Chapter Events

 
Blanding's Turtle
Lake County has more threatened and endangered species than any other county in Illinois. Explore why we have so many threatened species and what the challenges are for these protected plants and animals. We will even meet and take an up close and personal look at some of our native species that are in jeopardy. 
 
Speaker: Lake County Forest Preserve District Educator
 
 
We will be meeting on the second Tuesday in January due to the New Year holiday.
Families Welcome. No fee or registration required

                                                                                                                                   
Fremont Township Community Gardens
In just four years, the Fremont Township Community Garden has been transformed into an outdoor classroom for volunteers of all ages to learn about growing food in conjunction with ecology. In addition to incorporating numerous flowers throughout the garden to attract beneficial insects, Fremont Township has started work on a native restoration for surrounding areas to support pollinators, manage water onsite, and reduce maintenance. Come hear how volunteers and municipalities can work together to create spaces that serve both the community and our environment.  
 

Speaker: Alicia Dodd 
 
Families Welcome.  No fee or registration required.

Have you ever considered beekeeping? Wondered about those brave souls who mingle with bees? Curious about co-existing with thousands of busy little creatures, producing all that honey?
Join us for an evening with Frank Moriarty, Jim Belli, and Karen Belli, from the Lake County Beekeepers Association. They will introduce us to the art of Beekeeping.  From the history of honeybees and how the hive works, to the importance of these pollinators to our crops. They will cover it all!  There will even be some honey for those who want to taste honey from Lake County.
 
Speakers: Frank Moriarty, Jim & Karen Belli
 

 
About our speakers
Frank Moriarty is the current president of Lake County Beekeepers Association and has been raising bees for 3 years. He is a vocal advocate for 'backyard beekeepers' and has developed a NewBeez Program to assist 1st time beekeepers in being successful with their honeybees. Along with traditional beekeeping and honey extraction methods, Frank embraces some newer approaches including the Flow Hive (honey on tap from the hive) and Apivox Auditor (a device for monitoring bee colonies). He lives in Hawthorn Woods with his home abutting the Flint Creek conservation waterway. 
Jim Belli has served as the Northern Region Director and president of the Illinois State Beekeepers Association and is currently a Director of the American Beekeeping Federation. Jim and his wife Karen have been keeping bees for 17 years on their 45-acre property, Belli Farm, located in Old Mill Creek, Illinois. They are a wealth of knowledge about the history of beekeeping as well as current research and methods of beekeeping. Four years ago the Belli's  started a pollinator habitat restoration, and have currently enrolled their farm in the State of Illinois Forest Management Plan.
 
Families welcome  No fee or registration required
 

 This presentation will focus on some of the foundational questions: What is an invasive plant? How do they get here? What is it about these species in particular that make them invasive when so many other species are not? We?ll also take a look at some of the area?s ?least wanted? ? widely distributed invasive plants that every homeowner should know about ? and some ?up-and-comers? ? plants that have newly arrived in the area and may be spreading. Plus why it is a good idea to control them and how control is best accomplished.
 
Speaker: Clair Ryan - Midwest Invasive Plant Network coordinator 
Families Welcome  No fee or registration required

 
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis)
Join us and celebrate the earth day weekend at Reed-Turner Woodland Preserve, a hidden gem that has peaceful trails and a rustic nature center. A real jewel of Reed-Turner are it?s spring ephemerals. If you missed our fall walk there last September here?s another chance to enjoy the beauty of this lovely woodland. This April we return to Reed Turner to view the beautiful wildflowers of spring with guide Sarah Shultz.
It's a wooded wonderland so be sure to bring your camera!
Please RSVP Pam Wolfe  [email protected]  if you plan to attend.
 
Families Welcome   No fee 

Curious about landscaping with native plants?  Join us and learn why native plants are a great choice to enhance the enjoyment of your property while benefitting the environment in a surprising number of ways. Explore ways to attract and support birds, butterflies, and other pollinators while creating beautiful, low maintenance areas in your landscape. Resources to help you get started or continue what you have already created will be included.
 
Speaker:  Sandy Washburn
 
Families Welcome   No fee or registration required

Gardening can be hard on the environment if you don?t know what you?re doing. The actions we take on our landscapes can affect the natural world way beyond our property lines. There are many eco-friendly and sustainable yard and garden practices that can help us lessen our impact on nature. 
This program will provide information to help homeowners maintain their properties with proper mulching, planting, and other earth-friendly techniques. The presentation will include details on systemic insecticides (neonicotinoids) in the home landscape and the disastrous side effects of using these products.
 
Speaker: Meredith Tucker of Citizens for Conservation
 
Families Welcome  No fee or registration required

Due to the 4th of July holiday our meeting will be held on Tuesday July 10, 2018.
 
While many animals eat acorns, the Eastern gray squirrel is one mammal that actually helps the oak tree. If you have ever watched them, you will notice how they find a single acorn and carry it off to bury it in a shallow hole, presumably for later consumption. Since it?s impossible for the squirrels to remember all the hidden acorns, the forgotten ones foster the next generation of oak trees. 

 
Like squirrels, Blue jays are known to hide nuts for later consumption. While they cache seeds and nuts from many plants, blue jays prefer acorns. These birds stash such an abundance of food that they only recover 40 percent of their cache, and so do their part in oak reproduction.  
Understanding and facilitating natural oak reproduction is important to the progress of ecological restoration. Join us and learn more about how these animals help in the regeneration of our most valuable native tree, the oak.
 
Speaker: Tom Simpson, Field Station Ecologist at McHenry Conservation District
 
Families welcome  No fee or registration required 

Fremont Township Community Garden is a multi-functional garden
space that provides produce to local food pantry clients and low income seniors while providing opportunities for enjoyment and learning. Here residents are invited to get involved, whether as a garden volunteer, with a community service project, or simply to enjoy and make use of the garden as a get away from the hustle and bustle.
 
The site already features a shed build by the Mundelein High School Shop Class, a rain barrel, functional up-cycled artworks, bird houses contributed by the girl scouts and a bug hotel, beehive and birdbath as part of an Eagle Scout Project. The gardens also include a site created and planted with native species favored by the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. Come join us as we visit this ever changing, treasured site of community activity and learning opportunities for all ages.
 
 Guides: Alicia Dodd & Aurelia Nichols
 
Families Welcome No fee

Using the traditional principles of landscape design ecologist and native plant designer Dave Eubanks, will present the basics on getting started with native plants around your home and garden. He will touch on themes you can develop such as rain gardens, butterfly gardens, shade gardens, and using the right plants, plus installation techniques.
 
Maintenance requirements will be explained as well. Whether you are a novice gardener or master gardener, this presentation will have information useful for beginners while experts will still learn some new tricks.
 
Speaker: Dave Eubanks
 
Families Welcome   No fee or registration required

Audubon Board member Emma England will present a program centered on some of the new studies illustrating the incredible mental capabilities of birds. Using photos, film clips, and information from scientific reports and recently published books, Emma will provide some examples of the amazing abilities of parrots, crows, and other birds. The English language has many derogatory expressions related to birds as for example, lame duck, hen pecked, turkey, lay an egg, but this presentation will be, in the most positive use of the term, for the birds!
 
Speaker: Emma England
 
Families Welcome  No fee or registration required.

Six native plant communities, that are a part of the prairie mosaic in northeastern Illinois, comprise the 15-acre Dixon prairie at the Chicago Botanic.  This presentation, illustrated through pictures of the Dixon prairie, will focus on this grasslands
development plus some of the successes and challenges of creating these plant communities on engineered soils. 
 
Speaker: Joan O?Shaughnessy 
 
Families Welcome  No fee or registration required