Fox Valley

Euonymus atropurpureus

Meet Your Neighbors: Meet Your Wahoo Neighbor

By Jack MacRae I think everyone should have at least one wahoo (Euonymus atropupureus) in their backyard.  They’re small, shrubby native trees that prefer average to moist conditions and do well in today’s crazy world.  They thrive in the filtered shade of wide-open woods and forest edges, creating a picturesque colony over the years. Shrubs such as … Read more

making rain

Second Saturday Kickoff a Great Success!

By Brandon Combs and Jenni Schiavone Friends of the Fox River Second Saturday Outdoor Adventures is a new program initiative we’re starting this year. We hope this monthly program will engage young community members and their families in regular outdoor educational activities as we explore the Fox River’s watershed. We are proud to report that … Read more

groundhog

Meet Your Neighbors – Meet Your Underground Neighbors!

By Jack MacRae Groundhogs and badgers are both local, grayish mammals that live in holes in the ground.  But that’s where the similarities end.  Groundhogs (Marmota monax) are grazing members of the rodent family; badgers are hunting members of the weasel family, (Mustelidae). Groundhogs live all over, badgers are restricted in their local range.  Groundhogs have a holiday … Read more

family on a woodland trail

Second Saturday Outdoor Family Adventure

You and your family are invited to join us on the 2nd Saturday of each month as we explore special places along the Fox River and throughout its watershed. Learn what a watershed is. See how the Fox River was formed, Visit the special natural areas that make the Fox River Valley an important ecosystem, … Read more

Black-capped Chickadee

Meet Your Neighbors: Meet Your Chickadee Neighbor’s Brain!

By Jack MacRae Our wildlife neighbors adjust to the approach of winter in various ways.  Some creatures migrate (red bats), some hibernate (fox snakes), and some grow a layer of insulating fat (raccoons and many humans).  And some birds grow big brains. Seriously.  Long ago, scientists learned that black capped chickadees’ brains expand during autumn when the birds … Read more

sumac thicket

Meet Your Neighbors: Meet the Sumacs

By Jack MacRae The burgundy leaves of sumac fill the Fox Valley’s fall woods.  The hue comes from the pigment anthocyanin and is greatly influenced by the weather.  Here is how: Cool nights (below 45f) inhibit the tree’s chlorophyll production.  Without chlorophyll, sugars accumulate in the leaves.  Increased sugar leads to a rise in anthocyanin in the leaf.  The more … Read more

heart_river-crppd

It’s Our Fox River Day – A Watershed-Wide Celebration

On Saturday, September 21, Friends of the Fox River will coordinate our fifth river-length event on the entire Fox River from Waukesha, Wisconsin to the confluence in Ottawa, Illinois We are reaching out to Mayors, City Councils, Park Districts and Forest Preserve Districts along the river, along with environmental groups, faith communities, youth organizations and … Read more

bobcats

Meet Your Neighbors: Cats Named Bob

By Jack MacRae Our bobcats are busy. February means females are looking for houses and males are looking for females. Bobcats den in old forests with a dense, shrubby under-story, where they create a hidden home within the hollow logs and tangled roots. Gestation lasts 60 days and the circle of life continues. Hakuna matata. … Read more

Meet Your Neighbors: Voley Moley!

By Furry Jack MacRae Voles live fast and die young.  There are millions of these mousy rodents in our grassy neighborhoods throughout the Fox River’s watershed, but they almost never make it to their second birthday. Meadow voles have their own cycle of life.  Bio-chronologists have learned voles do not subscribe to a typical 24 hour circadian rhythm, but … Read more

Meet Your Neighbors: Season of the Witch

By Jack MacRae Witch Hazel was one of my least favorite Looney Toons characters.  She wasn’t a deep thinker like Foghorn Leghorn or a slapstick genius like Yosemite Sam.  But I do like her namesake shrub.  Witch Hazel was named after an attractive tree native to our understory of our wooded lands.  Blooming during the fall, this … Read more