Laurie Ryan, Plant Ecologist with the McHenry County Conservation District, will share some of the more interesting traits of native legumes, and compare them with commonly seen non-natives and those used in agriculture.
For those who have established native plant habitat on your property, if you have not already entered information about your property on the Homegrown National Park website, please visit the website https://homegrownnationalpark.org and add to the growing number of properties on the map.
IMPORTANT UPDATEChicago Living Corridors’ webinars will be hosted by the Barrington Area Library on their Zoom platform. The opportunity to work with the Barrington Area Library is an exciting partnership.
The next webinar for Chicago Living Corridors will be Thursday, May 25, at 7pm. Please join us to hear about the Citizens for Conservation’s Hill ‘N Dale Preserve Restoration Plans
There was recently very exciting news about CFC’s acquisition of 246 acres along Spring Creek in Barrington Hills. This purchase and planned restoration have saved the former horse farm from development. With wetlands the most endangered habitat is northern Illinois, this land just north of Spring Creek Forest Preserve and the Spring Creek Illinois Nature Preserve will expand that critical habitat. Learn about the process that has begun at Hill ‘N Dale to restore Spring Creek to wetlands. Jim Anderson will also share plans to restore sedge meadow, wet prairie, prairie, and savanna communities within the preserve, creating habitat for a variety of native plants and animals.
Jim Anderson is currently the Vice President of Citizens for Conservation’s Board of Directors and previously was the Director of Natural Resources for Lake County Forest Preserve. Jim also serves on the Steering Committee of Chicago Wilderness Alliance.
Published by Carol Rice · 23h · Exotic Invasive Plants: What you should know and what you should do.
Join Chicago Living Corridors for our next webinar – Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 7:00 pm Exotic Invasive Plants: What you should know and what you should do
The presenter will be Matt Evans who is the Managing Ecologist for Woodlands at the Chicago Botanic Garden. He is involved in environmental work through several organizations, focused mostly on community stewardship in the preserves. Understanding the impacts of invasive species and how to “restore” natural areas, such as forest preserves, to health is central to Matt’s work at the Chicago Botanic Garden and more widely across the state. Matt describes the management of invasives species as an opportunity for communities to work together on meaningful projects that transform natural areas from declining spaces to thriving resources providing ecosystem services and natural beauty.
He will be sharing information about landscape health, especially as it relates to invasive plant species. The presentation will offer examples of why certain plant species are undesirable and disruptive to ecosystem/landscape health while also providing examples of steps that can be taken by the audience members to participate in creating a healthier landscape. The audience can expect to learn about a few particularly important invasive species and how to deal with them and also comparisons of healthy and unhealthy landscapes, including suburban homes.
For those who have established native plant habitat on your property, if you have not already entered information about your property on the Homegrown National Park website, please visit the website https://homegrownnationalpark.org and add to the growing number of properties on the map.
IMPORTANT UPDATEChicago Living Corridors’ webinars will be hosted by the Barrington Area Library on their Zoom platform. The opportunity to work with the Barrington Area Library is an exciting partnership.
Green Infrastructure ABC’s Jeff Weiss has designed and helped to implement more than 50 small-scale green infrastructure projects of 10 acres or less in Buffalo Grove, mostly as a volunteer, on a wide variety of project types and with many community partners. Many of these projects focus on habitat corridors, including streams and rights-of-way. Jeff will provide examples, lessons learned, and funding sources for green infrastructure opportunities that can be employed on private property and homeowner association common areas. Hard work, but no permitting, engineering or consulting services, or large budgets are required for these projects! Jeff Weiss is an environmental steward and educator. He is coordinator of the Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership, founder of the Buffalo Grove Environmental Action Team, and volunteer steward at Buffalo Grove Prairie and Deer Grove Forest Preserve. Jeff also founded and leads the Buffalo Creek Clean Water Partnership, which was named Lake County Stormwater Management Commission’s Stewardship of the Year in 2016. Jeff is president of Living Lands Conservation Company, which provides environmental consulting and on-the-ground ecological restoration services. Recent projects include green infrastructure plan development and implementation, grant writing, and prescribed burn operations manuals. In 2014, Jeff earned an M.S. in natural resources and environmental science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He teaches plant propagation classes at The Morton Arboretum and will teach a new graduate field ecology class this summer for his alma mater, UIUC.
For those who have established native plant habitat on your property, if you have not already entered information about your property on the Homegrown National Park website, please visit the website https://homegrownnationalpark.org and add to the growing number of properties on the map.
IMPORTANT UPDATEChicago Living Corridors’ webinars will be hosted by the Barrington Area Library on their Zoom platform. The opportunity to work with the Barrington Area Library is an exciting partnership.
Join Jim Vanderpoel of the Citizens for Conservation as he discusses the fascinating plant group Apiaceae, which includes carrots and parsley. While many members of this family are delicious and useful, some are downright invasive or toxic. Offered in partnership with Chicago Living Corridors. Virtual. Register (The registration will be live at the end of January.)
“Backyard Wildlife: If you Build It, They Will Come.” Stephen Barten’s presentation will focus on the wildlife in his backyard after 25 years of clearing buckthorn and other invasive species and planting native plants. Using photography and trailcam videos he will show 70 species of mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and birds from his yard. It’s not all birds, either; 70 percent of the animals in his presentation are other species. His message is clearly the benefits of restoration, encouraging others to improve the habitat in their own yards to achieve similar results. Stephen Barten is a veterinarian, herpetologist, award-winning wildlife photographer, and experienced presenter at national veterinary conferences and veterinary schools. He and wife Patty have been Barrington residents for most of their adult lives. Steve generously donates his photography in support of Citizens for Conservation and other nonprofits across the US for use in publications, social media, and fund-raising auctions. His talk will highlight his photography and show the benefits of habitat restoration at a local level.
Butterfly Host Plants will be presented by Chris Benda, also known as the Illinois Botanizer, Description: Learn how to attract butterflies to your home garden by providing food sources and breeding grounds for our native butterflies and other pollinators. Chris will inspire you to incorporate beautiful, native plant species in the home landscape and will discuss which host plants are specific to certain butterflies and other insects.
Bio: Chris Benda is a botanist and past president of the Illinois Native Plant Society (2015-2016). Currently, he works as a Researcher at Southern Illinois University, where he coordinates the Plants of Concern Southern Illinois Program and teaches The Flora of Southern Illinois. Besides working at SIU, he conducts botanical fieldwork around the world, teaches a variety of classes at The Morton Arboretum and leads nature tours for Camp Ondessonk. He has research appointments with the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory, and is an accomplished photographer and author of several publications about natural areas in Illinois. He is also known as Illinois Botanizer and can be reached by email at botanizer@gmail.com. REGISTER HERE : https://balibrary.librarycalendar.com/events/butterfly-host-plants
IMPORTANT UPDATEChicago Living Corridors’ webinars will be hosted by the Barrington Area Library on their Zoom platform. The opportunity to work with the Barrington Area Library is an exciting new partnership.
Let’s take a look at native plants through all four seasons and see how they can work in your landscape.
Carol Rice and Debbie Groat will share with you plants from their own gardens as well as provide commentary regarding their experience with native plants. Debbie Groat always considered herself a gardener but didn’t know much about native plants when she enlisted the help of the Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee in 2005. As a member of the WPPC’s first mentoring class and with the help of an experienced native gardening mentor she planted her first prairie garden. She has since expanded her plantings to several other areas of her yard. She does not consider herself an expert by any means but is constantly learning and is committed to native plants not only for what they offer in terms of beauty and interest but also what they offer to the birds, insects and other creatures that visit her yard.
Carol Rice has been actively involved with the Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee since the late 1980s. She initiated the mentoring program in 2005. She has been involved with Chicago Living Corridors since its inception, and is the current president.She has been restoring the native habitat on her property for over thirty years.
IMPORTANT UPDATE Starting with this January webinar, Chicago Living Corridors’ webinars will be hosted by the Barrington Area Library on their Zoom platform.
NOTE: This webinar will be on Thursday instead of Wednesday
The next CLC webinar on December 9, Ecology and Conservation of Illinois Dragonflies, will provide an overview of the life cycle of dragonflies and damselflies, presented by Marla Garrison. She is an instructor of biology at McHenry County College, and authored Damselflies of Chicagoland, published online by the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History. This popular speaker combines extensive knowledge, incredible photographs and an engaging style in her presentations. Please plan on joining us.
We have been very happy to bring you these free webinars, but would welcome donations to help offset the costs. A suggested donation of $10 can be made here.
IMPORTANT UPDATE Starting with our January 14 webinar, Chicago Living Corridors’ webinars will be hosted by the Barrington Area Library on their Zoom platform. There will likely be some changes in schedule and other elements of the webinars, but we hope to minimize any disruptions. We are grateful to Iris Caldwell and the University of Illinois Chicago for hosting the webinars up until now.
The opportunity to work with the Barrington Area Library is an exciting new partnership, and we look forward to a smooth transition. The registration page for the January webinar – Native Shrubs for the Home Landscape – will be provided soon. Access to the videos of previous webinars are available at:
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