The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is seeking citizen reports on trumpeter swan sightings. The rare birds are due for their sixth winter in Illinois, thanks to a reintroduction program by neighboring states. Sightings, including any tag code identification, should be reported to the nearest DNR office. Eight have died in Illinois during the last five winters.
– After last year’s successful debut, the Midwest Fly Show promises expanded displays and speaker schedules when it returns Jan. 5-7 to the Inland Meeting and Expo Center at 400 E. Ogden Ave., Westmont. Fly-fishing gurus slated to speak are Dave Whitlock, Davy Woton, Poul Jorgensen, Ed Jaworski, Carl Richards, Bob Borden, Jim Teeny and Nancy Zakon. The Saturday schedule on Jan. 6 has been timed to coordinate with Trout Unlimited’s fund-raising Midwest Great Waters Celebration banquet at the Oak Brook Hyatt Hotel. For Fly Show details call 708-858-7844. For Trout Unlimited’s dinner, call 312-533-2503.
– This ‘n’ that: The American Hiking Society’s 20th anniversary publication, “Helping Out in the Outdoors,” is available for $7 at 301-565-6704. The booklet contains more than 100 pages of volunteer jobs and internships in all 50 states. . . . About $500,000 in federal funds will enable the DNR, Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency to clean up several crude oil spills in southern Illinois, particularly those impacting watersheds of Carlyle Lake and the Kaskaskia and Little Wabash Rivers. . . . Wisconsin will issue 75,000 turkey permits next spring, with a Dec. 10 deadline for application. . . . Steve Lasher of Northbrook has been cited for his 51-inch, 40-pound released muskie in September on Ontario’s Rowan Lake. It was that vaunted lake’s largest fish this year.
– Book beat: Two major volumes warn us of threats to wolves that we thought had ended with enlightened conservation practices begun in the 1970s. In “The Wolves of Isle Royale: Crisis in a National Park” (Willow Creek Press, $29.50, 800-850-9453), Rolf O. Peterson details the swift decline of an isolated wolf colony from 50 to 14 between 1980 and ’82. As Isle Royale’s principal researcher for 25 years, Peterson describes frantic scientific efforts to determine the cause of this crash. Was it canine parvovirus or genetic inbreeding? Or perhaps something else? Are these wolves hardy enough to survive this crisis themselves? . . . In “War Against the Wolf: America’s Campaign to Exterminate the Wolf” (Voyageur Press, $24.95, 800-888-9653), Rick McIntyre reproduces more than 100 damning documents and public policies aimed at wolf eradication. . . . Those who know the North especially will enjoy Kennan Ward’s “Grizzlies in the Wild” (NorthWord Press, $40, 800-336-5666). Although brown bears are widespread in parts of the West, Ward’s finest photos and observations lie in Alaska’s picturesque Denali National Park.
