Illinois Earth Day Events

Here is a listing of some of the Earth Day events happening in Illinois. Please note that some events occur during the  week before Earth Day, as well as the day after.  Also, some events do have an admission or outing fee.

Prairie Rivers Network is excited to be co-sponsoring the first annual Boneyard Creek Community Day April 22nd in Champaign-Urbana.  Free.  For more information, contact Prairie Rivers Network at (217) www.sicfs.org344-2371, or http://www.boneyardcreek.org.

A Vermillion River clean-up is happening April 22nd, starting at 8:30 in Ellsworth Park, Danville.  Free.  For additional information, contact Judy Sacotnik, (217) 442-4571, or sacotnik@insightbb.com.

The Ecology Action Center of Bloomington/Normal is co-sponsoring the 2006 Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo in Bloomington on April 21st and 22nd.  Prairie Rivers Network will be conducting a workshop "Construction Sites, Water Quality, and You."  Entry to the exhibitor's hall is free; there is an admission fee to attend the workshops.  For more information, http://www.islwe.org.  

The QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island is the site for the Quad Cities Earth Week Fair on April 22nd from 10:00 to 4:00, sponsored by the Quad Cities Earth Week Coalition.  Free.  Visit the  Coalition's website at http://www.qcearthweek.org/fair.html for more information.

The Chicago Kayak Club is one of the co-sponsors for a clean-up at Skokie Lagoons, which will run from 9:00 to 1:00 on April 22nd.  For more details, visit the  club's website at http://www.chicagokayak.com.

Friends of the Parks is holding clean-ups at a large number of parks and forest preserves in the Chicago area.  The April 22nd clean-ups will run from 9:00 to noon.  An Earth Day Celebration will follow the clean-ups from noon until 2:00.  Free.  Registration for the clean-ups can be done online at http://www.fotp.org.

The Sierra Club will be leading two hikes on April 22nd, one in the Coffee Creek Watershed (northwest Indiana, $3 fee), and a stewardship service hike in Chicago's LaBagh Woods (free). For more details go to http://illinois.sierraclub.org and click on the "outings" link.

The McHenry County Defenders are sponsoring an Earth Day event based on the theme "Planting the Seeds of Change," April 22nd from 11:00 to 4:00 at the Prairieview Education Center in Woodstock.  Free.  For additional information contact William  Donato, (815) 338-4370,  or wdonato@d200.mchenry.k12.il.us.

The City of Galena is hosting an Earth Day Fest in Galena's Turner Hall on Wednesday, April 19th from 8:30 to 5:30.  Free.  For more information contact Lisa Schoenrock, (815) 275-4881, or maya@galenalink.net.

The Southern Illinois Center For a Sustainable Future is co-sponsoring an Earth Day celebration in Turley Park, Carbondale.  Events begin at 8:00 and will continue  into the early evening.  Free.  For more information, visit SICFS's website at http://www.sicsf.org/.

On Sunday, April 23rd, The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with the Dickson Mounds Museum is offering an interpretive tour of TNC's Emiquon Preserve and the Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge. The day's program begins at 9:00 am.  This event is free, but pre-registration is encouraged.  You can register by calling Julie at (309) 547-3721.

The Emiquon Audubon Society is leading an afternoon hiking and birding trip to the Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge and the H. A. Gleason Nature Preserve April 23rd at 1:00.  Pre-registration is required: contact Tom Lerczak by April 21st at (309) 543-2747, or tvincl@theramp.net  (email is preferred).