Nature's Storytellers

A Blog About Nature in Our DuPage Forest Preserves

Celebrate OAKtober!

OAKtober is Illinois’ monthlong celebration of oak trees and the things that make them great. We love oaks here at the DuPage Forest Preserve District, so we’re thrilled to be a part of it! 
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Mysterious Moths

on 7/7/21 10:32 AM By | Keriann Dubina | 0 Comments | Insider Wildlife Conservation Nature
Moths sometimes seem like the forgotten cousins of butterflies. While butterflies may be some of the most well-known insects in the world, there are many more species of moths.
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blandings-turtle-egg-in-palm-of-hand

Donor's Matching Gift Supports the Blanding's Turtle

Corporate-matching programs are attractive to many Friends of the Forest Preserve District donors and others who contribute to nonprofit foundations. T
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Managing Harmful Algae Blooms

on 5/20/21 9:59 AM By | Dan Grigas | 0 Comments | Insider Plants Conservation Nature
Harmful blue-green algae blooms have become an all-too-common occurrence on some forest preserve lakes lately. 
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More Love for Monarch Butterflies

The DuPage Forest Preserve District board of commissioners is pledging to support the Illinois Monarch Project, a public and private sector partnership whose goal is to add 150 million milkweed plants to the Illinois landscape by 2038.
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The Hidden History of Fullersburg Woods

When you visit a DuPage forest preserve to connect with nature, you don’t often consider its history and how it came to be developed as a preserve.
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Reminder Not to Harvest Plants in the Preserves

As more plants and mushrooms emerge in the spring, it’s a good time to remind visitors not to harvest things — especially wild leeks and mushrooms — from DuPage forest preserves.
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I Spy Early Spring Insects

on 3/31/21 8:23 AM By | Andres Ortega | 0 Comments | Insider Wildlife Nature
The warmer weather brings more people outside after a long, cold winter. But they’re not the only ones that emerge with the warmer temperatures.
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Stressed Out? We've Got Just the Thing

Still recovering from 2020? If you’re like most people, the stress of the pandemic, working from home and e-learning has taken its toll.
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Meet Some of the District's Wonder Women 2021

Women’s History Month is a great time to reflect on the hard work and dedication of women in all walks of life. We’d like you to meet some of the women who work at the DuPage Forest Preserve District.
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Tales as Old as Time

on 2/24/21 7:44 AM By | Nate Hambel | 0 Comments | Insider Wildlife Nature Willowbrook
“Never forget the trail, look ever for the track in the snow; it is the priceless, unimpeachable record of the creature's life and thought, in the oldest writing known on the earth.” ~ Ernest Thompson Seton, author, artist, and nature enthusiast
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The Hidden History of Hidden Lake

Relics of the former lives of DuPage forest preserves are often hidden in plain sight, but without context they have no meaning.
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Nature's Valentines

Valentine’s Day is a day we celebrate relationships but even more than that, it is a day to celebrate love.
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Why Groundhogs Hit Snooze on Their Holiday

on 1/29/21 10:49 AM By | Nate Hambel | 0 Comments | Insider Wildlife Nature Willowbrook
How lucky it is that groundhogs, also known as woodchucks or whistle pigs, have a famous holiday named after them.
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Bird of the Year: the Pileated Woodpecker

on 1/28/21 12:07 PM By | Keriann Dubina | 0 Comments | Natural resources Wildlife Conservation Nature
They are master excavators, noisy borers and the basis for a cartoon character. And now the pileated woodpecker has been chosen as the 2021 bird of the year by the American Birding Association.
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Seven Nutty Squirrel Facts

Go nuts over squirrels on National Squirrel Appreciation Day! Held annually on Jan. 21 — in the middle of winter when food sources may be scarce — this unofficial holiday was started in 2001 by a wildlife rehabilitator named Christy Hargrove to recognize the role that squirrels play in the environment. 
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Mayslake Art Exhibit "Double Vision: Cooperative Art"

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what about art? It too is subject to interpretation, as two artistic groups from Mayslake Peabody Estate prove in their collaborative virtual art exhibit titled “Double Vision: Cooperative Art.”
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Engineer Devises System to Stop Zebra Mussel Spread

A longtime battle to keep invasive zebra mussels in the West Branch Forest Preserve’s Deep Quarry Lake in Bartlett from spreading to the adjacent West Branch DuPage River took an innovative twist thanks to a method devised by a Forest Preserve District civil engineer.
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Start a New Chapter with Mayslake Book Club

Explore nature, art and history as it relates to the natural world with Mayslake's “Nature Art & Culture Peabody’s Pages Book Club Three-Part Discussion,” which starts its second year Jan. 8 (mornings) and Jan. 19 (evenings)!
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Lessons From 2020

on 12/11/20 3:21 PM By | Andres Ortega | 0 Comments | Natural resources Wildlife Conservation Nature Rehabilitation
The events of 2020 have been a great lesson for many aspects of my life. At the top of the list, I have gained an even greater appreciation for the work I do to help the natural areas of DuPage County. 
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