By Gary Swick It’s back-to-school season for Friends of the Fox River (FOFR) and our team of educators is geared up to teach more than two thousand students how to collect water quality data in their schools’ local streams. Our “Watershed Watchdogs” education program is composed of lessons in traditional topics like local geography, natural … Read more
Get your holiday shopping done early with a beer in your hand, without an internet connection. The ceremony of gift giving is very important in many cultures as a demonstration of respect. According to author Gary Chapman in his book “The Five Love Languages” gift giving is also essential in intimate relationships. In our local … Read more
By Gary Swick, President Our personal friends are different to us than other people we pass in traffic, store aisles, or on the bike trail. What makes friends special to us is our understanding of them. This higher level of understanding usually comes from something we have in common. Until we become aware of this … Read more
by Gary Swick Having access to clean water is a need for all living things. The natural environment provides that through the hydrological cycle. Humans routinely interrupt that process and threaten their own water quality. It is the mission of Friends of the Fox River to protect our watershed through education, restoration, research, and advocacy. … Read more
by Gary Mechanic, Executive Director The Fox River has come a long way from the days when it was the most used and abused river in Illinois. An 1908 monograph describes the Fox River: “… the tributaries often bring large amounts of sediment, and various manufactories along the river discharge a large amount of refuse … Read more
By Gary Swick Because our watershed is biologically significant, it’s experiencing continual growth, and it’s home to a lot of conservationists, the Fox River is fortunate to have an incredible assortment of protectors. The list of who’s doing what can be quite confusing, with an alphabet soup of acronyms. The following is only a partial … Read more
by Gary Swick One of the basic concepts of ecology is that diversity leads to stability. The Fox River watershed has two kinds of diversity! It can boast of biological diversity, and a diversity of groups that work to preserve and increase the biological diversity. Diverse Origins Illinois may seem like a simple landscape. Most … Read more
By Gary Mechanic, Executive Director 2017 was the worst of years, and the best of years, and I’ve seen a lot of years. I’m 70 and I’ve never seen federal protection of the environment take such giant steps backwards! Since the USEPA was created in 1970, it has dragged it’s feet creating pollution control standards, it’s refused to regulate … Read more
Resolution 2018: Connect to Nature By Gary Swick It’s in the middle of the Friends of the Fox River’s mission statement; Connecting people to nature is what we do. It initiates a natural wonder within people that brings a sense of joy and a desire to care for what we love. We want people to love … Read more
By Gary Mechanic, Executive Director Following the recent solar eclipse, Friends of the Fox River’s President Gary Swick drew a parallel in his monthly newsletter article between the ancient anxiety caused by the temporary darkness of an eclipse, and the depressing darkness that many of us feel about the temporary (we hope) rollback of federal … Read more
