Chatter From the Chair

 By Connie Schmidt

It takes about a month for us to get the newsletter articles collected and edited, and several rounds of proofreading and layout before it hits your inbox. MUCH gratitude goes to our committee of several Ex-Com members who brainstorm the subjects, Sherry Stratton our editor, Jeff Gahris our layout editor, and Peter Chung, Chapter staff, who sends it along to you. I mention this because the photo included here is from the MONTH-long Earth Day celebrations in April (yes, old news), but boy, RPG was EVERYWHERE! We spread the word at SCARCE, several Park District celebrations, Forest Preserve Events, you name it. It was great to see the interest in our work regarding clean energy, stream monitoring, election endorsements, informative programs, and one favorite topic, increasing and preserving healthy habitats for all creatures, especially our pollinators, with news of the DuPage Monarch Project.

One facet of our River Prairie Group work, purposefully not mentioned in the list above, is our restoration work at Glacial Ridge Forest Preserve in Glen Ellyn. I didn’t list it because I wanted this opportunity to encourage you to read the article in this issue on the amazing work Bruce Blake is doing at this special location.

Many of us watched our lawns grow during May in uneven tufts with mini flowers tucked between blades of grass. Well, that is because Lonnie Morris, our incredible volunteer coordinator of the DuPage Monarch Project, alerted us to the benefits of “No Mow May” (or at the very least, as far into May as you dare go) so that early emerging pollinators have something to munch on as the flowers in our gardens ramp up later in the month. The DuPage Monarch Project is doing so very much, and in this newsletter issue there are several articles to share with you. Their website is a must, and I encourage you to check it out.

It really does impress me the variety of information we gather for you in each newsletter. Also, here you can check out a featured outing by experienced leader and naturalist Ed Max, learn how our Forest Preserve District of DuPage is being inclusive in creating a Kayak accessibility ramp in Blackwell Forest Preserve, be reminded of the very important movement for Dark Skies highlighted in an article contributed by Glen Ellyn activist Adam Kreuzer, and more--much more! 

So please now relax, enjoy the lovely summer months, and rest up thoroughly because this fall, we will be working diligently for the candidates we have endorsed who are committed to policies that protect our environment for all creatures. More on that in our Fall issue, or reach out to me personally.