With the arrival of spring, the DuPage County Forest Preserves’ event calendar is fast filling up with bird-watching trips, nature workdays and other free environmental events.
Now’s the time to sign up for a “Nature at Night” hike geared for ages 10 and up that will kickoff at 7 p.m. April 10 at Waterfall Glen near Darien; call 630-850-8110.
Organizers of a bird walk that begins at 7 a.m. April 11 at West Chicago Prairie in West Chicago promise a good mix of winter residents and early arrivals from warmer climes; call 630-393-4715. And volunteers are being sought to battle brush at Waterfall Glen’s bluff savanna area from 9 a.m. until noon April 11; call 630-942-6169.
At Kline Creek Farm in Winfield, the focus will be on “Wind Power: Windmills, Pinwheels and Things that Fly” from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visitors to the 1890s living-history farm can learn about the part that windmills once played as an energy force for pumping water, while more complex mills powered some farm machinery.
A program on the role mail-order catalogs played in the life of county residents in the 1890s also will be held Saturday and Sunday at Kline Creek. Free house tours throughout the day will highlight items that were featured in the catalogs at the turn of the century. The program will be repeated April 11 and 18.
Kline Creek Farm is on County Farm Road 1/2-mile north of Geneva Road in Winfield; call 630-876-5900.
Earth Day fun: The Mystery Shop, an ensemble of storytellers, musicians and actors based in Carol Stream, has been booked for an Earth Day show April 25 at Lake View Nature Center in Terrace View Park, 1 Parkview Plaza in Oak Brook Terrace.
The performance begins at 1 p.m. and is free to the public. Call Rita Aken at the Oakbrook Terrace Park District, 630-941-8741, for more information or to make reservations.
Frogs and forests: Amphibians and rain forests and the role they play as environmental barometers are the subjects of coming lectures at Brookfield Zoo, 1st Avenue and 31st Street in Brookfield.
On April 9, George Rabb, director of Brookfield Zoo, and Karen Lips, an assistant professor of environmental studies at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., will discuss “Amphibian Declines in Lower Central America.”
On April 22, Thomas Lovejoy, counselor to the secretary for biodiversity and environmental affairs at the Smithsonian Institution, will discuss “A Biologist Views the Millennium.” Lovejoy is credited with pioneering a “debt-for-nature” swap program in which tropical countries’ global debts are reduced if they establish conservation areas.
Admission to each lecture is $12; those attending both lectures receive a 10 percent discount. Reservations are required; call Brookfield Zoo, 708-485-0263, ext. 355.
River partner: The Conservation Foundation’s DuPage River Coalition, which recently developed a comprehensive waterway-protection plan for the Upper DuPage watershed, has been designated an Ecosystem Partnership by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The designation opens the door for a variety of grant opportunities through the state’s Conservation 2000 fund and other IDNR programs.
