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Free Lectures at Midewin Tallgrass Prairie Welcome Center

Ana Koval and Wade Spang

The 2020 The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Midewin National TallgrassPrairie Winter Lecture Series will begin at 7 p.m., January 9, and include eight other dates at the Midewin Welcome Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

January 9: Illinois and Michigan Canal: Celebrating 35 years of America’s First National Heritage Area, with Ana Koval, president and CEO, Canal Corridor Association.

January 15: Spider Watching at Midewin, with Frank Pascoe, DA, Professor of Biology, University of St. Francis.

January 29: Desire Lines: Daring to Follow Trickster Coyotes and Rambling Bison, with Dr. Gavin Van Horn, author and director of Cultures of Conservation at the Center for Humans and Nature.

February 13: Fantastic Moths and How to Find Them, with Trevor Edmonson, Midewin project manager, The Wetlands Initiative.

February 26: Bird Life of Midewin, with Greg DuBois, vice president and program director, Will County Audubon Society.

March 10: Voices Out of the Past: Midewin Oral History, with Dr. Pam Hunte, anthropologist, vice president, Midewin Heritage Association.

March 24: Uncovering the Unknown, Unique, and (sometimes) Unclear Past: A Report on the Summer 2019 Archaeological Excavations at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, with Dr. Madeleine McLeester and Professor Mark Schur, University of Notre Dame; and Dr. Terrance Martin, Illinois State Museum.

April 7: New Perspectives on Bison in Illinois Country, with Alan D. Harn, curator emeritus of anthropology, Illinois State Museum.

April 23: Tallgrass Prairie Restoration Effects on Snake Communities in Northern Illinois, with Grace Wu, master’s student, University of Illinois.

Admission is free with registration at 815-423-6370 or [email protected]. Location: 30239 S. SR 53, Wilmington.


Photo Credit: Photo by Veronica Hinke, USDA Forest Service