Education

male Indigo Bunting by Tom Schrader

“Blues” Along the Fox

It’s July and with COVID easing, summer festival season is here! Many municipalities up and down the Fox River Valley have celebrated Independence Day and the beginning of the summer season with public events centered around good music and refreshing food and drink. However, the musical blues aren’t what I’m referring to in the title … Read more

The Mourning Cloak By Pavel Kirillov from St. Petersburg Russia

Meet Your Morning Cloak Neighbors

By Jack MacRae The perennial winner for the Longest Life Span Award in the North American Butterfly Category is our old friend the mourning cloak. This is one of the few local butterflies that hibernates as an adult. They have a sweet trick that extends their life span to an impressive 11 months! Sweet, Deep … Read more

Synthyris reniformis

In Search of Signs of Spring

By Gary Swick, President Resilience and Hope In nature, winter is a time of conserving resources, relying upon storage, and enduring scarcity and hardship. Surviving winter requires physical resilience and hope. We have just emerged from a natural and cultural winter like none of us have ever experienced. As we travel the long crossover from … Read more

1024px-Snapper2 By Rob Duval Own work CC BY-SA 40

Meet Your Submerged Neighbor

By Snappin’ Jack MacRae It’s not too difficult to find a few big old snapping turtles in January and February if you know where to look (under the ice), and have an adventurous streak. Warm clothes are a bonus. During the winter, when local ectothermic animals (e.g., amphibians and reptiles) are undergoing hibernation (or, brumation if you want … Read more

-ad for WWF by TBWA PARIS France via brett jordan on Flickr CC BY

Help Wanted: 1.2 Trillion Trees

By Pat Brady, DivvyBack “So dense was the original forest, it was claimed, that a squirrel might travel from the Atlantic to the Mississippi from tree limb to tree limb without ever touching the ground.” -Folklore Try searching your favorite search engine for “1 trillion trees”. You’ll find a surprising list of support for the … Read more

Nitrogen_Cycle

Together, We Can Rebuild the Fox River Ecosystem

By Gary Swick, President Restoring the Systems Working with unified efforts and a sense of collaboration, we can move forward together while we navigate a global pandemic, overcome our national social injustices, and address climate change on all levels. We have challenges ahead but our own successes with the Fox River watershed’s protection and restoration … Read more

Toilet tissue paper roll

The Issue With Tissue

By Pat Brady, DivvyBack Managing Partner “Figures don’t lie but liars figure” is a piece of modern wisdom passed on through the pen of Mark Twain. I wonder what he would say about our modern world today? There is no lack of ironies so I suppose he would have a great time. Let’s see if … Read more

Northern Cardinal

Meet Your Bright Red Neighbors

By Jack MacRae Everyone should be able to identify the northern cardinal. The boys are bright, bright red.  Their faces are black.  The girls are a fetching tawny brown with red highlights.  Both sexes are crested and have thick red beaks. But cardinals are much more than just another pretty bird. Dumpster Diving Bird History During the early … Read more

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