For Immediate Release: March 27, 2007
Friends of the Fox River Announces Spring Events
Get to know your local waterways and help protect water quality. Friends of the Fox River is co-sponsoring workshops and river clean-ups.
Sign up for stream monitoring training workshops, monitoring workshops specifically for teachers, and macroinvertebrate ID refreshers.
An Identification Refresher (Meet the Macros) Workshop is being held Saturday, April 28 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at Glacial Park, The Conference Center (The Lodge) in Ringwood.
The free workshop will cover benthic (stream bottom) macroinvertebrates and how they are an indicator of the health of the local streams. The workshop begins indoors with a presentation on macroinvertebrates by John Aavang. Afterwards participants will head out to a local stream to collect and identify macroinvertebrates. To register and more info: Contact Mary Kozub, McHenry County Conservation District at 815-479-5779 or mkozub@mccdistrict.org
Friends of the Fox River’s Watershed Monitoring Network is holding workshops for teachers and adults. The training will provide individuals with background information about the Fox River, hands-on monitoring training and a Fox River Monitoring Guide. Participants will collect physical, biological and chemical data that can be used to access water quality. The first part of workshop is indoors and moves to the local stream in the afternoon. Please dress for the weather and bring boots if possible. No prior monitoring experience is required.
A free teachers’ workshop will be held Friday, April 13 from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road in Crystal Lake. Learn how monitoring can provide students with real science and hands on learning experiences. The workshop is designed for teachers, but adults and youth group leaders are also encouraged to attend. To register and more info: Contract Mary Kozub, McHenry County Conservation District, at 815-479-5779 or mkozub@mccdistrict.org
An adult monitoring workshop will be held Saturday, April 14 from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m at the Prairieview Education Center, 2112 Behan Road in Crystal Lake. To register and more info: Contact Mary Kozub, McHenry County Conservation District, at 815-479-5779 or mkozub@mccdistrict.org
A workshop will be held on Wednesday, May 9 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Red Oak Nature Center, 2343 S. River St. in Batavia. To register and more info: Contact Pam Otto, Fox Valley Park District, at 630-897-1808 or potto@fvpd.net.
The Kendall County Natural History Center will be the site of a workshop on Thursday, May 24 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at 110 W. Madison St. in Yorkville. To register and more info: Contact Danielle Ebersole, Forest Preserve District of Kendall County, at 630-553-4111 or debersole@co.kendall.il.us
JOIN FRIENDS OF THE FOX RIVER IN THEIR SPRING 2007 FOX RESCUE CLEANUP
Friends of the Fox River will hold its next Fox Rescue Cleanup on Saturday, May 19, 2007. Sites are currently scheduled in Aurora, Algonquin, Batavia, Carpentersville, Elgin, Geneva, Montgomery, and Oswego. Cleanups on other dates are also being scheduled. Plan early to get involved with cleaning up the river. To set up a cleanup site in your area or to get more information about river cleanups, please contact Fox Rescue Coordinator Jessi DeMartini at 630-871-7548 or jdemartini@dupageforest.com.
FOFR’s Fox Rescue’s cleanups are funded through a grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s SCALE grant program.
Friends of the Fox River’s mission is “… to preserve, restore and protect the Fox River Watershed’s resources by connecting people with nature through education, research, restoration and advocacy.”
For more information about this press release, please contact:
Jennifer Howard
630-892-5249
jhoward@friendsofthefoxriver.org
