Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Skunk Cabbage: An Early Spring Riser
ⓒ Photo By Robert Renk
In the plant world, skunk cabbage is one of the first signs of Spring. Severson Dells member Robert Renk captured these images of skunk cabbage March 28 during the Skunk Cabbage Meander at Anna Page Park.
ⓒ Photo By Robert Renk
It’s called skunk cabbage for good reason: It stinks. And it’s a […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info, Events, Observing Nature, Kid's Program by Brian Leaf
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
e-Notes from the Dells: Fires, Food and Flights of Fancy
e-Notes From the Dells
March 2009
Prairie Fire!
Gallery from a hot night at Pecatonica.
A prairie fire moon
Let’s Go, Aldo!
Join us for a visit to the Aldo Leopold Shack in Baraboo, Wis. Mon, Apr. 6
Learn to Bird
Flights of Fancy Afield
Sat., April 25
Telling Stories About Water
(They’re deeper than you think)
Illinois Humanities […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info by Brian Leaf
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
The impact of a camp on a child
Why bring a child to summer camp? How about because nature experience changes lives.
Rockford Register Star Go columnist Geri Nikolai discovered that last year when she brought her granddaughter to a Grandparents and Grandkids camp at Severson Dells.
The experience changed her granddaughter’s life, replacing a sense of fear about nature with a sense […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info, Events, Observing Nature, Comment, Kid's Program, SDNC in the News by Brian Leaf
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Score this: Hawks 1, Humans 0
By Brian Leaf
This was the spring we planned to spy on a pair of red-tailed hawks nesting in the downtown’s River District.
The hawks had other plans.
They moved back into their nest before we humans could equip the large orange and white tower near Church and Jefferson streets with a wireless camera to broadcast […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info, Observing Nature, Rock River Times by Brian Leaf
Monday, March 16th, 2009
Prairie Fire!
At dusk on Sat., March 14, a fire was lit to manage a 4 acre prairie near the limestone barn at the Pecatonica River Forest Preserve. It was the finale to the Severson Dells Nature Center’s spring awakening, sponsored by The Law Office of Jim Black and Associates. Severson Dells board member Chris Mann captured […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info, Events, Observing Nature by Brian Leaf
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
This Weekend: Prairie Burn, Spring Awakening Gathering
David Olson photo
We’re welcoming spring on Saturday, March 14, with a Spring Awakening Gathering at the Pecatonica River Forest Preserve. MAP
Come learn how maple syrup is made, enjoy a barn dance, take part in a community supper and watch the prairie burn at dusk.
Click here for the schedule of activities.
From the Rock River […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info, Events, Rock River Times, Don Miller by Brian Leaf
Friday, March 6th, 2009
Instilling wonder key to introducing kids to outdoors
From the Rock River Times
By Don Miller, Education Director, Severson Dells Nature Center
If you are taking the time to read this article, you are probably well aware of Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods. In it, he uses the term “nature deficit disorder” to describe the end result of kids not getting outside.
Connor […]
No Comments » - Posted in Info, Comment, Kid's Program, Rock River Times, Don Miller by Brian Leaf
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Severson Dells Notes: Waiting for Eastern bluebirds to return
Photo by Mary Kay Rubey
A bluebird enters its nesting box.
By Brian Leaf,
Development Director, Severson Dells Nature Center
I am waiting for the Eastern bluebirds to return.
I want to see them perched in the bur oak trees along the winding road that leads to the Severson Dells Nature Center, staking out nesting boxes as they wait […]
