Catching Nature

One of the paths Lonnie Morris took into nature was gardening as a kid with her father. Her family’s history of gardening has roots in her grandfather’s strawberry farm. Her father expanded what he learned from the farm with a family vegetable garden at Morris’ childhood home.

Kiel Smith is a firm believer that there is much to learn from nature. The science teacher at Metea Valley High School in Aurora is also a steward of the Forest Preserve District’s Big Woods Forest Preserve in Aurora, just down the street from the school.

Using a high-tech bat detector, District ecologist Brian Kraskiewicz helped participants hear five different calls from the hoary bat at a recent Shedd Aquarium Spring Volunteer Leadership Conference at Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve in Oak Brook. Kraskiewicz explained how and why the District monitors bats in DuPage County.