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FIELD NOTES BLOG

Wild about Wildflowers

Liz Wiener
April 11, 2024

Come on a journey through the woods and prairies in search of wildflowers!

Spring is a magical time as the snow begins to melt, and the landscape slowly returns to all its colorful glory. After a few months of grays, browns, and whites, the landscape starts to transform into a vibrant tapestry of colors. There's no better time to journey through the wonderful world of spring wildflowers in northern Illinois. From woodlands to prairies, Illinois boasts diverse habitats that come alive during the spring season. Let's take a closer look at some of these wildflowers that adorn the Illinois landscape during arguably the best time of year! 


Click on each flower below to learn more!


  • Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)

    In the early days of spring, when the ground is still thawing and the air is filled with the promise of warmer days ahead, skunk cabbage emerges as one of the first wildflowers. Despite its less-than-appealing name, skunk cabbage boasts a fascinating biology and unique beauty. Its large, hooded purplish spathe surrounds a yellow spadix and emits a pungent odor, reminiscent of its namesake, to attract pollinators. Found in low-lying, wet areas, skunk cabbage is a true messenger of spring, signaling the awakening of the natural world. After a few weeks, its large green leaves appear. 

  • Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

    One of the most iconic spring wildflowers in Illinois, bluebells blanket woodland floors with their delicate, bell-shaped blooms. These stunning flowers, ranging from pale blue to vibrant violet are a sight to see. Look for them in shady, moist areas along streams and in woodlands throughout the state. In the Rockford area, this author feels that the best place to see them is Deer Run Forest Preserve!

  • Prairie Trillium (Trillium recurvatum)

    A sure sign of spring is when the prairie trillium unfurls its three-petaled, maroon flowers in April and May, carpeting the forest floor with splashes of color. This native wildflower thrives in rich, moist soils and can be found in woodland habitats across Illinois. While its blooms may be fleeting, the sight of prairie trillium in full bloom is a sure sign that spring has arrived.

  • Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

    Named for their resemblance to tiny pairs of pants hanging upside down on a clothesline, Dutchman's breeches are a whimsical addition to Illinois' spring wildflower lineup. These delicate white flowers with yellow-tipped spurs can be found in moist, wooded areas, often in the company of other early spring ephemerals.

  • Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

    Named for its red sap, bloodroot is a striking wildflower that emerges in early spring, typically before the trees leaf out. Its pristine white flowers stand out against the backdrop of the forest floor.  Bloodroot is often found in rich, moist woods and is cherished for both its beauty and medicinal properties.

  • White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum)

    The leaves of the white fawn lily resemble the markings of a trout. The white fawn lily is a charming spring ephemeral that dots the forest floor with its delicate blooms. This native wildflower blooms in early to mid-spring, typically before the trees leaf out, creating a stunning display of pale white flowers in woodlands and shaded ravines throughout Illinois. While each flower lasts only a few days, the sheer abundance of lilies in bloom is a sight to behold. A fun fact about Trout Lilies is that a plant needs to be 4-7 years old before sending up its first flower!

  • Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

    Also known as bee balm or horsemint, wild bergamot is a wildflower that thrives in prairies, meadows, and open woodlands throughout Illinois. With its clusters of lavender-pink flowers atop tall, square stems, wild bergamot is a favorite among pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. In addition to its ornamental value, wild bergamot has a long history of medicinal and culinary uses, making it a versatile and valuable plant for both humans and wildlife.

  • Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)

    As spring transitions into summer, the prairies of Illinois come alive with the delicate beauty of prairie smoke. Named for its wispy, pinkish-purple flowers that resemble plumes of smoke rising above the grasses, this charming wildflower adds a touch of class to the prairie landscape. Prairie smoke blooms in late spring to early summer. Beyond its ornamental value, prairie smoke also serves as an important food source for native pollinators, making it a valuable addition to Illinois' ecosystem.

  • Pasque Flower (Anemone patens)

    As winter loosens its grip and the prairies of Illinois begin to stir, the pasque flower emerges. With its violet-blue petals and golden stamens, the pasque flower is a sight to behold against the backdrop of the prairie landscape. Blooming in early spring, often before the grasses have begun to green, this hardy wildflower thrives in well-drained, rocky soils and open grasslands. In addition to its striking beauty, the pasque flower holds cultural significance, with its presence in Native American folklore as a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings.

  • Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)

    In the sandy soils and open woodlands of Illinois, the vibrant hues of wild lupine paint the landscape with shades of blue, purple, and pink. Known for its distinctive palmate leaves and tall spikes of pea-like flowers, wild lupine is a sight to behold in late spring to early summer. This native wildflower plays a vital role in supporting the larvae of endangered Karner blue butterflies, making it an essential component of Illinois' ecosystem.

As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise, Illinois' spring wildflowers burst forth, transforming the landscape into a panorama of natural beauty. From the delicate blooms of bluebells and bloodroot to the cheerful faces of wild geraniums and Dutchman's breeches, each wildflower adds its own unique charm to the tapestry of springtime in Illinois. So, lace up your hiking boots, grab your camera, and venture out into the wild to witness this annual spectacle firsthand. You won't be disappointed. See you on the trails!

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For many, it’s making jobs obsolete before our very eyes and changing a growing number of aspects of our daily lives, from search engines to healthcare decisions. The full impact of AI on society is beyond our scope as a nature center, but we’d like to tell you more about our AI policy and why we decided to write one. Traditional vs Generative AI Traditional AI has been around for a while. The US Department of Defense began to develop “AI” models as early as 1960s. Traditional AI can help with automation, decision making, spotting anomalies, analyzing data sets, and more. AI works by learning from patterns in large data sets and applying mathematical models and algorithms to them. As an AI system is developed, it can adapt to changes and make predictions. ( Traditional AI vs Generative AI: What’s the Difference? University of Illinois Office of Online Programs ). Generative AI has become more widely available in the past few years. This is the kind of AI you see in Chat GPT and other similar models. “ At a high level, generative models encode a simplified representation of their training data and draw from it to create a new work that’s similar, but not identical, to the original data.” In other words, whenever AI is used to generate text, music, images, videos, and more, this is considered to be “generative AI.” AI and Severson Dells There are many benefits to AI. It can automate systems, cut cumbersome corners, optimize workflows, reduce redundancy, and more. AI can make lives and work easier, and many people have seen some of the ways it can do that. During the rise of generative AI, we, like many others looking to increase productivity, experimented with these generative AI tools. However, that didn’t last long. Our team quickly recognized the imbalance favoring risk rather than reward, which led us to develop an AI use policy. Going into the process of writing an AI use policy and considering organizational parameters, we knew that many of the systems we use already have AI Integration. Auto-complete email suggestions, image background removers, closed-caption generators, and more are automatically included in the systems we use. A complete separation from AI and systems that use AI is nearly impossible using the digital tools needed to be successful in today's workplace. As an organization, we knew we wanted to be thoughtful about the integration of AI into our workflows. We wanted clear limitations to when, where and how we’d use it, and for what reason. Thoughtful self-regulation and accountability were important to us, especially as an nature-based organization considering the environmental impacts of AI. That’s why we implemented an AI policy created using current best practices with input from staff and approved by our board of directors. AI and Environment Anytime we turn on a computer or type in a search bar, we are using energy. Cloud computing- which is the on-demand use of servers, storage, databases, networking, analytics, and more through the internet- is responsible for 2.5-3.7% of all global greenhouse gas emissions . We can expect greenhouse gas emissions generated by cloud computing to increase even more with increased AI use, as “ generative AI training cluster might consume seven or eight times more energy than a typical computing workload .” (Norman Bashir, lead author of the impact paper, who is a Computing and Climate Impact Fellow at MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) and a postdoc in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). A traditional search engine response takes 30 times less energy than an AI-generated one. Generating 2 AI images takes as much energy as charging a cell phone. Data centers alone are “ expected to approach 1,050 terawatts (which would bump data centers up to fifth place on the global list, between [the nations of] Japan and Russia)” in electricity consumption by 2026. ” It’s possible that “ data centers could contribute more than 60% of incremental US power demand through the end of the century .” Some potential solutions to minimize the environmental toll of data centers include : purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions, investing in smaller language models, adjusting workloads around peak energy demand times, optimizing chips for efficiency instead of power, and tracking energy usage. Generative AI requires more than just energy to function. Every time someone types into Chat GPT or uses any cloud computing, the data processors generate heat that would slow computing and lead to dangerous conditions for the physical centers if left unchecked. Most centers use chilled water to absorb heat in data centers and therefore cool them. 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Google has disclosed that many of its AI products and services are trained on personal information scraped from the web. Several lawsuits are underway against Open AI, Meta, and other tech companies like the class action lawsuit PM v. Open AI LP, which claims “stolen private information, including personally identifiable information, from hundreds of millions of internet users, including children of all ages, without their informed knowledge or consent." This means that, to some degree, every word written with AI is created without consent from and credit to its original source. Without clear disclosure about where data is sourced from to train these models, we consider it a sort of plagiarism to use AI to generate educational text, images, or videos on our behalf. Out of an abundance of caution, we will only use AI tools to alter images or text that are ours or we have clear permission to use. This could look like removing the background on an image, extending an image to fit a different frame, or reviewing text for grammatical errors. AI and Factual Literacy When you pick up a box of cereal, you can flip to the back of the box and know what’s in it. You can trust that it was reviewed by multiple people to ensure that the ingredients are factual and prepared in a way that is safe for consumption. Nail-polish removers have “flammable” labels and cleaning products directions on how to properly use them. Labels and review processes ensure that we know what we are using and consuming so we can make choices for our safety. As of now, there is no mandate for disclosing the use of AI when making products. If you scroll down a social media page, it’s likely that you will encounter pictures, videos and recipes that are shared by people who have no idea they were created by AI. Sure, it would be annoying to waste precious eggs in an AI-recipe that flops, but the consequences can be even more dire. One example we see in nature community is AI generated field guides that have not been reviewed or labeled as AI generated. If you were to search for “foraging books” on Amazon, many of the top results have all of the telltale signs of being AI-generated. Take the “ Forager’s Harvest Bible” by “Hector Lawson” for example. Hector Lawson seemingly appeared out of nowhere - searches for him or his picture only link back to this book. His biography lacks any information of substance: no places of study, mentors in the field, city where he grew up, favorite foraging memories, nothing. It includes no actual plant images, has haphazard organization, and missing important sections like poisonous look-alikes. Experts in the field are concerned that this book, and the many like it, could lead to people accidentally foraging poisonous plants. In this case, the lack of disclosure and review “ could lead to people dying ” says foraging guide author Alan Bergo. This issue extends beyond foraging guides. It will grow harder and harder to tell what images, video, audio, and text that we encounter online will be AI-generated or real. It’s a detriment to the work we do at Severson Dells to teach people about the real nature around us and promote scientific literacy, and we acknowledge that it will impact almost every aspect of media. This could give validation to the “Dead Internet Theory” (read more about here ) and fundamentally change how we find and distinguish factual information. AI and Community Connection We also view our communication platforms, whether they be our newsletters, emails, phone calls, social media posts, or blogs as an opportunity to connect with real humans and tell stories that are unique to us. No AI model can fully understand or capture the thrill of finding a crayfish under a rock or the smell of our forest after a rain. AI models will never recreate the joy pouring off of a family laughing in the Grove, or what a field trip lesson means to each individual student. We do our best to convey the whole scope of our work at Severson to you through the use of human tools, because we feel that humans can understand that best. What can you do? In this era, it is impossible to be a bystander in terms of AI. Our choices are limited: stay offline, regulate our use of AI, or use AI without boundaries. We think it’s important to be thoughtful about our use of AI, and encourage you to do the same. Here are some action steps you can take personally: Think about what you use AI for and why you are using it. What do you gain from that use? Consider the environmental and social impacts of AI. Do you think the pros outweigh the cons for you? If you see a business or organization using AI, ask them if they have considered an AI policy. Point out the benefits and downsides of AI, especially generative AI, and offer your own thoughts on the matter. If you see a friend use generative AI or share something made by generative AI, ask them what they know about the impacts of AI. Encourage them to consider the environmental impacts of their usage. Cindy Gordon, Forbes Contributor and CEO of SalesChoice, encourages business leaders to reflect on these three questions: 1. What is the impact of your AI strategy on water consumption, and how are you planning to replenish what you are draining from the Earth? 2. Will your investments in AI create more social problems than benefits? 3. Have you quantified the social risks in your AI investment business cases, and is your board involved in reviewing the stakeholder and brand reputation risks to your ESG goals? The UN Environmental Programme has these recommendations for the global scale: Countries can establish standardized procedures for measuring the environmental impact of AI; right now, there’s a dearth of reliable information on the subject. With support from UNEP, governments can develop regulations that require companies to disclose the direct environmental consequences of AI-based products and services. Tech companies can make AI algorithms more efficient, reducing their demand for energy, while recycling water and reusing components where feasible. Fourthly, countries can encourage companies to green their data centres, including by using renewable energy and offsetting their carbon emissions. Finally, countries can weave their AI-related policies into their broader environmental regulations. If you would like to know more specifics about our AI policy, please contact: _________________ Sources https://education.illinois.edu/about/news-events/news/article/2024/11/11/what-is-generative-ai-vs-ai https://www.forbes.com/sites/cindygordon/2024/02/25/ai-is-accelerating-the-loss-of-our-scarcest-natural-resource-water/ https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117 https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/ https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/water https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03271 https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/der2024_en.pdf https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-do-googles-ai-answers-cost-the-environment/  https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.16863 https://www.bcg.com/publications/2024/ceos-achieving-ai-and-climate-goals?utm_source=search&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ceo-agenda&utm_description=paid&utm_topic=ceo-role&utm_geo=global&utm_content=dsa_achieving-ai-climate-goals&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw7pO_BhAlEiwA4pMQvBcfX5vKcpkz4zKtb5lLevIlJiVVSwVeYiGYHPL25L51g6qUS2bmOhoCUOMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/machine-learning-can-boost-the-value-of-wind-energy/ https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/artificial-intelligence-climate-transition-drive-growth/ https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-artificial-intelligence-helping-tackle-environmental-challenges https://www.amazon.com/Foragers-Harvest-Bible-Identification-Preparations/dp/B0CGYWNL27?ref_=ast_author_dp https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ai-foraging-guides https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2024/01/16/the-dead-internet-theory-explained/
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