DuPage Forest Blog

Tom Velat

Tom Velat is the ecology coordinator in the Natural Resources department at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. He has worked for the District for 17 years in various seasonal and professional capacities. Tom is involved in many wildlife-related programs, but his first love are butterflies. Tom currently serves on the leadership team for the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network and is also a longtime butterfly monitor. He also served as the District’s representative to the Illinois Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly Working Group for 10 years. In his spare time, Tom enjoys relaxing at home with his wife and two cats. He also enjoys cooking, playing bass guitar, hiking in forest preserves, and star gazing to contribute to the Loss Of The Night Citizen Science Project.

A Decade of Studying the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly

on 8/11/20 4:06 PM By | Tom Velat | 0 Comments | Insider Health and wellness Wildlife Nature

Populations of the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly have grown from little more than 100 to 2,000 in the 10 years DuPage Forest Preserve District ecologists have been studying, nurturing and protecting the rare butterfly.

Enlisting Crayfish to Help the Hine's Emerald Dragonfly

on 5/29/19 1:17 PM By | Tom Velat | 0 Comments | Insider Natural resources Wildlife Conservation Nature

Whenever we tell stories about nature, they can be very interesting but can get quite complex when you look at how many of the pieces are interconnected. This is what happens when we tell the story of the federally endangered Hine’s Emerald dragonfly, its habitat, and ways we’ve tried to create more habitat for them in DuPage forest preserves. As you’ll see, the story is at times interesting, complex, tragic, and exciting.