Chapter Events

Identifying trees and shrubs in the winter when their leaves are gone can seem difficult, but all the parts necessary to know them are there if you know what to look at. Learn how to see trees naked (without leaves) by looking at bark, bud, and twig characteristics and you will be able to identify trees any time of the year on your own!

Presenter Bio:

Chris Benda is a botanist and past president of the Illinois Native Plant Society (2015-2016).  A native of Minnesota, Chris moved to Illinois from California in 2004 and received a Master's Degree in Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign in 2007.  Besides conducting botanical fieldwork around the world, he teaches the Flora of Southern Illinois at Southern Illinois University and a variety of classes at The Morton Arboretum, as well as leading nature tours for Camp Ondessonk.  He has research appointments with the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory, and is an accomplished photographer and author of several publications about natural areas in Illinois.

This program will be presented online via Zoom.  Note:  Space is limited!  If you are no longer able to attend the program we encourage you to cancel your registration so that others may attend.  
Program registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsdOGgrjIpGtM67a4vtoqCNzw8Ee8RJF3c  
 
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing your unique link to join the meeting. Do not share this link as it is unique to you.
 
 

Learn about the wonderful diversity of sedges in this program.  Most references on sedges focus only on the seed heads. In this presentation, Carol Rice will show characteristics of the whole plant and how they would look in the landscape.

Presenter Bio:

Carol Rice has had a great interest in animals and plants her whole adult life.  She has spent over 20 years as a docent at Lincoln Park Zoo and 30+ years restoring her 5-acre property. Carol also founded the mentoring program of the Wildflower Preservation & Propagation Center (WPPC), thewppc.org, and participated in the development of many programs.  The Wildflower Preservation & Propagation Center  is one of the founding organizations of Chicago Living Corridors (CLC), chicagolivingcorridors.org. She is also current president of Chicago Living Corridors. This organization has created an interactive map of native habitat on privately-owned properties in the greater Chicagoland area. About 3,000 locations are currently mapped, and they expect to add additional locations in 2021.

This program will be presented online via Zoom. Registration is required to participate.

Registration link: Meeting Registration - Zoom

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing your unique link to join the meeting. Do not share this link as it is unique to you.

Take a journey through the seasons to discover a few native plants every gardener should try because they are great  for wildlife,  grow well in a range of conditions and look beautiful in most gardens, including small-medium landscapes. Plus they’re easy to find or purchase locally.  Also learn design tips for each, and receive a helpful handout summarizing this information. 

Presenter Bio:

Denise Sandoval is the landscape designer and owner of Good-Natured Landscapes LLC, creating beautiful, functional and kind to the Earth landscapes featuring native plants since 2005.  After volunteering  at a local prairie 19 years ago, Denise made it her mission to landscape with native plants after finishing her horticulture degree in design. She’s an active Wild Ones member and served on the Greater DuPage Chapter board for 15 years. She also worked retail at the original Natural Garden Nursery and as a Conservation@Home assistant for The Conservation Foundation. One of her design projects received the Chicago Wilderness Native Landscaping and Conservation Award. She gardens with native plants at home, creating her first rain garden in 2004, and performing prescribed burns on her prairie. Her greatest inspiration and teacher is the natural world.  

This presentation will be online via Zoom. To register for this program please click HERE. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing your unique link to join the meeting. Do not share this link as it is unique to you.

If you register for a program and are no longer able to attend, we encourage you to cancel your registration so that others may be able to attend.

Come hear how you can make a difference regionally by gardening with native plants in your own front and back yard, community garden or other public spaces. Learn basic rules for a successful garden that will benefit wildlife around you and bring you joy. The presentation will include steps, examples and lessons learned so you can transform a small patch or a larger area into a beautiful, functional piece of landscape. 

Presenter Bio:

Iza Redlinski is an ecologist who gained appreciation for native plants working on large scale restorations. For her day job, she works both on a regional scale, also also in smaller urban areas, where she collaborates with partners to improve small green spaces in ways that would benefit both humans and nature. She has been gardening with native plants for almost 10 years and many of her tips are based on her own mistakes and success stories.  

This program will occur online via Zoom. To register for this program please click HERE. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing your unique link to join the meeting. Do not share this link as it is unique to you.

As agricultural and urban areas expand across Illinois, birds continue to face the consequences of lost native habitat. Studies have shown, however, that urban areas can act as alternative habitat for birds, allowing their species to persist outside of their preferred primary habitat. Beginning in 2019, a breeding bird survey and habitat analysis were conducted in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, and the results were compared with data from six USGS Breeding Bird Survey routes in rural agricultural areas. The goal of this study was to determine if urban spaces support a higher diversity and abundance of breeding bird species than agricultural zones, and if so, what habitat characteristics of urban spaces can best support breeding birds. This presentation will provide an overview of the study and findings, and it will emphasize the importance of native habitat and plant species for bird populations.

Presenter Bio:

Leah Bieniak has been an Illinois resident all her life, having grown up in Kane County, and the many natural areas near her home helped to foster her love of the environment. She is currently an Environmental Studies major with a concentration in Ecology and a minor in Biology at Illinois Wesleyan University (Class of 2021). During her time at IWU, Leah has had the honor of becoming a Robert S. and Nell B. Eckley Scholar, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, and a Udall Scholar. As a “bird nerd,” Leah is grateful to have been a part of this breeding bird survey study, and she looks forward to working at the intersection of human activity and the environment in the future.

This program will occur online via Zoom. To register for this program please click HERE. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing your unique link to join the meeting. Do not share this link as it is unique to you.

The Red Oak Rain Garden is a 10,000 sq ft landscape installation on the University of Illinois campus that soaks up rainwater and supports pollinators. This talk focuses on the experience of designing and building this rain garden, with lessons that you can apply to your own project. 

Presenter Bios:

Red Oak Rain Garden Director C. Eliana Brown is a Water Quality Specialist with Illinois Indiana Sea Grant and Illinois Extension. She leads Extension’s role facilitating the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. She has a Master's degree in civil and environmental engineering and is a certified Master Gardener, LEED AP, and NGICP.

Layne Knoche is an Outreach Associate with Illinois Extension and is the Red Oak Rain Garden's landscape designer. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois and is also a certified Master Gardener.

This program will occur online via Zoom. To register for this program please click HERE.   After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing your unique link to join the meeting. Do not share this link as it is unique to you.

Life histories and the importance of various Illinois native butterflies and moths will be illustrated in this program by Sue Dees Hargrove.  Descriptions and growing suggestions of their native larval host plants and adult nectar plants will be presented and and information regarding how to rear caterpillars will also be shared.  Sue will bring handouts, examples of suggested resource books , and, if possible, caterpillars she is raising. 

Presenter Bio:

Susan Dees Hargrove has served as a biologist for the Illinois Dept. of Transportation since 1994, reviewing 300+ proposed projects annually for their potential impacts to endangered species and wetlands.  She serves as Science Committee chair for Illinois Monarch Project, North American Pollinator Protection Campaign-Monarch Joint Venture Communications task force member, Nationwide Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances for Energy and Transportation Lands teams, advisory panel member for NCHRP 20-119 grant, “Evaluating the Suitability of Roadway Corridors for Use by Monarch Butterflies.”   She co-chairs IDOT Central Office employee adopt-a-planter efforts using native pollinator plants and raising monarch butterflies.  She assisted in the development of a new IDOT pollinator seed mix utilizing several milkweed species.   She educates the public via speaking engagements to various audiences, including the Illinois State Fair.   She assisted in IDOT’s efforts that won the agency the 2018 North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Roadside Managers Award.  She received 1995 and 2011 Roadside Beautification Awards from IDOT and The Garden Clubs of Illinois, Inc.   She has studied insects, especially butterflies and moths, for 50+ years and gardened for pollinators for 30 years.  She managed family woodlands for invasive exotic plant species for 15 years.  She has been involved with various local “green groups,” especially Illinois Native Plant Society, for several decades.

Members will receive details on the location of this program and details on registering for it. Space is limited.

The Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves is a new group of volunteer stewards resolved to train new volunteer leaders and create volunteer communities focused on managing Nature Preserves in Illinois. The program will introduce this group, the prairies, what a remnant prairie is, what shape most of them are in, and why it is important to care for them.

Presenter Bio:

Matt Evans is  an ecologist at the Chicago Botanic Garden and volunteer steward/leader in the North Branch Restoration Project, located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois. Matt has been working in an ecological setting with experienced leaders and ecologists for four years. Matt earned a Bachelors from Loyola University Chicago and a Masters from Northwestern University. 

This program will occur online via Zoom.  To register for this program click HERE.

Learn the basics of forest ecology and the options available to us for managing forests for natural values. Guy Sternberg will review forest types and habitats, components of the forest, factors influencing forest composition, natural succession and cycles, goals of management, threats to forest ecosystems, and the nature and value of urban and community forests.  Following the presentation, Guy will join us for a forest hike.

Presenter Bio:

Guy Sternberg is a certified arborist and a retired landscape architect. He was a Pi Alpha Xi honors graduate of Purdue University and served on the staff of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for thirty-two years and currently is the co-owner and oversees Starhill Forest Arboretum, which holds one of the most extensive oak genus (Quercus) living reference collections in North America.  He is the principal author of the reference books Landscaping with Native Trees and Native Trees for North American Landscapes.

Guy is a tree consultant, writer, lecturer, and photographer. He and Edie have propagated and grown thousands of species of trees, both native and non-native, at Starhill Forest. He was the first president of the International Oak Society and is a life member of the International Dendrology Society, International Society of Arboriculture, and American Forests.

Chapter members will be sent details on the location of this program and how to register for it.

Details TBA

Illinois is called the Prairie State because it originally had 22 million acres of prairie, but only 2,400 acres of high quality remain today. The first non-native settlers were from forested areas and thought the prairies were not suitable for agriculture. Nevertheless, they slowly encroached onto the prairies and found that the black prairie soil could grow good crops. However, they had difficulty ploughing the tough prairie sod and the soil stuck to their plows. In 1837, John Deere developed and manufactured a cast-steel, self-scouring plow. Farmers had high crop yields, but no way to get them to distant markets. However, railroads were developed from 1850-1860 and 3.3 % of the prairie was plowed each year. Tiles were placed in wet prairie that drained the prairies so crops could be grown. We need ecological restoration to restore our degraded remaining prairies.  Learn more about the prairies of Illinois in this presentation.

Presenter Bio:

Dr. Roger Anderson is a plant ecologist and retired from Illinois State University in 2008. He was the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum for three years from 1970-1973. One of his manuscripts was published in 1970 entitled “Prairies in the Prairie State" and includes information about Illinois prairies.  He is on the ParkLands Board and has been a member from 1983 to the present.  He has been a lifetime member of the ParkLands Board for the past six years.

 
NOTE: Following the indoor mask mandate for Illinois, face masks are required for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people at this in-person program.  Participants will also be expected to sign a Covid Attestation form upon arrival as required by the National Wild Ones organization. To view the wording of the form please click HERE.
 

Let’s celebrate another incredible year of learning about native plants, sharing the Wild Ones mission, and connecting with like-minded individuals.  Due to Covid 19 restrictions we will not be able to have food at this program.  Masks will be required and attendees will also be expected to sign a Covid 19 attestation form as required by the National office of Wild Ones.

Outline of the evening’s activities below:

Ice Breaker:  To kick things off, mingle with other Wild Ones members while vying for a chance to win fabulous prizes during a fun activity.

Short Business meeting

Highlights of the past year
Sneak Preview of scheduled 2022 Programs
Election of 2022 Officers
Opportunity to sign-up to serve on a committee

Native Seed Exchange

Bringing seeds is not a requirement to attend the meeting or to take seeds. Small zip lock bags will be provided for you to take seeds home. For any seeds you bring, please clean them as best you can.  Place a large number of seeds (100s) in a container. Smaller amounts of seeds can be put in small bags (10-20 seeds each).  Label seed containers and bags with the common name and, if you know it, the scientific name.