family members! Otherwise, buying second-hand decor from thrift shops is another good way to update your style without hurting the Earth.

Gifting

The excessive packaging and energy-intensive transportation commonly used when we buy gifts online or at large distribution stores contributes heavily to the high carbon footprint and massive amounts of waste produced during the holidays. Here are some ways you can give the Earth a break this winter.

Buying second-hand:

Even though shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday like to make us think the only good presents are those that are purchased new, this is simply not true. In my experience, finding a meaningful, second hand gift for a loved one can often be more heartfelt than buying something mass produced. It says, “Hey, I saw this and thought of you! It’s unique just like you are!” instead of “My advertisement algorithm told me to buy this, so I did!” Shopping second-hand can be time consuming since you never know what you’ll find, but if you have the time and patience, it’s a great way to find some interesting gifts without putting more pressure on the Earth!

Make something:

Last year, I decided to give homemade gifts to each of my family members. I found some free knitting and crochet patterns online, rented some “How to knit and crochet” books from the library, and got to work! Whether you’re crocheting some hats, baking cookies, painting a landscape, making a friendship bracelet, or even sharing a recipe that means something to you, homemade gifts are always a big hit. If you aren’t sure what to make, try taking a walk through your local craft store and see what inspires you! Otherwise, check out some local small businesses to see if you can buy something locally and sustainably made.

Gift Experiences:

Not all gifts have to be physical objects either. Giving tickets to local events, concerts, and sporting events can definitely help cut down your waste this holiday season. In past years, I’ve gifted things like art classes at Klehm Arboretum, wreath-making classes at Angelic Organic Learning Center, and guided hikes right here at Severson Dells! If you have room in your budget, I would definitely recommend buying yourself a ticket as well so that now the gift is also bonding time for you and your loved one.

Donations:

What can you get for the person who already has everything they need? One thing I like to do is make a donation in that person’s name to a cause they care about! Do they love animals? Maybe make a donation to the local wildlife rehabilitation center. Do they love reading? Donate to the local library to support their literacy work and programing. Are they passionate about nature education and access to the outdoors? Well, a donation to Severson Dells would make a lovely surprise for them! As one last shameless plug, did you know you could gift Severson Dells memberships! Your loved one would receive discounts on programs and access to members-only events all year round! It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving!

Gift Wrapping

The materials we use to wrap gifts in is another major generator of waste around the holidays. Instead of wrapping presents in plastic-lined, non-recyclable wrapping paper, try some of these options!

Wrap with fabric:

Covering gifts with thrifted scarves, tea towels, or bandanas is a fun alternative to single-use wrapping paper. The fabric can function both as a wrapping paper and as a bonus gift!

Compostable or recyclable paper:

If you still want to wrap your gifts with a disposable material, reusing old papers and then recycling or composting them is a good option. Covering gifts with old newspapers or using up some of that stash of paper grocery bags that we all keep are usually my go-to options for recyclable wrapping paper, but feel free to get creative! Old road maps, pages from books that are falling apart, or sheet music can also make beautiful wrapping.

Reusable containers:

If your family is like mine, all gift bags are reused practically until they disintegrate. And of course, the most sustainable thing you can use to wrap presents is something you already have, so continuing to use gift bags that you have been given is a great way to avoid generating extra waste. If you’re looking for something more durable, wrapping gifts in old metal tins or glass jars can be a good option. Thrift and vintage stores are always full of metal tins (you know, the ones that once held cookies but now usually have sewing supplies in them), so keep your eye out for any that might fit your gifts.

Conclusion

Essentially, having a more sustainable holiday season comes down to three things: taking time to be mindful about your choices, having the energy to devote to being more eco-friendly, and having access to natural areas and decently priced second-hand stores. In a perfect world, everyone would have these things in excess, but sadly that is not how our world currently functions. Time, energy, and access are privileges that are out of reach for many of us, especially around the holidays. So if you’re reading this blog and thinking, “Gosh I could never do all of that!” know that you are not alone. If everyone took even a small step each year towards a more eco-friendly holiday season (like gifting one second-hand item to a friend, buying one less tube of wrapping paper, sharing cookies in reusable tin containers instead of ziplock bags, etc.), we could make a big difference.

December Bird Blog (2023)

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 11:59:00 GMT

End of the Year Birds

Looking out into the frigid snow-covered landscape of Illinois you could be fortunate enough to see many interesting little critters. The birds for this month of December thrive in the cold weather of Illinois. They either live here year round or move down from the even colder Canada to a much warmer climate, with an average temperature of 25 degrees Fahrenheit… just balmy. I guess we can’t judge them too much because many of us live in Illinois too. With the help of my friendly bird expert (thank you Jeff) we chose a bunch of prominent smaller birds with some great style of plumage. I hope you enjoy this month's bird blog; let's look at some birds!

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta canadensis

A small and stumpy bird, the Red-breasted Nuthatch has a very short tail, almost no neck, a broad chest, and very short wings. All these traits are antithetical to its long, narrow, pointed beak. The feathers on its back are a blue-gray coloration with a white head, a black cap, and stripes going over its eyes. Its bottom half is a rusty red splash above their stout legs. Nuthatches like this one have a unique way that they travel along trees moving like little wind up toys. They hop along bark up, down, left, right, upside down, rightside up, it doesn't matter. They are extremely quick and almost look like they aren't affected by gravity. They just go around the tree however they please! The red-breasted nuthatch shares a habitat range with the black-capped chickadee and have developed an understanding of each other's calls, regularly communicating with each other for a variety of different reasons. This nuthatch is one of the only nuthatches that actually migrate compared to its cousins, but it does tend to be a shorter range migration than many other birds. Listen for the nasal hornlike notes that sound like yank yank yank. If you want to hear an example click this link.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Regulus satrapa

This hardy little bird, thrives in the cold months of a North American winter. The Golden-crowned Kinglet is a bird barely larger than a hummingbird with a golden mohawk on the top of its olive and gray body. They have black stripes along their short wings and a round body with a small tail. Their bills are short and thin specifically for gleaning bugs (this is a process where they catch invertebrates by plucking them from foliage or the ground). This bird tends to live year round in mountainous areas but those that breed across Canada like to travel south to spend winters all across the US. These birds aren’t the easiest to spot given their size and their tendency to spend most of their time high up in trees. When nest building the male and female work together over a little bit less than a week and have large clutches of 3-11 eggs back to back. When the first set of babies hatch and leave, they have another clutch right after. The male’s job is to feed the female and the babies. Listen for a very high-pitched tsee note that gets higher pitched at an accelerate right here .

Brown Creeper

Certhia americana

This bird looks like a little piece of bark climbing a tree, probing the bark with their strange downward curving bills searching for all the insects that they can. The Brown Creeper is thin and short with a long body, the top half of them hosts streaks of browns that are extremely helpful for camouflaging into trees. Their under half is mostly white with hints of gray. They rarely fly and when they do, it’s to reach a new tree. From the base of a tree they hunt in short jerky movements in a spiral up the trunk. They patrol many trees but prefer deeply furrowed bark. Here at Severson Dells, we have a tree known as a Shagbark Hickory. Its big ‘shaggy’ bark is a popular choice for the Brown Creeper and given its plentiful nature here at Severson you could be fortunate enough to see the Brown Creeper. Keep your eyes or ears out for it by our pond you might be able to spot clusters of them. If you are trying to listen for their song only the mail sings, you will need to listen for a high pitched song with a tremble in the middle .

Purple Finch

Haemorhous purpureus

The Purple Finch is a pretty little bird with a splash of pink-red leaking from the top of its head down to its base where it blends into more of an off-white coloration. Its pink wings are framed by a black to brown border. This pink bird is a larger bird with a powerful chunky beak and a short notched tail. It thrives on black oil sunflower seeds. Unfortunately this bird is losing numbers in eastern North America due to an invasive bird called the House Finch who have many similar niches they prefer and tend to win over 95% of encounters between the two species. The purple Finch prefers to feast on seeds and its beak is optimized for cracking them open. The courting ritual by the males involves them carrying twigs or grass in their beak as well as flights with them sticking one fit straight up. If you want to listen to the varying calls of the Purple Finch click here!

American Tree Sparrow

Spizelloides arborea

This circular little songbird has a round head and the tendency to fluff out their feathers, which makes itself look even more round (it's very cute). The American Tree Sparrow is a colorful bird with a gray head, rusty cap on top, and rusty eye lines. Its stubby beak is black on the top half and yellow on the lower half. They have a white underside except for a dark smudge in the center of its chest. Its back is streaked with rusty reds, blacks, and whites all the way down to its long black tail feathers. It's named the Tree Sparrow but ironically enough it spends most of its time foraging and nesting on the ground. This sparrow gets its unfortunately inaccurate name by European settlers being reminded of the Eurasian Tree Sparrows back home… and nothing to do with what the bird actually is. The American Tree Sparrow prefers very far north in Canada and all the way to Alaska for their breeding grounds and will migrate back to the central United States. To stay warm they eat and drink about 30% of their body weight per day. The male’s song is a series of high pitched whistling notes that slowly fall in pitch.

The end of the calendar year is upon us, which means absolutely nothing to these birds but regardless, time will continue and so will the bird blogs! Prepare yourself for next year. We have so many different native birds that I want to share with all of you! Best of luck on your birding adventures and I hope you are able to spot all of the feathered friends talked about for this December.

Flights of Fancy: Bird Bonanza, December 2

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 12:00:00 GMT

This fall, Severson Dells Nature Center saw the return of a beloved program, the monthly Science Saturday! This event has welcomed over 700 people to Severson Dells since returning in September of 2023. Thanks to the generous sponsorships of Collins Aerospace and Nicor Gas, Science Saturday has been able to bring in experts from UW Madison, Northern IL Raptor Rehab Center, Sinnissippi Audubon, the Monarch Conservation Society, and more. Participants of all ages have made crafts, tried their hands at predator challenges, and ignited a curiosity for science! But, we aren’t done yet! The final Science Saturday of 2023 will be on December 2, and it is sure to be a great time! Join us for the Bird Bonanza!

Not to be outdone by the Saturdays before it, Bird Bonanza will have a little something for everyone to “tweet” about. All ages will enjoy spreading their wings and soaring to new heights.

Join Severson Dells AmeriCorps members to learn about bird beaks, feet, and feathers. Get an up close look at these amazing adaptations that make our feathered friends so special! You’ll also be able to decorate a miniature bird house to take home!

Are you interested in getting out on the trails and learning about how to use binoculars and spotting birds? Join Don Miller and Kevin Kaltenbach for a short birding hike around the Severson paved loop. They will lead two hikes throughout the day, and each will last about 30-45 minutes.

Are you more interested in the sounds of birds? Join Micky Torpedo for a performance of his most recent album, Birdsongs, Vol 1 - Sounds of the Mississippi Flyway . This is an ongoing collaborative project between Micky and Sinnissippi Audubon Society. Their newest album, Volume 2, will be released in Spring of 2024. For this performance, Micky will be joined by Heather Camacho (The Lone Canary) on violin, Karl Ropp on upright bass, and Cade Eastham (Turning Stranger) on percussion. Micky and friends will be performing two sets throughout the day.

Our friends from Rock Valley Garden Center will also be here with lots of information about how to best set up a winter feeding station for birds, and you’ll be able to make a pinecone bird feeder to take home for your yard or neighborhood! Sinnissippi Audubon will be present with great information about George and Louise, Rockford’s resident peregrine falcons!

Hoo Haven will be bringing along one of their resident education birds for an up close look at our feathered friends. If you haven’t checked them out, Hoo Haven is a wonderful resource for injured birds, providing rehabilitation and education for birds of all shapes and sizes.

Finally, Collins Aerospace will be here talking about the physics of flight, how the planes you see flying take inspiration from birds, and getting youth excited in the aerospace industry that happens right in our backyard! You’ll learn all about Bernoulli’s principle, match bird wings and plane wings, and even test out your own paper airplane against some real aerospace and mechanical engineers! Harin Patel, a mechanical engineer at Collins Aerospace and a huge asset in the grant that Severson Dells received to put on these Science Saturdays says of the event, “Collins Aerospace will be partnering with Severson Dells to teach students the Physics of Flight! We are extremely excited to teach students how flight works and apply these concepts to airplanes!”

We hope to see you fly on over to Severson Dells for our Bird Bonanza. As you can see, there is something for every member of your flock to engage in. Bird Bonanza happens December 2, 2023 from 10am-2pm at 8786 Montague Road in Rockford, IL. If you have any questions, please reach out to Liz Wiener, Public Programs Coordinator at liz@seversondells.org or call 815-335-2915.

The Environmental Threat of Salt Pollution

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 12:00:00 GMT

The days are getting shorter, the air is getting colder, and the beginning of a Midwest winter is descending upon us. Soon, the landscape will become a blanket of snow and ice, and communities across the region will initiate a time-honored ritual: salting the roads. For decades, the practice of road salting has been a trusted ally in the battle against treacherous winter conditions, ensuring safer winter travel for us Midwesterners. However, beneath the reassuring salted roadways lies a tale of unintended consequences and environmental threat.

In an age where environmental concerns have taken center stage, one alarming issue has often remained concealed quite literally beneath the surface: salt pollution. The silent devastation caused by excessive salt runoff into our freshwater bodies wreaks havoc on aquatic ecosystems, water quality, and human health. Salt pollution may not have the same visibility as some of its environmental counterparts, but its catastrophic effects need our attention.

Salt, or sodium chloride, is a natural, integral component of Earth. The natural salt cycle is primarily driven by slow geologic processes that bring salts to the surface of the Earth. However, anthropogenic activities, such as road treatment, have altered and accelerated this process, creating a new anthropogenic salt cycle . This excess salt in the environment then infiltrates nearby surface and ground waters and contaminates drinking water reservoirs and wells. This contamination is amplified by the corrosive nature of salt, which abrades metal piping, exacerbating heavy metal contamination in drinking water (think Flint Michigan , 2014). In the United States, where an estimated 9 million lead pipes are used to deliver clean drinking water to homes, the effects of corrosion from saline water puts millions at risk for devastating harms, including permanent neurological damage and coronary heart disease.

Elevated levels of chloride in water bodies can also be toxic to aquatic life . Chloride occurs naturally in lakes and streams, but elevated levels can cause cells to lose water and become deprived of nutrients, ultimately killing fish, amphibians, plants and other aquatic organisms. The effects of chloride have shown to trigger trophic cascades , resulting in detrimental consequences for the entire aquatic ecosystem.

Chloride does not break down or settle out of water, so oftentimes these effects on the environment are irreversible. That being said, prevention is our only solution. Although there are a multitude of anthropogenic sources of salt, salt used to de-ice roads is the single biggest source in the U.S. From 2013 to 2017, road salt made up 44% of the country’s entire salt consumption. However, there are several safer alternatives to road salt that still keep our roads ice free, without risking the health and well being of our precious water sources.

Beet juice , for example, is an immediate, cost effective solution. As odd as it may initially sound, beet juice brine works in a very similar manner to traditional road salt, only without excess salt and the environmental threats that come along with it. Beet juice brine helps lower the freezing point of ice, sticks to roads more effectively, and is better for the environment. It is also a solution that our very own city of Rockford, IL is utilizing in order to reduce the amount of road salt used in the winter.

The environmental repercussions of road salt pollution extend far beyond the immediate winter season. Anthropogenic changes in salinity are an existential threat to freshwater supplies and aquatic ecosystems. Only about 3% of all water sources are freshwater, and salt is increasingly diminishing that small inventory. As we navigate the slippery roads of this complex issue, we must consider the true cost of salting our way through winter, exploring alternative strategies that balance safety with environmental responsibility.

Endangered Species Act turns 50!

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:00:00 GMT

This December will mark the 50th anniversary of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) being enacted into law. It is considered one of the strongest pieces of conservation legislation, and since it was passed into law in 1973, it has kept an estimated 99% of listed species from going extinct. So in honor of the ESA’s 50th birthday, let’s take some time to appreciate its history and many success stories, while still recognizing the aspects of conservation legislation that still have some opportunities for growth.

Overview

The Endangered Species Act did not arise in a vacuum. Rather, it was just one of many environmental laws passed during the height of the 20th century environmental movement. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, people were becoming more aware of the impact they were having on the Earth and its ecosystems. The publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, the oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969, and the first photographs of Earth from space brought to public attention the reality that our planet is a a closed system and the actions we take and the pollutants we emit have a direct impact on ourselves and our environment.

The Endangered Species Act also built upon previous bills . The 1966 Endangered Species Preservation Act allowed the government to create a list of endangered species and authorized limited protections for them. Three years later, the Endangered Species Conservation Act included protections for worldwide species at risk of extinction, which explains why only about half of the species listed under the United State’s Endangered Species Act are actually native to the US.

What made the ESA unique was its official definition of ‘endangered’ and ‘threatened’ species and the proclamation that federal agencies could not fund or participate in any activity that would threaten any of the listed species. The ESA outlines how federal agencies and states would cooperate to enact the law, while also expanding what could be listed as endangered to include plants and invertebrates like insects and mollusks.

Going beyond protecting individual species, the ESA can also recognize ‘critical habitat’ for listed species, which would be areas in their environment that these species depend on for survival. Once a habitat is listed as ‘critical habitat’, any project that threatens to disturb the area has to go through an extra permitting process if a federal agency is involved. It does not, however, mean that the habitat is preserved as a sanctuary or that any disturbance is prohibited. Any project that does not include federal funding or involve a federal agency is still free to legally damage critical habitat without any additional permitting. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (who oversees the Endangered Species Act), the purpose of designating an area as critical habitat is to ensure that other federal agencies do their due diligence by consulting with USFWS before taking any action that could unintentionally harm endangered species.

In the 50 years since its adoption, the Endangered Species Act has given us a lot to celebrate. From the locally relevant Bald Eagle ( delisted in 2007 , recovered) and Peregrine Falcon ( delisted in 1999 , recovered) to the more distant humpback whales (several populations delisted in 2016) and tigers (still endangered, but wild populations are beginning to increase), the protections that the ESA provides to at-risk species- including banning wildlife trade, drawing attention to harmful chemicals, and increasing funding options- has had a significant impact on the health of these populations.

ESA Looking Forward

While the Endangered Species Act has been mostly successful in preventing species extinction, there is still plenty of room for improvement that could lead to better protection for at-risk species. For one thing, getting a species listed as federally endangered takes an average of 12 years . This is 10 years longer than the process is supposed to take, and some experts believe that this delay has led to at least 47 species going extinct while waiting to be listed.

Additionally, in order for a species to be listed, there has to be a lot of evidence that its population is rapidly declining. This means that not only do we need a lot of modern data on that species, but we also need a lot of reliable data from previous decades to compare the modern data to. For species that are recently described or difficult to research, this can mean that sufficient data isn’t available to have them listed, no matter how at risk the population actually is.

Protecting species from extinction also required a significant amount of funding and research. When a species is listed as endangered, a recovery proposal is submitted outlining the steps that need to be taken to protect it, including a proposed budget for taking those steps. It is estimated that current overall funding for species protection is only about 3% of what these recovery plans say is necessary to bring these species back to healthy population levels.

Another limitation of the Endangered Species Act as it was written is the lack of protection for habitats and ecosystems. While the ‘critical habitat’ designation recognizes some of these ecosystems as important to preserving biodiversity, it does not actually preserve those areas. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which manages the globally comprehensive Red List of endangered species, has also created a Red List of Ecosystems that ranks entire ecosystems on a scale of Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, and Collapsed. According to their list, for which data is still being gathered, the US has at least 20 ecosystems that are considered threatened (meaning they are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered). Since the US does not have any legislation that protects biodiversity at the ecosystem level, however, the habitats as a whole do not receive any federal protection.

Back in 1973, the writers of the Endangered Species Act could never have imagined the obstacles facing species today. From habitat loss and toxic chemicals to climate change and disease, surviving in the modern environment is proving to be an uphill battle for many plants, animals, fungi, and ecosystems. Luckily we have the ESA to look to as a model and jumping off point for future legislation to conserve and support biodiversity in the US.

Plant Migration and Climate Change

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 12:00:00 GMT

What do you picture when you hear the word ‘migration’?

For me, it brings to mind the image (and sounds) of geese flying south for the winter or monarch butterflies covering trees in California and Central Mexico. On the surface, migration can be a pretty straightforward concept: when conditions become unfavorable, you move somewhere else. But it becomes a lot more difficult- both to imagine and to enact- when movement isn’t an option. And yet, it still happens!

One of the fundamental characteristics of plants is that they are not capable of moving around like animals are. Sure, they can direct their growth to find the sunniest spot in the area, but overall, where they are is where they’ll stay. So in the context of plants, migration has a bit of a different meaning. Rather than denoting the movement of individuals to a different location, plant migration refers to the shifting of plant distributions over time . One individual plant cannot migrate, but over multiple generations, the range of places where we can find certain plants can change.

The easiest way to imagine this is to picture a mountain. As the altitude increases, the average temperature and precipitation will change, meaning different plant species will thrive in different places along the mountain. Maybe a certain pine tree doesn’t grow well with other trees, but it’s able to survive colder temperatures, so they can grow a little higher up the mountain. Once the altitude gets too high though, the air gets too cold for them too, and they can’t keep spreading upwards. Instead, maybe a shrub species is well adapted to the cold at the mountain peak, but they don’t do well if they get shaded out by pine trees. That situation might look something like this:

Now imagine that this mountain exists on Earth during 2023, in a time of rapidly changing climate. As temperatures increase, the trees won’t be as limited by the cold, so both the pine trees and the other trees will be able to grow a little farther up the mountain. This is great for the pine trees because they have plenty of room to expand upwards, but it’s bad news for the shrubs. Now that the pines are growing at higher altitudes, the shrubs don’t have access to all the sunlight they need. And since they are already living at the peak of the mountain, there is nowhere they can go to expand their population. Now the situation looks more like this:
As the pine species migrated higher up the mountain, it created an environment that isn’t as suitable for the shrub. Without the ability to migrate to a more favorable habitat, the shrub’s distribution will shrink and their population on the mountain will decline. The process of plant migration doesn’t just occur at high altitudes; it is happening constantly in ecosystems across the world.

Climate change is a major driver of plant migrations. Obviously warmer temperatures will allow cold-intolerant tropical plants to expand farther from the equator, but there are more subtle examples as well. Rising sea levels will give plants like seaweed and mangroves an opportunity to migrate inland, while simultaneously pushing back coastal plant communities. Here in the midwest, climate scientists predict that our summers will become hotter and dryer while our winters and springs will become a little warmer and a lot wetter. This could mean trouble for plants that need a lot of moisture in the summer while creating the perfect conditions for highly competitive and drought-tolerant invasive species to take over new areas. On top of that, habitat fragmentation has made it more difficult for plant species to spread their seeds to suitable new habitats.

Luckily, researchers are finding ways to help. Creating ‘ buffer zones ’ around natural areas gives nature a little extra wiggle room for plants to expand or shift their distributions. Additionally, habitat corridors- strips of natural areas that connect several larger natural areas- can combat habitat fragmentation and provide the stepping stone that plant and animal species need to access the resources in a different location.

Without the ability to pick themselves up and move somewhere else, plants have to rely on a “migrate or acclimate” policy for dealing with environmental changes. But with the climate changing so quickly, many plants won’t be able to acclimate quickly enough to survive , leaving migration as the best- and sometimes only- option.

November Bird Blog (2023)

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Birds of November

Welcome to this month's November Bird Blog. I have a collection of birds for you that are well known inside of and outside of the birding world. Many people who aren’t familiar with birding will easily recognize most of these birds given their commonality in Illinois and around the United States. Most of these birds have adapted extremely well to many urban environments in the US and some are even considered as pests by some people. Keep an eye out for these birds and don't forget to tell us about them! Now that I am done with my rambling on, here’s the birds for this month's bird blog.

American Crow

Corvus brachyrhynchos

A blot of black along the sky, the American Crow is a large thick-necked bird with a pure glossy black plumage. These highly intelligent creatures are common sights in the wide variety of areas from treetops to roadsides. This talent of variety also invades their appetite with them willing to eat almost anything like earthworms, insects, animals, seeds, fruit, garbage, and carrion. They are extremely social birds gathering in large numbers during winter times to create communal roosts which can range from a few hundred to two MILLION crows. They use their intelligence in many ways but one area where they show their craftiness is in the extreme versatility of their foraging. They have been seen tracking adult birds to find their hidden nests. Crows can act in groups to distract an animal like an otter or a duck and then while that animal is distracted a different crow can swoop in and take its prey. They have also been known to catch fish, eat from an outdoor dog dish, and pluck fruit from trees. They can use tools like cups for moving water, pointy sticks for reaching into areas their beaks can’t fit to get grubs, and my personal favorite: dropping pine cones on humans climbing up a tree they are in to defend their nest. They also will work together to drive off predators which is known as mobbing. The American Crow is known for its loud crackling caws and if you want to hear them for yourself click on this link .

Canada Goose

Branta canadensis

The Canada Goose, a well known bird common to urban and suburban areas. They are large water birds with webbed feet, tan and white underside, a long black neck, white chinstrap mark going up to their chin, and a black head. The reason why Geese are commonly found near and around people is their preference for large grassy fields with unobstructed views near water. Which includes many human maintained land with large lawns (like parks or golf courses). Geese commonly eat grasses and sedges and some subspecies can even eat domesticated grasses that many humans use. Unfortunately due to their commonness in suburban areas geese are seen as a pest to many people and thus their big flock numbers are even more detrimental to their image. The Canada Goose also has a couple of other extremely notable traits. These include their way to fly more efficiently in a V formation. Flying in a V formation has the chance to increase their range by up to 71% by reducing drag and inducing an aerodynamic term called upwash. The other notable quirk of the Canadian geese is their very noisy honk that can be heard here .

Mourning Dove

Zenaida macroura

Mourning Dove, a graceful little bird who is very common in Illinois. This dove has a large plump body with an extra long tail and a very small head compared to its body. Their feathers include a variety of colors with brown, tan, gray and white with black spots on their wings and black and white wing/tail tips. Seeds make up practically their entire diet and they tend to graze on the ground so many feeders are particularly effective at enticing mourning doves to your yard. These little doves are particularly vulnerable to cats as well which is something to keep an eye on to make sure we are kind to our friendly neighborhood fliers. They are more vulnerable to cats because they like to gorge themselves on seeds and store a lot of seeds within their crop (a storage device within their throat) before finding a perch to digest it all. They eat 12-20 percent of their body weight per day! When singing they release a mournful call (which is where they got their name) and if you want to hear the coos they release click here !

Barred Owl

Strix varia

A strange bird call is ringing in the distance, almost sounding like someone yelling who cooks for you. In reality this is the Barred Owls call. They are a larger owl with a mottled brown and white coloration of feathers. These mottled colors are in vertical brown bars with a white undercurrent. They have a rounded head and a medium length tail with the same coloration and patterns. Here at Severson Dells you could be fortunate enough to hear or even spot a Barred Owl (I know I have). They enjoy their large mature forests year round and prefer staying near water. They like a diversity of prey animals ranging from small rodents, other birds, amphibians, reptiles, and even invertebrates. These powerful hunters use their sharp sense of sight and hearing to search for prey on a high up point and once they catch them they swallow their smaller prey whole. This owl tends not to make their own nests, they prefer to use a natural cavity or a nest made by another animal like squirrels or other birds. If you want to listen to their strange calls click the highlighted words.

Cooper's Hawk

Accipiter cooperii

The Cooper’s Hawk, a medium-sized hawk with blueish gray feathers along its back and brownish red on its torso. They are natives to many forests and woodlands but are now much more comfortable in more suburban based areas with higher numbers in towns than their old preference of forests. These hawks primarily feed on other smaller birds with very skillful hunting through the air. They use intense speed to pursue other birds through canopies and because of this they regularly fracture the bones in their chest. A study of 300 skeletons showed 23% of Cooper’s Hawks had healed over fractures showing us it's hunting method posed its own dangers. Other interesting traits with the Cooper’s Hawk is how much smaller the males are compared to the females. This is an obvious problem when female Cooper’s Hawks are known for hunting birds similarly sized to that of the male counterpart. The Male also is the primary builder of the nest and when the young are born the male provides food to the whole family for over the next 90 days. Outside of the breeding season these hawks tend to be silent but if you are looking for them you might be able to hear their loud and grating Cak-Cak-Cak and if you want to hear it click this link !

Look out for many birds to see this winter and also listen to many of their most recognizable languages. November is here and the weather is getting colder. Many birds get puffier in the winter to stay warm and we should follow suit and make sure to stay bundled from the cold. Take care and stay warm out there!

Explore through Movement and Play in Nature

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:00:00 GMT

For Infants (0-12 Months):

For Toddlers (12-36 Months):

Introducing Emma: Education AmeriCorps

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 10:59:00 GMT

Hello! My name is Emma Zimmerman, and I am excited to be serving as an Environmental Education AmeriCorps Member here at Severson Dells! I have grown up in the stateline area, so I am happy to be back home and in the place I love most - the forest! I graduated this spring from Beloit College with a degree in Environmental Biology. I am interested in forest ecosystems and deep ecology, and I am passionate about people and our relationship with nature.

I recently moved back to Illinois after serving an AmeriCorps term as a botany member in the Mt.Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State conducting plant surveys and removing invasive species, so I’m excited to apply that knowledge and experience here at Severson! During my off time I am an avid backpacker and hiker, and I am always looking for my next adventure! I enjoy spending my time reading, running, listening to music, and spending time with friends.

I am so excited to be joining the team at Severson Dells Nature Center, and I can’t wait to watch as the seasons change in such a beautiful place.

Count, Group, and Compare in Nature

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 11:00:00 GMT

For Infants (0-12 Months)

For Toddlers (12-36 Months)

Here is a great activity* from our friends at Little Pine Learners: https://littlepinelearners.com/nature-find-and-count-math-activity/

*We only ask that you not pick anything that is still living.

I hope you enjoy challenging your little one to help them better understand the world through nature's patterns.

It's Time for a Whimsy Walk

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 11:00:00 GMT

“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable, beautiful, and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings.” -Mary Oliver

When was the last time you felt frolicsome and afraid of nothing? As adults, there are so many things tearing away from the present. Bills, appointments, meals, texts, and to-do lists flurry around our mind. Even if we carve out time to take a walk out in nature, it takes a while for us to shed the ties to our stresses and enjoy the nature we came out to visit.

I would like to offer some tools to help free your mind on your next walk in nature, and better yet, invite your inner child out to play. I have ordered these prompts from easy to hard; easy being “I can do this on the trail and no one will even notice” and hard being “this is what I would have loved as a kid! Who cares who sees?”

This is the kind of walk for frequent mediators and I-rarely-slow-down-enough-to-reflect folks alike. The physicality of these activities will help you stay engaged with the beauty of your surroundings and distance you from the to-do list at home.

Let’s try a whimsy walk.

Walk with the pace wind. The wind is always asking us to play, but we hardly listen. Before you begin, plant your feet firmly on the ground and feel the way the breeze blows between your fingers and tugs at your hair. Let it travel up your nose and fill your lungs before slipping out of your mouth. Once you are well-acquainted with the force of the wind, begin your walk. Sink into a slow pace as you feel the wind ebb and rush when a gust pushes past you. Think of it like a ballroom dance where the wind is dictating your pace and it’s your job to follow!

Find the biggest and the smallest. When you reach a special spot- whether it is an overlook or a simple turn on the trail- stop! Let your gaze drift around you and fix your eyes on the biggest thing you see. Imagine your body swelling and filling a space so large! Now bend down and get low to the ground. You can pretend to tie your shoe if you need to have an excuse. Look for the smallest possible thing, and no, that blade of grass doesn’t count. Is it a speck of sand? The eye of an ant? Imagine how thrilling a forest of grass would be to that ant. How does that make you feel about your size and scale in the world?

Learn how to pose from a tree. Let yourself come to a stop. Now look up! You can pretend to be looking at a bird if you want to look distinguished or official, but what I want you to do is start scanning the trees above you. Look at their little branches splayed like fingers, bent like wrists and elbows, swaying in the wind like arms. Find your favorite section of canopy and bring your arms above your head like you are doing an actual stretch. Don’t do one of the silly stretches from gym class, though! Arrange your arms above you and match the canopy of the trees. Let your breath rise and fall like the breeze to help your new branch-arms move like the trees above you. How wonderful does it feel to reach up to the sun as they do?

Shake hands with leaves and flowers. I need to start with a disclaimer: be sure you know how to identify our common no-touch plants before you start. They include poison ivy, the angelicas, stinging nettle, and even the spring ephemeral mayapple. These plants are exempt from this activity! Start by drifting your fingers along leaf edges. Let them leap above the lobes and buzz over the serrated teeth. Swirl your fingers through a cluster of leaves and let them skip from one patch to another. Pretend that each touch is a greeting and each contact a handshake. Look at how many new friends you have met!

Lay on the ground and find the heartbeat of the earth. This is a top-tier challenge because you will have to lay on the ground. There’s no way around it! Press your chest against the earth and turn your head so that your ear forms a sort of seal against the ground. Breathe in and out with the blades of grass dancing in the breeze, now at your eye level. Listen! What are you starting to hear? A distant thunder, a gentle thump? Some people would say that is your heartbeat. They aren’t wrong! Some people would say that’s the earth’s heartbeat. If you have completed all of these activities, I bet you would agree, our heartbeat and the earth’s are one in the same.

‘Spook the Dells’ Animal Myths

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:00:00 GMT

Between leaves losing their green, mushrooms making an appearance, and squirrels scampering around looking for nuts, October is a very busy time in nature, and here at Severson Dells is no different! We’ve got Science Saturdays the first week of each month, Drinks for the Dells on October 14th, and on the 21st- the inspiration for today's blog- Spook the Dells! Each year, Severson staff and volunteers dress up to teach families some fun facts about different nighttime creatures. You’ll learn a lot about all the different Spook the Dells characters that night, but here is a little sneak preview with some common misconceptions about our local nocturnal friends.

Coyotes

Misconception: Coyotes are dangerous to humans.

Like many wild animals, coyotes much prefer to avoid humans. Instances of coyotes harming a human are rare, and usually only happen if the coyote has become accustomed to being around people. For example, leaving bait out for trail cameras can cause the coyote to associate humans with food and make them less hesitant to interact with people. This is why it is never a good idea to try to feed coyotes or other wild predators.

Misconception: If a coyote is active during the day, it must be sick.

Coyotes are commonly active during the day and at night , so just being active during the day should not be cause for alarm. Since rodents like chipmunks and squirrels make up a significant part of their diet, they need to be active when their prey is! Now, if a coyote is out during the day AND exhibiting other health or behavior concerns, it might be a good idea to alert someone.

Big Brown Bats

Misconception: All bats have rabies!

Scientists believe that about 99% of bats do NOT carry the rabies virus . Globally, the most cases of rabies in humans originate from domesticated dogs. In the US, since most dogs receive rabies vaccinations, contact with bats is the most common way that humans get exposed to rabies, but it is still not very common. That being said it is always a good idea to talk to a medical provider if you come in contact with a bat, and never handle bats with your bare hands!

Misconception: Blind as a bat!

Big brown bats- and many other bats- actually have quite good eyesight ! For catching their insect prey, they use their echolocation skills, but for anything at a longer distance, they’ll depend on their eyesight.

Misconception: Bats try to fly into your hair to build nests.

The first issue with this idea is that bats do not intentionally dive-bomb people. If it feels like they are targeting you, it’s likely that you have stirred up some insects and the bats are just trying to catch themselves some dinner! The second problem is that bats don’t really build nests. Most bats roost in hollow trees, caves, or other structures where lots of bats can live together.

Moths

Misconception: Moths are just bland butterflies.

Some moths, like Spook the Dells’ Luna Moth or the Rosy Maple Moth, are very brightly colored! In general, butterflies tend to be active during the day while moths are more active at night, but there are also some moths that are active at night! There are about 180,000 species of Lepidopterans (the group that includes butterflies, moths, and skippers) worldwide, but only about 14,000 of those are butterflies. So, if anything, butterflies are just day-faring, brightly colored moths.

Raccoons

Misconception: If you see a raccoon during the day, it has rabies.

Similar to the coyotes, it is not uncommon to see healthy raccoons out and about during the day. They tend to be more active at night, but if a female raccoon is caring for young, she may venture out to find some food for them during the day. Unfortunately, raccoons are a primary carrier of the rabies virus in the US, so please do not try to pet or feed them.

Misconception: Raccoons wash their food.

Raccoons are commonly seen on the shores of rivers and ponds dunking their food in the water. Since we- as humans- only put our food under water to wash it, we assumed that’s what the raccoons were doing to! But this is not the case! Raccoons actually have a heightened sense of touch, with about 5 times more nerves in their “hands” than humans have. Feeling things is how they perceive the world, and getting their paws wet helps to soften any callouses that they may have so they they can feel things even more clearly. So when you see a raccoon dipping its food in water, they are actually just trying to learn more about what they are holding!

Opossums

Misconception: They are called possums!

There is an animal called a possum, but it lives in Australia. Here in North America, our furry friends is actually called an opossum. But don’t worry; since possums live so far away, people will still know what you mean if you call them possums.

Misconception: They hang by their tails when they sleep.

It’s true that they have a prehensile tail- meaning it can be used to grab things. However, opossums mostly use their tail to help stabilize themselves when they climb trees or to hold things like sticks or food that they are bringing back to their den.

Great Horned Owls

Misconception: Owls can turn their head all the way around.

Technically, this isn’t wrong, but the truth is a little more nuanced. If a great horned owl is facing forward, they can easily turn their head 180 degrees to see directly behind them. Since they can turn 180 degrees to the right and 180 degrees to the left, technically they can turn a full 360 degrees . But, if they start off looking forward, they cannot turn their head all the way around to be looking forward again.

Misconception: An owl could swoop down and carry off my pet or child.

Most of the time, we can put this claim squarely in the “Fiction” category. Great horned owls- considered the strongest of all owls in North America- can only carry about 4 lbs , so you can rest assured that your children, even newborns, will not be snatched up by an owl. However, if your pet weighs less than four pounds, it would be possible for an owl to pick them up, so keep a close eye on them if they’re outside.

Jumping Spiders

Misconception: Jumping spiders catch their prey in webs.

Jumping spiders don’t spin webs the way some other spiders do. Instead, they spin a thread of webbing that acts like a lifeline when they are catching their prey. They will follow their prey for a while, and then jump onto it in an ambush.

Misconception: They hunt at night.

Jumping spiders use their very good eyesight to stalk their prey. In the daylight, they can see almost 360 degrees around themselves thanks to their eight eyes, which helps them locate their small prey from a distance. Because they rely so heavily on their sight, they do not usually search for food at night.

Conclusion

There are a lot of misunderstandings abouts animals who are active at night, and it’s common for people to be afraid of things that they don’t understand. But now that you know a little more about each of these critters, hopefully they don’t seem so scary! Of course, there’s still a lot more to learn, so you should sign up for Spook the Dells on October 21st to get the full scoop- and have some s’mores while you’re at it!

Field Notes Blog - Severson Dells Nature Center

Spring Wildflowers

﻿ Wildflower ID:

﻿ Flower Shape and Arrangement:

﻿ Friends of Flowers: benefits to wildlife

﻿ Anatomy of a Flower and Why they have Colors:

Making it Easier to Volunteer

Removing obstacles to connect you to causes you care about!

I don’t want to make a big commitment.

It is hard to find childcare for my kids

I love Severson Dells, but it is so far away

I like nature, but I am not very mobile or active

Ok, I think I want to start volunteering! What’s next?

Carbon Sequestration at Prairie's Edge

Carbon Sequestration

Rewilding Prairie’s Edge

Measuring Carbon at Prairies Edge

Soil Organic Carbon:

Bulk Density

Soil pH

Results

Restoration Potential

Future

Definitions:

Sources:

Birding for Tots: Your Child's First 'Big Year'

Biophilia: Engaging With Nature is a Basic Need

Educational and Developmental Benefits

Birdwatching is for Everyone

What You'll need:

Where to Go: ﻿

Low Stakes, High Rewards

Sources

Five Nature Books You Should Know

Climate in the News: Coastal Sea Levels Are Higher Than Previously Thought

Sources

Spring Community Science

Explore Community Science

The Grove - Low Down with Linda

Elliot Update: March 2026

Wildlife at Elliot

Rewilding the Former Elliot Golf Course

Prairie Restoration

Wetland Restoration

Savanna Restoration

The Big Picture: Addressing concern, Coming together, and Sharing the Land

Parting thoughts

Sources

(Re) Introducing Emma!

The Power of Prairie Roots

The wonder of the moving earth: what to look out for in the sky during 2026

Solar Eclipses

Blood Moon

Lunar effects on natural cycles

Full moons

Meteor Showers and More

Planetary Alignment

A Year in the Sky

Sources

Cold Stratification: Prairie Plant Strategy to Success

What Are Plants Doing During the Winter Months?

Resources

Let It Snow: 2025-2026 Snow Report

Snowfall Conditions, Trends, and Expectations for this season

Patterns and trends

The cold, hard data

Other (not-so-technical) Prediction Methods

Take a Walk with All Your Senses!

Have you ever gone on a "Senses" walk?

Did you feel that?

Wow, did you see that?

What was that noise?

What is that smell?

What a delicious taste!

Join us at Fore the Prairie!

Positive Nature News in 2025

Local News Local to Illinois and neighboring states

National News

Global News

Space News

Wildflower ID:

Flower Shape and Arrangement:

Friends of Flowers: benefits to wildlife

Anatomy of a Flower and Why they have Colors:

Where to Go:

Have You Ever Wondered Where Bugs Go In the Winter?

What birds can you see in Northern IL and at Severson Dells Nature Center?