streams education

The Resilience of Rivers

By Gary Swick, President 2020 has been a spectrum of angst ranging from a dumpster fire, to a period of darkness, to great hope bestowed upon 2021 as the light. The holiday season is a festival of light from many different cultures’ traditions. All these traditions symbolize getting through the tough time of short days, … Read more

Kyle Della Fishing by Dan

A Child’s First Teacher

By Jenni Schiavone Dear Caregivers, The Friends of the Fox River (FOFR) Education Design Team and I feel it is important to reach out to all caregivers to acknowledge and celebrate the work that you do without knowing you are doing it.  Let this digital message be the conduit between my heart and all of … Read more

2nd Saturday Outdoor Family Adventure

Second Saturday Outdoor Family Adventure

You and your family are invited to join us on the 2nd Saturday of each month for an outdoor adventure 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 … Read more

Water Remembers

By Gary Mechanic, Executive Director Last spring at our amazing “Love Our River Day“ clean-up and community celebration in Elgin, Kathy Haerr offered a water blessing during which she said: “Water has a memory”. I mentally scoffed at the idea. I took her to mean that water has a memory the way we have a … Read more

How Are We Protecting the Fox River?

By Gary Swick, President “How is the river doing?” and “What’s new with Friends of the Fox River (FOFR)?” are the two most common questions that I hear related to the Fox River. In January, I will answer the first question during my State of the Fox River 2020 report at Schweitzer Environmental Center (SEC) … 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

students in a stream

Student Monitoring Season Wrap-up

By Meghan Yancey The fall water quality monitoring season has come to a successful end! This was my first season with Friends of the Fox River (FOFR) and it’s been great for me to see both students and teachers committed to continuing this work. This fall we worked with 12 schools and over 1,000 students … Read more

students in the stream

What is Education For? Citizen Empowerment

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

checking wq to protect

People + Legislation = Water Quality Protection

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