Small but formidable, frustrating the manicured lawn gardener and the native plant enthusiast alike: it’s the genus Viola, the violets. More than two dozen violet species have been recorded in our area and the violet was named the state flower of Illinois. But which one? The school children tasked with deciding the state flower in…
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Four and a half years ago I ran into Ken Klick, restoration ecologist for Lake County Forest Preserves, at Illinois Beach State Park. Ken was headed up to do some rare plant monitoring at Hosah Park and invited me to join him. I had been to Hosah a few years before on a Habitat 2030…
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The Illinois Native Plant Society Research Fund was developed to promote the conservation of Illinois native plants and communities through scientific research. llinois is nicknamed “The Prairie State,” but many woodland species also make their home here, visible in our forest preserves and other natural areas. One of these species is starflower (Lysimachia borealis), an…
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What ecological potential can a former steel processing site hold? The answer is being explored at Big Marsh Park in the Calumet Region on Chicago’s Far Southeast Side. Dr. Lauren Umek, an ecologist and project manager with the Chicago Park District, gave an overview of the site’s history and possible future during the INPS Northeast…
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Sixteen participants had the great privilege of visiting Montrose Beach Dunes on July 16 under the guidance of its longtime and very knowledgeable site steward.  Montrose Beach Dunes development began in the early 1990s when Lake Michigan’s water level dropped to a historic low, creating a much wider beach soon colonized by plants  such as…
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The distance from the Lake Michigan shore at the Wisconsin-Illinois border to the Union Pacific railway tracks is roughly one mile. In that mile lies 10,000 years of the Earth’s history, from the last glacier’s retreat to today’s ridges and swales—and you can walk it in less than half an hour. The railway tracks, dug…
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This Memorial Day, the Northeast Chapter joined a group of volunteers that have gone on a plant walk at Illinois Beach State Park for the past 35 Memorial Days. It’s a fantastic tour of a fantastic natural area every year. This year we had over 60 people attend. That’s not a typo—over 60 people! Due…
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Northeast Chapter members who joined site steward, John Balaban, and North Branch Restoration Project volunteer, Katie Miller, at Harms Woods Forest Preserve on June 8 were rewarded by a generous abundance of sedges. Thirty-one Carex species were identified during the outing, including one state-endangered and one state-threatened species (not listed here). The woodland wildflowers also did…
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Botany enthusiasts from throughout the Chicagoland region converged in Oglesby, Illinois last month at the 2019 INPS Annual Gathering. The highlights of Friday evening’s mixer, in addition to reconnecting with old friends from throughout the state, were the research updates provided by several 2018 research grant award winners and the keynote presentation on the Dixon…
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Crunchy brown leaves, drab gray skies, and a lot of snow didn’t stop Illinois plant enthusiasts from botanizing this past winter. The Illinois Native Plant Society has run the Illinois Botanists Big Year competition each year since 2016, using the iNaturalist.org platform. Anyone may participate, from professional botanists to plant identification novices, by uploading photographic…
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