Happy New Year!

As 2008 draws to a close, and 2009 looms on the horizon, it seems time to stop and take stock of where we've been, where we are today, and where we are heading, doesn't it?

Despite the economic downturn, our members and supporters have been wonderful, and we are finishing the year in good shape financially. Thank you!

From a conservation standpoint, it was a blockbuster year with some amazing projects completed: the key 40 acres at West Woodstock Prairie (still looking for a knock-out name for the site!), 53 acres of beautiful oak woods across the road from MCCD's Marengo Ridge preserve (thanks to Dale Shriver and Judy Rogers), and a 3 acre addition to the protected area at Barber Fen in Greenwood (thanks to Marty & Lynn Sobczak).

As we look into the early days of 2009, we see several other land protection projects coming together - perhaps as early as the Annual Meeting on January 25th! Be sure you join us at Bull Valley Golf Club at 11am that day for brunch and to hear our speaker, Batavia author Gina Olszowski, as she tells her story of suburban sprawl. It's just $35 for members (and if you are not yet a member, $45 which includes a special introductory membership in TLC)!

Looking further into 2009, we will be continuing to build our local support through a matching grant from the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. For each new dollar we raise through increased giving levels from existing members, brand new members and returning members, the foundation will provide matching funds up to a total of $35,000 over two years.

In 2009, you can expect to hear more stories from TLC - stories of people and the land - as world renowned storyteller and author (an new TLC board member) Jim May helps us put the right words together to help convey the magic that occurs when someone loves the land so much that he or she chooses to permanently restrict the development of that land.

Also in 2009, you'll see TLC planting many more oak trees as we start a program to assess our easement properties for their oak reforestation potential, and then working to help them realize that potential!

We're Facebooking!

TLC has entered the modern world with our very own Facebook Page!

Why? Well, Facebook is a Social Networking site that helps people connect with people they know, as well as people who share interests. So, by having a TLC site on Facebook, we can start a "fan club" and then those individuals help connect us to their own personal networks.

I think the term is "viral marketing" when information spreads through a pre-existing network to increase general awareness of a product, event or organization.

If you are not yet using Facebook to communicate with your network of friends, then I'm guessing you may never start...

If you do want to start, just visit http://www.facebook.com/, and you can start your own page. All you need is an email address - really, it's that simple.

Once you are in the Facebook realm, just type "The Land Conservancy of McHenry County" into the Search box, and our page will come right up!

Call me Savage

In a previous post, we read the wonderful quote from Chief Seattle. One of the parts that struck me as particularly poetic was his use of the phrase "I am savage and I do not understand..." in reference to the nonsensical things that he observed the white man do.

Well, call me savage, because I don't understand some of those things either.

Like how some people can choose machines at the expense of the natural world.

Or how some people can think that clean air, clean water or safe & abundant food are "special interests." Last I checked, we all had to breathe air, drink water and eat to live. In fact, people can only live without air for a couple of minutes, without water for a few days, and without food for a few weeks (depending on how much ballast they are carrying, I suppose).

But how long could a person live without a car? Without a television? Without a cell phone? You get my point. Billions of people have and will live long and happy lives without any of those things.

Is it so awful to consider the needs, rights and integrity of the natural world when we make decisions about our daily lives? Is that really such a savage idea?

Ask yourself: will my actions enrich the web of life or degrade it?

Baseball for Gravel Pit proposal

I just have to get something out there:

The Land Conservancy of McHenry County is not for or against the proposal to build a baseball stadium in Woodstock in exhange for allowing the surrounding area to be mined for gravel. There have been implications in public meetings that TLC has some interest in the project - that is not accurate.

TLC's interest is in ensuring that the environmental resources on and around the property are safeguarded should the development project go forward.

There is a large, high quality wetland area in the center of the parcel. While the proponents say that they will take necessary steps to preserve the wetland, the history of gravel mining adjacent to wetlands is that the wetlands lose because of the changed hydrology (water flow) over and through the site.

The wetland is dependent upon groundwater flow through the surrounding porous soils. Building a baseball stadium will decrease the ability of water to infiltrate at this site, and has a good chance of reducing the flow of water through the ground into the wetland. It also has a good chance of increasing the surface water flow into the wetland, thus changing cool clean groundwater for warm, dirty surface water. The change is likely to mean that the wetland will be more susceptible to invasion by non-native, invasive plants like Phragmites australis, an invader that thrives in urban wetland because of its tolerance of poor water quality and salt.

Now, don't get me wrong, gravel pits can be reclaimed to become lovely conservation areas such as MCCD's The Hollows and Lake County Forest Preserve District's Independence Grove.

In this case, the proposed end use for the gravel pit area is a new County Fair Ground should the Fair Association have the funds needed to purchase the site from the gravel company after the mining is complete.

A question I have in that regard is this: if the gravel company digs down to within a foot of the seasonal high water table, will that leave enough of a separation between the water table and the ground surface for development of a fair ground facility? Or, will soil have to be brought in to increase the separation? And, if the mining will go within a foot of the seasonal high water table level, where will it be in relation to the record high water level? And, how will the water level change with the addition of a baseball stadium and large parking area?

These are not trivial concerns. As the answers emerge, I'll be sure to report back!!

Ephemeral Morning

After a recent column I wrote in the Woodstock Independent, I received a mysterious fax of a poem titled: Ephemeral Morning.

Earlier this week, I ran into TLC member Beverly Meuch who asked me if I received her fax! Now that the mystery of the poem's author is resolved, I am happy to share the poem here:

Ephemeral Morning

by Beverly Meuch

Mist moves in with the morning.

The forest stands cloaked in grey,

Silence and stillness adorning

The dawn of mysterious day.

The fern slowly frees its frond,

And fog encircles the leaf.

While out in the meadow, the pond

Reflects the sun, the thief.

Thanksgiving Message

This from Chief Seattle (Seatlh), c. 1860

We are a part of the Earth and it is a part of us.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters;

The deer, the horse, the great eagle,

These are our brothers.

The rocky crests, the juices of the meadows,

The body heat of the pony, and man -

all belongs to the same family.

So when the Great Chief in Washington sends words

That he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us.

If we decide to accept, I will make one condition:

The white man must treat the beast of this land as his brother.

I am savage and I do not understand any other way.

I have seen a thousand rotting buffalos on the prairie,

left by the white man who sot them from a passing train.

I am savage and I do not understand how the smoking

iron horse can be more important than the buffalo

that we kill only to stay alive.

Where is man without the beasts?

If the beasts were gone, men would die

from a loneliness of spirit.

For whatever happens to the beasts

Soon happens to man.

All things are connected. This we know.

The Earth does not belong to man;

Man belongs to the Earth. This we know.

All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.

Man did not weave the web of life,

He is merely a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web,

He does to himself.

Thank you to retired TLC board member Dale Galloway for sending this lovely statement to me.

Think about this: Man did not weave the web of life - he is merely a strand in it. If we all think of this simple idea when we are making decisions in our daily lives, just imagine the profound effect it could have on the planet? "Will this action strengthen the web or make it weaker?" Keeping in mind that while some actions may strengthen one's personal strand, they will weaken others...

Wow. That whole notion kind of blows me away!

Have a happy, sustainable, nourishing, and web-strengthening holiday!!

What's in a name?

I have a problem with a lot of the names of natural areas and parks. They just don't do anything to inspire me.

For example, Lions Park or Bailey Woods (named after the group or individual who donated the land) are pretty plain-sounding.

Some use words that sound Native American or French (or both) like Meredosia or Chautauqua or Emiquon (all Wildlife Refuges in Central Illinois), which harken back to an earlier era, but start to sound alike over time.

Some parks are named after an animal, plant or natural community that is found there, like Boloria Meadows in Bull Valley (named after a species of butterfly), which seems to take the risk of sounding like a subdivision (Turtle Crossing in Harvard comes to mind -- it's a subdivision, not a park where turtles cross...)

Other sites are named for the geographic location, as is TLC's Crowley Sedge Meadow which is located on Crowley Road near Harvard and TLC's Powers Creek Conservation Area (which could easily become the name of a subdivision by substituting "Estates" for "Conservation Area"...)

So, why am I rambling on about this whole issue of naming natural areas or parks? Well, just this week, TLC acquired the nicest remaining wet prairie in all of McHenry County, and now we need to come up with a name.

The site is currently known as "West Woodstock Prairie" (since it is on the west side of the City of Woodstock, and is a prairie). Yawn.

The property was originally bought for $50 in 1843 by a man named Peter O'Brien, so maybe "O'Brien's Meadow" is an option.

The property is located in the headwaters of Franklinville Creek, so how about "Franklinville Headwaters Preserve"? It is mostly a wet prairie, so maybe Franklinville Prairie Preserve?

The land sits at the base of a steep bluff, so maybe something like "West Woodstock Bottoms" would be appropriate? Or "Franklinville Bottoms"?

You see the challenge! Now, if someone came along and made a donation to cover the costs of buying the site, we could just name it after him or her: TLC's Jane Smith Praire Preserve!

Just a thought.

Wild Parsnip Advice

If you have it, you know it!

If you aren't sure, read carefully, because you want to be very careful around this plant!

Here is the management warning from the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission "Vegetation Management Guidelines" web page for this plant: "Warning-- Care should be taken to avoid skin contact with the toxic sap of the plant tissues by wearing gloves, sleeves, and long pants.Although eradication of this exotic is desirable from a human safety as well as ecological standpoint, in some situations the best control measure is to do nothing."

The plant is phototoxic - in other words, it gives off an oil that is activated by sunlight. And once activated, it can cause burn-like rashes.

I was at a conference recently, and asked several experienced land managers about parsnip - before giving me their management advice, each one would role up his or her shirt sleeve and point out scars earned during parsnip management work to be sure I knew how dangerous the plant was.

Despite the plant's toxicity, it can be controlled. NOTE: once the plant turns brown, it is ready to drop seed! So, while this advice is coming right at the end of parsnip season, it might help someone develop a plan of attack for next year.

Use the plant's life-history to your favor. It is a biennial, meaning that during its first year of growth it focuses on putting energy into its root system, and in the second year (or sometimes the third), it sends up a stem and blooms to set seed and create the next generation of plants.

With this in mind, it is ineffecive to herbicide the plant in year two, because the herbicide is designed to be delivered to the root when the plant feeds the root, and in year two, the plant is focused on producing seed, not feeding the root! That means the herbicide can't do its job. However, in the first year, herbicide works great because the plant is focused on putting food into the root, so if you are able to identify first year plants, spray away (using glyphosate, aka Roundup).

Here is a summary of the best advice I obtained about non-chemical control of the plant:

1. Wear long sleeves, long pants & gloves to be sure the plant does not touch your skin. After you finish any contact with the plant, thoroughly wash your clothes - including the gloves - take a shower just to be sure, and wash any tools that came in contact with the plant so you don't pick up the oil later. Another suggestion was to wear a miner's helmet with a light and cut the parsnip in the dark - the person who suggested this was quite serious!

2. If there are just a few plants, pull them out by the roots before they set seed. Destroy the plants by burning them. DO NOT leave the plants lying where you pull them.

3. If you have an infestation that is too large to hand pull, then try this approach: after the plants flower, but before they set seed, cut the seed heads off and gather the cut tops together to burn them. NOTE: the plants are likely to flower again and will set seed, BUT, the flowers will be smaller, there will be fewer seeds, and many of the seeds are likely to be sterile. In four or five years, this approach should result in a dramatically reduced number of plants. At that point, the remaining ones can be pulled.

4. If mowing the parsnip (because of size or resources), use a pull-behind tractor type mower, not a push mower, and definitely not a rotary cutter or weed whip! Those are much more likely to scatter the oil around where you or someone nearby can be harmed! Mowing should be timed carefully to occur when the plant has finished blooming but has not set seed. (Friday, August 1st would have been a good day - the plants I saw looked ready.) The area mowed should then be checked in a few weeks for resprouts, and if necessary mowed again.

5. One good piece of news is that sites with a well-established prairie planting are not likely to be invaded by parsnip, and, if an area is enhanced, the parsnip is likely to fade on its own over time.

6. Prescribed fire does not really help control the plant, BUT, it will make it easier to identify the first year plants in the spring since they will be some of the earliest plants to come up.

I'd like to thank my friend Vern LaGesse from Springfield for talking me through the ins and outs of parsnip management, and for reminding me to check the INPC vegetation management website because they have pulled a lot of good resources together to help individuals with managing weeds on their property.

This is a photo of first year growth

Do you have an experience with parsnip control to share? I'd love to hear it!!

Some facts FYI:
Life history: Wild parsnip typically lives for two years. The first year, as a spindly rosette of leaves, it keeps fairly low to the ground while the plant's carrot-like taproot develops. It may live two or more years this way until conditions are right for flowering. The second year, a hollow, grooved flower stalk rises 2-5 feet high, first holding clusters of yellow flowers and later dozens of flat, oval seeds.

Leaves: Pinnately compound, with a main stem and 5 to 15 leaflets.

Flowers: Yellow, in flat-topped umbrella-like clusters at the top of the plant.

Season: Wild parsnip rosettes are among the first plants to become green in spring, and its flowers turn a prominent yellow in midsummer. After flowering and going to seed, plants die and turn brown in fall, but first year rosettes remain green until frost.

Habitat: Roadsides, abandoned fields, unmowed pastures, edges of woods, prairie restorations.

Oaks & Gypsy Moths

Gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar) love oaks, and their caterpillars can strip a tree of its leaves in short order.

Some local governments spray to control the moths, typically using BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) applied while the caterpillars are still small - BT is not effective on caterpillars that are mature. There is a good summary of the pros and cons of BT available on the Ohio State University website.

Mature gypsy moths have a yellow-ish head, and distinct red and blue spots down their backs. In the photo, you can see one on a man's hand for scale.

They are similar in appearance to other caterpillars that you are likely to see in woods, such as the Eastern tent caterpillar and the Forest tent caterpillar.

The Eastern tent caterpillar makes silk tents, and favors cherry trees, apples and crabapples. These are native to the US, and while the tents may look bad, the insects rarely harm trees.

The Forest tent caterpillar has a blue head, blue sides to its body, and prominent yellow or white spots down the center of its back. This is a native species that favors aspens, sugar maple, oaks, birch & black gum trees.

Both of the native woodland caterpillars lay their eggs in a dark mass wrapped around twigs. The gypsy moths lay their eggs in a 1-3 inch long mass on the bark of the tree. The egg mass is tan, and covered with fine hairs.

If you see gypsy moth caterpillars, destroy them. If you notice egg masses on the bark of a tree, scrape them off into a container and either bury or burn them. Each egg mass contains from 100-1,000 eggs!

Here is a link to additional information on a Michigan State University website:
gypsy moth control & management.

IF YOU SEE A GYPSY MOTH IN ANYSTAGE OF LIFE CALL the Illinois Department of Agriculture TOLL FREE: 1-866-296-MOTH(6684)

Now Coming to a Town Near You

I heard/saw the most wonderful presentation earlier today by author Gina Olszowski who spoke about her first book: Now Coming to a Town Near You: Voices of Urban Sprawl.

Gina is a Geneva native, alumna of Drake University with a background in advertising, and a passion for photography.

Growing up, Gina watched as the Geneva area turned from "the country" to the suburbs, and she wondered why - even though all of the adults she knew were sad every time a farm was developed - farms continued to be developed, one after another.

She started taking pictures and talking to people - farmers, residents, elected officials, urban planners, etc. She started to connect the dots. This wasn't really the landscape that people wanted, but they felt helpless to do anything, and that made them sad - sad for the things lost, sad for the memories of their time on the land that others would never share - and sometimes, sad that they just stood by and let it happen.

What is this "it"? Many call it sprawl, but after looking at just a few pages of the book, and reading a few of the personal stories, I think I want to start calling it "urban creep." Lots of folks seemed to be saying that the growth and change just kind of crept up on them, and before they knew it, everything they once knew was gone.

(I like "urban creep" too because of the word creep - it is so definitely a negative word, isn't it? A person can sprawl out on a bed or a couch, and that isn't bad, but when traffic creeps along, or insects are creepy, or a person is a creep, it isn't good.)

We have a copy of the book in the office, and I gave one to Arlene at Read Between the Lynes bookstore on the Woodstock Square, and hope that she will even have a "meet the author" type event and start carrying Gina's books.

You can also order them through Gina's website: http://www.atownnearyou.com/ - $19.95 plus tax & shipping. And being a community-minded person, she is donating two-thirds of the profit to The Conservation Foundation - a land conservation group in Naperville (kind of like TLC but larger, and covering several counties).

Oh, and did I mention that Gina is 24 years old, and she just did this because she thought that there was a story to tell - a story that people needed to hear - a story told by their friends and neighbors - a story being repeated over and over and over again.

"Now Coming to a Town Near You" !! If everyone chose to speak up about the change they are seeing, and to make different choices in their lives, we could stop the creep from coming to the towns near us!

I planted an oak day!

Fifteen bur oak seedlings were planted by six families at Queensbury Farm on May 24th as part of TLC's first annual "I planted an oak day". The day was an opportunity for local residents to have a hand in restoring oaks to the county's landscape.

One tree at a time, one acre at a time, one property at a time. 'Til one day, the County will be known as the place where oaks thrive!

The day was part of TLC's Project Quercus program to save, restore and replant the county's oak woodland resources.

Last year, the owner of Queensbury Farm placed a conservation easement on her entire 58 acres of land on Queen Anne Road. The Farm is like a blank slate that will be restored to wetland, prairie and savanna in the coming years.

The event raised about $150 for TLC's Third Generation Oak Fund.

Quiet No More

I want to share some facts about implementation of the County’s new Conservation Design Subdivision regulations.

Implementation is a joke.

The County staff are rapidly turning it into an ordinance to give developers the ability to dramatically increase density on sites, while virtually ignoring the natural resources, and mass grading the entire site (in at least some instances).

Oh, the problem isn’t the issue of “density bonuses” that some worried about, no, none of the projects that have been reviewed to date actually meet the standards for any bonuses, yet they are seeing density increases of 30-70%.

That’s right. How about a development that was previously platted with 60 1-acre homesites that is now winding its way through the approval process to resubdivide so to have 103 one-third acre homesites! Yep, that’s right, a 70% increase in the number of homes that will be built – a 70% increase in traffic, a 70% increase in spray-irrigated sewage, etc etc.

And to boot, they are mass grading the entire site – you can drive by it right now on Church Road in Coral Township.

And now there are folks who would like to submit the County’s ordinance for awards, and to highlight the “success” at the regional level. I am outraged.

There was a point in the conversation about the new ordinance where I encouraged people to support this step by the county board, thinking (naively) that perhaps with such a clear policy direction as is written into the ordinance, that surely, the staff couldn’t get away with screwing this one up too.

Well, I was wrong, and I am not afraid to admit it, and had I known then what I am seeing now, I would have fought adoption of the ordinance.

To the County Board’s credit, I do not believe that the majority of them are even aware of what the staff are doing to completely disregard the intent of the ordinance. They are not likely to realize what is taking place until the staff have moved enough “lots and lots of small lots” style projects through the pipeline, that an effective precedent has been set, and the County Boards’ hands will be tied.

I lay this travesty at the feet of the County staff – who work for the County Board – and I will be expressing that to the County Board at their meeting tonight. Something has to change, and soon.

It is time for those of us who care to speak up. There is so much at stake, and we need to remind the county board that there are a lot of people who care about the county and that we are looking to them for strong leadership.

The list of public abuses and failures is long when it comes to the Planning & Development Department – in just the last few years, I've seen them waste $400,000 on the failed 2020 plan, publicly attack volunteer planning commission members and the public during the 2030 planning process, fail to enforce the 4-year-old stormwater ordinance (have you driven by the intersection of Route 176 and Ballard Road?), and tell landowners that the motocross track operating in your back yard (ruining property values and threatening sanity) is permitted in the agricultural district! The list is long…

This is our county too, and I am sick & tired of watching a small group of people trying to destroy it.

Ephemeral Ponds

On April 19th, Mike Redmer from the US Fish & Wildlife Service gave a tour of ephemeral ponds in the High Point area of Alden Township to a group of about 15 local residents.

Mike slogged through several seasonal ponds in his wading boots, pulling frogs, salamanders, aquatic insects and other tiny critters out for the group to see. He has a magical ability to find these often "invisible" residents of the spring ponds.

Ephemeral ponds are those that do not hold water throughout the year, but are typically only flooded in the spring due to the winter snow melt and the spring rains that cause the ground to be saturated. The ponds exist long enough for frogs and other small animals to emerge, but then disappear as the ground dries up.

These small, fleeting spots play a critical role in the lifecycle of these aquatic animals, but they are not very well understood by most people. The Alden High Point area is one of the richest regions in all Chicagoland for these ephemeral ponds, and so provides a critical habitat area for frogs, turtles and salamanders.

The last photo shows three salamanders that Mike fished out of a window well near one of the areas that the group explored. He commented that salamanders often fall into uncovered window wells, and die because they cannot climb back out.

The Ephemeral Ponds program was held as part of a series of three landowner educational programs that TLC is offering this year in the Alden Township area. There will be a second program on May 12th covering headwater streams, springs and seeps and led by Cindy Skrukrud from the Sierra Club. The final program in the series will take residents on a tour of oak woodlands in the Alden area in June.

Do you love oaks?

McHenry County has lost 87% of the oak woodlands that we once had, and if nothing changes in the next few years, we might lose the rest (well, most of them anyway)!

The vast majority of these ancient beauties are found on private land -- and if oaks are going to continue to be an integral part of our local landscape for future generations, private oak conservation will be essential.

Whether you have oaks on your property, or just love oaks, you can be part of making sure oaks are part of the local scenery in another 100 years.

Saturday, May 31st will be the inaugural training for Oak Keepers!

This is a project under TLC's Project Quercus banner that will train volunteers how to monitor oak woodlands. The Oak Keepers project will help us start to understand the challenges facing these resources so that we can help landowners preserve their oaks.

So, if you love oaks, you can be an Oak Keeper too! Just contact the office (by phone at 815-337-9502 or by email at Quercus@conservemc.org) and ask that we add you to the Oak Keepers mailing list!

I look forward to seeing you May 31st!

Getting Ready for Spring!

There is so much going on this year at TLC -- or there are so many cool projects in the works, especially for Spring! Here is a run down on the next few months:

- March 29th, prescribed/ecological burn training at TLC offices with burn at Westwood Park

- April 5th, ecological burn training at Prime Industrial Park, McHenry, coordinated by TLC for the business park's business owners (like Medela, Follett, and others) who are interested in using ecological burning to manage the nice wetland that is in the middle of the park

- April 5th, Garden Fest at MCC - TLC will have a booth there, giving local residents a chance to order their 60 gallon rainbarrels at a wholesale price of $79!

- April 19th, TLC sponsored Ephemeral Ponds program in Alden Township with Fish & Wildlife Service's Mike Redmer

- April 23rd, Deadline for Rainbarrel orders

- May 9 & 10, pick up Rainbarrels at the TLC office

- May 10th, TLC-sponsored Seeps, Springs & Streams program in Alden Township with Sierra Club's Cindy Skrukrud

- May - date to be determined - Project Quercus training for oak woodland monitors!

Check out the TLC website: http://www.conservemc.org/ for more information!

We love Chad!

Chad Pregrake, President & Founder of Living Lands & Waters is our new hero!

As personable as he is enthusiastic, this young man and his "take no prisoners" style of hands-on conservation charmed about 200 people at TLC's Annual Meeting Sunday January 27th.

Technical glitches with the audio visual equipment didn't phase him, and in some ways, probably made the program that much more charming!

Chad shared his story of how he started Living Lands & Waters, a non-profit organization that has been working for 10 years to clean up the Mississippi River and other major rivers in the United States.

As a teenager, Chad helped his brother, a commercial fisherman, with claming, spending hours in the dark, on the bottom of the Mississippi River blindly searching for clams. In the process, he learned how filthy the river was - decades-old piles of tires, barrels, cars, broken boats, refrigerators - you name it, he saw it.

As Chad researched how to tackle the problem, he found out that no one was working on it, and all the government agencies said there was no money to do anything about it.

So he decided to go the NASCAR route and seek corporate sponsors. As Chad quipped "I can wear patches!" (like the NASCAR drivers do). He picked up the phone and called Alcoa - one of the largest corporations in his hometown of East Moline (the Quad Cities of Illinois & Iowa). And he kept calling, and calling, and calling, until one day he got the President on the phone who agreed to give him 10 minutes.

Well, 10 years, and 24 million pounds of garbage later, Chad has had a huge impact! A houseboat and fleet of barges comprise the "World Headquarters" of Living Lands & Waters - a mobile operation that inspires hundreds of young people to volunteer as crew members to do the hard, filthy, and often dangerous work of cleaning up our nation's rivers!

The core message that Chad brought to our audience is that everyone can make a difference - you just have to make up your mind that that is what you want to do, and then go for it!

1415

1415

Not the year, but the number: 1,415

is the number of acres that TLC - working with private landowners, communities & developers - has permanently preserved since 1991 through conservation easements, land donations and land acquisition.

732 of those acres were preserved in 2007! (If you're doing the math, that means 682 acres were preserved prior to 2007).

We completed 11 projects in 2007, and nine of those were in the last two weeks of the year!

No wonder we're tired!

Mouse Control Update

NOTE: if you are at all squeamish, do not read this article!

We arrived in the office this morning to a dead, headless mouse! Last fall, we adopted two kittens to help with controlling the mouse population (the mice have made themselves known by little droppings on our desks, in our coffee cups, and the occasional gnawed piece of chocolate).

There's our Trixie with the lifeless body. I'd be happier if it weren't so grizzly. (I've been told that this is how nature works - predators and prey...)

But, what about the head? Did they eat it? Eeew!

Also, who was the killer? Lil' Ed or Trixie? They're about the same age, and the same size. But neither seemed to show much interest in the dead little mouse.

An hour or so later, I noticed Lil' Ed playing with something near a rug in my office... You guessed it, the head!

Ick.

At least we know Lil' Ed & Trixie are earning their kibble.