Aug 1, 2024
What can you explore in the Ozark Natural Division of Illinois? A sinkhole plain, cool caves, mature forests, towering bluffs and hill prairies. Read on as we explore this biological and geological wonderland.
MoreAug 1, 2024
Circling, soaring, and gliding high over the landscape, turkey vultures are using their sight and a keen sense of smell to locate carrion. Be warned about the personal defenses of vultures, especially close to their nests or under roosts. Their regurgitated, partially digested carrion is not pleasant if you are targeted, because they are known to feast on dead skunks.
MoreAug 1, 2024
At the mention of ‘pasture’ your mind’s eye likely visualizes a tranquil grassland complete with cattle grazing on lush grasses. But focusing on the vegetation you might be surprised to learn that much more is taking place. On Illinois Department of Natural Resources sites throughout the state, conservation agriculture practices are utilized to benefit wildlife populations and their habitats.
MoreAug 1, 2024
We’ve come a long way from the days when Illinois was one-third forest and two-thirds prairie. Land in corn and soybeans provide waste grain as a food source for wildlife if fall tillage is limited. However, fall tilled row crop fields are the major source of soil erosion and nutrient and pesticide runoff. Planting cover crops can help.
MoreAug 1, 2024
One Lake County homeowner was partly inspired to convert her 1.2-acre yard into one brimming with native plants by visiting natural areas. She has gradually come to feel that she is a steward of the land and is proud that she can contribute to the ecological health of the land and of the flora and the fauna living there. Take a virtual tour of this landscape and learn how anyone, no matter the size of their yard is, can create a colorful and beneficial landscape.
MoreAug 1, 2024
Within the Ozark Natural Division in Illinois lies a karst region, a terrain formed by the action of water, with an acidic property, in the dissolution of limestone or other carbonate bedrock layers. Within the post-oak barrens, restored prairies, sinkholes and caves of the region, unique wild creatures go about their lives partaking partly of each, the surface and subsurface.
MoreAug 1, 2024
Native bees have evolved alongside the local flora and fauna, creating mutually beneficial relationships with native plants and maintaining biodiversity. As they pollinate plants, they help propagate a wide range of species, from trees and shrubs to wildflowers and grasses. This, in turn, supports birds, butterflies and mammals which depend on these plants for food and habitat. Researchers are now working to understand the diverse assemblage of native bees that rely on Illinois wetland communities.
MoreAug 1, 2024
Having watched countless seasons unfold in her backyard, author Carla Rich Montez realizes that nature’s daily affairs have escaped her notice. Read what she discovers when she takes the time to really see her wild neighbors.
MoreAug 1, 2024
A Sand County Almanac is both enlightening and muddling. Sometimes in wonderfully descriptive words, Leopold recounts observations made while at his land, “sand farm,” in Wisconsin. There will be passages in Leopold’s writings which will reveal to us our own lack of knowledge. But, let us remember that ignorance is important, essential to learning!
MoreAug 1, 2024
For many years, the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation has been the major funder for the acquisition of natural lands in Illinois. Their final grant will allow Prairie State Conservation Coalition to take up that mantle and expand acquisition efforts that can significantly impact conservation and natural habitat in Illinois in a positive way.
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A message from Chief Mike Wefer
Nos complace anunciar que la edición de agosto de 2024 de la revista en línea OutdoorIllinois Journal ya está disponible. Tómate unos momentos para revisar esta edición y descubrir las muchas historias basadas en recursos naturales que tenemos para ofrecer.
Ahora en tres idiomas! Now in three languages! Teraz w trzech językach! Si eres fluido en inglés, español y polaco, por favor disculpa la duplicación del título. No podemos evitar emocionarnos por la expansión de OutdoorIllinois Journal. Ofrecer artículos en varios idiomas subraya el compromiso del IDNR con la inclusión y destaca el mensaje de que ‘Todos Pertenecen a la Naturaleza.’
