Chapter Events

Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Note:  This program will also be live-streamed and recorded.  Check back here closer to the program date for the link to join the livestream

Extensive field surveys of flower-visiting insects over the past 6 years have revealed that many true bugs show preferences for one or more native plants. Using her background in plant ecology Angella Moorehouse has put together a book on “Flower Bugs” with hundreds of photos to aid in field identification along with information on the plant associations and how to find these bugs. Learn more about this book and highlights from it in this presentation. 

Presenter Bio:

Angella received a master's degree in avian and plant ecology from Western Illinois University in Macomb. For the past 27 years she has worked as a field representative for the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission in west-central Illinois where she works with landowners to protect and manage high quality natural areas through permanent conservation easements. She was mentored in the field by several entomology professionals and acquired the skill of butterfly identification in the late 1990s. This passion later expanded to include other groups of insects with a focus on pollinators. Angella is an avid photographer and uses her photographs to document natural diversity and shares her enthusiasm for nature through educational outreach.

Angella hopes to have a limited number of copies of her book "Flower Bugs" available for purchase after the program.

For more information, please visit https://illinoisprairie.wildones.org/nativeplantsale/

Chapter members will be emailed information about this program.

Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Herbicide drift is a major threat to health and integrity of our forest and prairie ecosystems.  Prairie Rivers Network has been monitoring and documenting herbicide injuries to broadleaf plants on both public and private lands for 6 years.  This presentation will provide background on the issue of herbicide drift, discuss the monitoring data and tissue analysis results, as well as provide insight into ecological consequences of chronic exposure to herbicide drift, especially to our trees, and discuss possible solutions to the issue.

Presenter Bio:

Kim Erndt-Pitcher is Prairie Rivers Network’s (PRN) Director of Ecological Health. She works with numerous partners around the state to protect the integrity of our ecological systems. She also leads PRN’s pesticide and pollinator habitat conservation programs.

She has worked for Prairie Rivers Network for over 12 years. Before coming to PRN she was a crew member and environmental educator at Living Lands and Waters based in Moline, Illinois, and she also worked as a technician with the USGS in Kansas City, Missouri. She has spent most of her career working to promote and advocate for the protection of biodiversity and the integrity of natural systems.

Kim has a B.A. in Biology and M.S. in Biology with a focus on Ecotoxicology from the University of Central Missouri and was a NSF IGERT Fellow - Watershed Science and Technology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Details TBA

Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Learn about the bats of Illinois in this presentation by Dr. Joy O'Keefe, including steps you can take to provide habitat for bats in your backyard or neighborhood. Understand threats to bats and simple ways you can help to protect your local bat populations. Hear about the international effort to count and monitor bats across North America and how to get involved with this program.

Presenter Bio:

Dr. O’Keefe is an assistant professor and wildlife extension specialist in natural resources and environmental sciences at UIUC. She has been studying bats for 23 years. Her research program tackles applied questions and yields solutions to conservation challenges facing imperiled bat populations.

Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Details TBA

Details will be emailed to chapter members.