Julie presented a summer summary at yesterday's ELM meeting. Here's a synopsis & her beautiful photos! While she's off to other adventures, including resuming her studies at DePaul, we're hoping to welcome her back next year to more prairie collecting & stewardship. Thanks for all of your hard work, Julie!
- We collected 90 species from the prairie, woods, and wetland areas. These include everything from our more common species to rare and prized species. Most notably, I collected seed from Turks cap lily and the prairie lily that we pollinated and marked earlier this summer. Of the 100-plus flowering plants we counted of the Turks cap, only 17 had valuable seed pods, an inevitable loss due mostly to deer browsing.
carva laciniosa, kingnut hickory
- I began working on a new plant map to illustrate and provide information, including the GPS locations of plants that we gathered throughout the summer. The map will include a picture and a link to an informative website. So far, this map includes mostly the locations of the lilies, along with 10 other species.
alisma subcordatum, water plantain
- Bob Lootens and I attended the
Batavia League of Women Voter’s annual volunteer fair at Batavia Library in September. It was a very successful event in general, made up of dozens of volunteer organizations from the area and many interested citizens looking to donate their time. We were one of the only environmental organizations there, and most people were very intrigued by what we do and surprised by our existence. We signed up about 10 new volunteers, and handed out a number of FNA and prairie brochures, as well as numerous Harvest fliers.
lilim philadelphicum, prairie lily
- Lastly, we diligently marked collection sites for the harvest in the Main Ring, with color coded tape and plenty of mowed paths to make it simple for our volunteers.
Last Sunday February 21st Paula Lambertz and I set-up camp at the Fermilab Friends for Science Education's (FFSE) Open House event in Wilson Hall. Thousands of families and folks from the community turned out to experience the busy array of tours and events offered. Paula and I stood at the FNA table set up just outside the elevators and watched as excited children stared in amazement as they entered the atrium. We spoke to hundreds of children and adults about FNA and all of the opportunities to experience nature at Fermilab. We collected email addresses, answered questions and exchanged wildlife stories. 
It was a great event overall- very well organized and good time for all the smiling faces that passed through the elevator on Sunday.
On Thursday, January 14th, Fermilab and Morton Arboretum reconnected. In the past, Bob Betz and Ray Schulenberg shared ideas, seeds, and work in their respective attempts at tallgrass prairie restoration. Now, as both of these great men are gone, we must carry on. Three members of Fermilab met with the Arboretum's Manager of Natural Resources. For about 2 hours we toured his site, including the restored prairie now named after Schulenberg, and savannas and woodlands under different stages of restoration. The morning was sparked with talks of seed trading and common ideas and goals. We rounded out the half-day trip by meeting with Plant Ecologist and Betz friend, Marlin Bowles. Besides donating seeds of a rare milkweed to Fermilab, Marlin gave us an in depth tour of the gravel and dolomite prairies that he recreated at Morton Arboretum. The species list boasts an impressive number of rare, threatened, and endangered plants. All in all, it was a great morning with great people and Fermilab looks forward to fostering the partnership that was re-established on that cold, winter day!!
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