Thank you IDNR! Fall 2013 Oak Savanna Planting and Restoration Day

Migrating and resident birds along with other wildlife received another home make-over in the Maine East Oak Savanna Saturday Oct. 26th. The Ecology Club and other student helpers came out to to help create and restore habitat for our wild animal neighbors. Using funds from the IDNR Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant, students and teachers planted 40 new native shrubs, cut out invasive European Buckthorn and goldenrod, and picked up trash that blew into our 1-acre nature preserve.  They also collected acorns and hickory nuts to germinate and later plant.

 With help from Art from Art & Linda's Wildflowers, club members and others were able to increase campus biodiversity, maintain a unique learning space, and get more acquainted with our little slice of wilderness. New bird feeders and houses will be going up soon!

Here's a small write-up about the event in The Journal. 
http://www.journal-topics.com/news/article_52bbfe0a-518a-11e3-aaa2-0019bb30f31a.html?TNNoMobile

Bats!

About twelve of us headed to Curie High School Feb. 23rd for the Annual Friends of the Chicago River Student Congress.  Evan brought his Eagle Scout project bat boxes to show and tell during our workshop presentation given alongside Sharon Peterson of Incrediblebats.com.  Sharon brought two Egyptian Fruit Bats and two African Straw Bats to wow us with.  Amazing creatures...  She discussed the most common bat myths - "bats are blind", "bats are diseased", etc. and talked about how vital they are as keystone species to the balance of our ecosystems.  Among their many roles, they spread seeds to maintain plant biodiversity and manage insects to keep pest populations in check.  After a brief discussion about the white-nosed fungus which has been decimating populations in the U.S. :(  she brought the bats out, fed them and allowed us to get some nice photos (click here for full album)!