Thursday, May 15, 2025

Recent Program Highlights (Spring 2025)

 By Jeff Gahris

On March 26, Andrew Hipp, The Morton Arboretum’s Herbarium Director and Senior Scientist in Plant Systematics, provided a very engaging presentation about what the herbarium is, and why the arboretum’s herbarium and other herbaria are crucial for plant research. In short, they are a very important resource for studying biodiversity and the evolution of plants.


On April 29, Debra Shore, a recent U.S. EPA, Region 5 Administrator, spoke to us about the impact of the current administration on the U.S. EPA and environmental policies.

This was also our member engagement meeting, so various local Sierra Club leaders talked about issues of interest to our club and volunteer opportunities. Speakers included Bruce Blake, our treasurer and native gardening and restoration expert. Bruce, by the way, was our emcee for the evening. 

Linda Sullivan (l) and Ava Cohen spoke about our successful political and lobby teams.

Wendy Vernon spoke about issues involving plastics, and efforts to rein in our reliance on them.

Ed Max spoke about our robust outings program.

Jill Spealman covered the DuPage Monarch Project, of which Sierra Club is a partner. Yes, those are her wings.

Bob Barbieri (left) covered our water monitoring program while Dennis Streicher explained our role with the DuPage River Salt Creek Workgroup, which implements innovative projects to improve the quality of our local streams.


To volunteer, please reach out to:

  • Jeff Gahris, ExCom Chair, jgahris@gmail.com
  • Bruce Blake, natural area restoration, rllnstones1@aol.com
  • Linda Sullivan, political and lobby chair, lsullivan23@hotmail.com
  • Wendy Vernon, reducing single-use plastics, wavernon@yahoo.com
  • Mike Davis, outings chair, mikeyd5600@gmail.com
  • Lonnie Morris, DuPage Monarch Project, herbndove@gmail.com
  • Bob Barbieri, water monitoring, bob-barbieri@comcast.net

See you soon!

Photo credits: Jeff Gahris

No comments:

Post a Comment