April 27, 2017 | Blog Post
University and middle school students were canoeing on the Middle Fork this week on an educational field trip when they noticed something that seemed out of place. One of the small tributaries to the Middle Fork was flowing faster than any of the canoers had seen before, and it was flowing thick with milky white sediment. Upstream of this tributary, the water was perfectly clear, but downstream, the entire Middle Fork was cloudy and opaque.
Wildlife
A Day at Allerton
April 17, 2017 | Blog Post
Western chorus frogs, a red-tailed hawk, blue-grey gnatcatchers, and a common garter snake. There was a tufted titmouse, a towhee, and a red-headed woodpecker. These are just some of the animals I saw or heard last Saturday at Allerton Park.
PRN member and birder David Thomas, PRN board member Rob Kanter, and I left Champaign around 9 in the morning and headed west along Interstate 72. A short 30 or so minutes later, we arrived at the Allerton Park Music Barn for an outing.
More than 50,000 Acres of Wetlands Protected from Destructive Project
Prairie Rivers Network and Partners Stop the New Madrid Levee By Kim Knowles Great news regarding the New Madrid levee project! In a valiant final act to protect both people and wildlife, the Obama Administration issued a decision making it nearly impossible for the Army Corps of Engineers to build the New Madrid Levee. We’ve […]
Summit Addresses Need for Illinois Monarch Butterfly Plan
Each autumn, eastern monarch butterflies return to Illinois, dotting harvest-ready fields and cornflower blue skies with their iconic, graceful orange and black as they make their long journey back to their winter home in Mexico. Over the past decade, monarchs have become a much rarer sight in Illinois and across the Midwest as eastern monarch populations have plummeted by as much as 80% by some counts. Monarch butterflies rely on various species of milkweed during their 3000 mile migration each year from Mexico across the Midwestern U.S. to Canada, reproducing in multiple generations before a final generation makes its way back south to overwinter in Mexico and begin the cycle anew. Milkweed and other native flowers that monarchs need to sustain their populations are in decline due to habitat fragmentation and aggressive weeding.
Tell Congress to Protect America’s Wildlife
Today we face a new conservation crisis as emerging diseases, invasive species, and extreme weather threaten wildlife at a scale inconceivable just a few decades ago. Thousands of species of birds, mammals, fish, frogs, turtles, butterflies, and plants are slipping through the cracks. America has a proud history of bringing wildlife back from the brink. […]
