December 2025 Issue

Welcome to this issue, where we’re excited to share stories that highlight innovation, conservation success, and the people working every day to protect and enhance Illinois’ natural resources. From new digital tools for anglers to hands-on research, this edition reflects how tradition and progress go hand in hand across our state’s landscapes and waterways. Whether you enjoy time on the water, in the woods, or simply appreciate the wildlife around you, there’s something in these pages for everyone.

Inside, you’ll get a first look at the newly redesigned IFishIllinois website—your trusted source for fishing information since 2004—now refreshed with updated features to make trip planning easier and access to regulations simpler. You’ll also learn how resource professionals are responding to the detection of hydrilla in an Illinois lake and the role the Hydrilla Task Force plays in protecting waterways from harmful invasive species. For readers who enjoy learning about Illinois’ fish and wildlife, we explore the fascinating biology of the American paddlefish and take a closer look at how decades of strategic conservation investments have helped restore species such as wild turkey, river otter and wood duck.

As the Illinois Department of Natural Resources marks its 100th anniversary in 2025, we’re also reflecting on one of its greatest success stories—the recovery of the white-tailed deer. This milestone offers a powerful reminder of what long-term conservation commitment can achieve. Finally, a deadly fungus known as Snake Fungal Disease—first discovered in a wild Illinois snake in 2010—poses a serious threat to species like the endangered massasauga rattlesnake. Read on to learn how the disease was first discovered and what is being done to protect vulnerable species.

This is just the beginning of the storylines you can discover in this edition of OutdoorIllinois Journal. OutdoorIllinois Journal is a collaborative effort led by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Divisions of Wildlife Resources, Natural Heritage, and Fisheries; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration; and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. Funding for OutdoorIllinois Journal was made available through Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project W-147-T, the Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund and the Fish Management Fund.

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On a wooden dock over a freshwater pond, a biologist and a young girl who just caught a small green fish talk about taking the fish off the line. In the background are more people on the dock, and the green lawn beyond the shoreline.

IFishIllinois Website Redesigned

Since its launch in 2004, IFishIllinois has become an indispensable source of information for Illinois anglers, including valuable information and updates on fish and fish management in Illinois and links to important and timely information, such as the annual Fishing Digest and fishing licenses. The website had a major redesign 10 years after its initial introduction that included many enhanced features, and here we are today — another 10 years have gone by and it was definitely time for a fresh look with updated features. Read more to discover features of the newly updated IFishIllinois site.

by Kim Stanhope, Vic Santucci

Recreation | Fisheries Pick | Fishing | Other Outdoor Recreation

A Century of Conservation: How Illinois Brought Back the White-tailed Deer

The year 2025 marks the centennial anniversary of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, formerly known as the Department of Conservation. Among its many achievements, one story stands out as both remarkable and enduring: the recovery of the white-tailed deer.

by Kaleigh Gabriel

Wildlife | 100th Anniversary | Deer | Hunting | Mammals

A researcher holds up a large fish with a long nose. She holds the fish with both hands while standing up in a boat on a large river. In the background a road crosses the river on a green bridge. A partly cloudy sky is overhead.

Why the Long Face: What is up with the big nose on paddlefish?

The American paddlefish is a unique fish, possessing a skeleton is made of cartilage, nearly scaleless body and a large spoon-shaped rostrum. That rostrum isn’t a nose but rather an extension of its head and serves numerous functions, all strategies to help the remarkable paddlefish survive in the muddy Mississippi River.

by Shasta Kamara, Cory Suski

Aquatic Organisms | Fish | Regulations | Rivers and Lakes

Public Lands Dedicated to Illinois’ Hunting Heritage for a Century

Thanks to financial contributions outdoors men and women made through the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, species including the wild turkey, the white-tailed deer, the river otter, the American beaver and the wood duck have recovered and are bountiful across the Illinois landscape. Today, hunters and trappers enjoy time outdoors pursuing these species, logging in more than 4.7 million days afield annually.

by Kathy Andrews Wright

On an early spring day, a group of people stand in front of a pond.

Responding to an Insidious Invader: Tackling a hydrilla outbreak

Members of the Ginger Creek Homeowner’s Association in Oak Brook contacted staff of Illinois’ Aquatic Nuisance Species Program in the fall of 2024 to say that hydrilla had been detected in their lake. Hydrilla is both an Illinois Injurious Species and a Federal Noxious Weed. Enter the Hydrilla Task Force, an interdisciplinary technical advisory group working to mitigate the adverse impacts of hydrilla on aquatic ecosystems throughout the state.

by Claire Snyder

Aquatic Organisms | Invasive Species | Rivers and Lakes

Three researchers stand in a grassland. One of the researchers uses a long handled pincher tool to pick up a small snake and place it carefully in a bucket. The other two researchers observe the process. Over head is bright partly cloudy sky. In the background is a horizon line of trees.

Snake Fungal Disease Imperils Illinois’ Smallest Rattlesnake

Wild snakes can become ill, though the symptoms typically go unknown when a snake is sighted. In 2010, Illinois Natural History Survey researchers discovered a snake, an Illinois endangered and federally threatened massasagua rattlesnake, infected by Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, a deadly fungus that is often named Snake Fungal Disease. That was the first time the disease had been found in a wild snake, but sampling has found that about 25 percent of the snakes located are infected.

by Hugh Gabriel

Wildlife | Endangered and Threatened Species | Reptiles | Wildlife Health