Snow Trillium Spring has officially blossomed! On St. Patrick’s Day, I managed to get out to a special place in the woods where some of the first flowers of spring peek through the leaf litter. It has been a mild…
Nature Rambles
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Spring Cleaning It’s that time of year when we start looking forward to the end of a long winter. A season of renewal is looming. However we often enter this time of year feeling that we are still weighed down…
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Refuge under siege As I write this, a group of armed, anti-government, militants is thinking about leaving a National Wildlife Refuge they have occupied since Jan. 2. Not to give it back to the public, but rather, to go into…
Land and Water Conservation Fund Survives
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Late in the day on Dec. 16, a 50-year-old conservation program survived to see another day (we hope). The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) was passed and signed into law on Sept. 3, 1964. Since that date, over $3.6…
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Oh Christmas Tree . . . December is upon us, and it’s time to start gearing up for the holidays. One of the hallmarks of the holiday season for our household is the decorating of the Christmas tree. Usually around…
Happy OAKtober!Mike Miller, OAKtober, Oak Awareness Month, The Chicago Region Trees
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October 2015 was officially decreed Oak Awareness Month, or OAKtober, in Illinois. The initiative to recognize the plight of oak forests was spurred by The Chicago Region Trees Initiative and its partners throughout the state. It is part of a…
Tawny Oaks
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One of the first Peoria Park District conservation areas I visited outside of Forest Park Nature Center was a large woodland off of Singing Woods Road. Access was difficult and there wasn’t even a place to park. Since that first…
A Legacy for Future Generations
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A Legacy for Future Generations It was a summer day in 1990 that I piled into a car with several folks and drove up into Marshall County to explore some natural areas. We were off to meet someone who had…
Water, Water, Everywhere (here anyway)
by Mike Miller • • Comments Off on Water, Water, Everywhere (here anyway)
Seven weeks and counting. Who would have thought that the Illinois River would be above flood stage for so long in June and July? Normally, I make a weekly stop at a few of the birding hotspots to keep track…
A Changing Planet
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The earth is changing. In fact, it is in a constant state of change. Tectonic plates slowly grind and move. Mountains lift in the Himalayas, and slowly wear down in the Appalachians. I’m now sitting in a cottage in…