They’re known for pooping all over walkways, hissing at people and causing crop damage. Canada geese are just going about the daily business of survival, but often end up on the nuisance wildlife list. Read on for tips on coexisting with these handsome birds.
Dan Stephens, Program Manager for the Illinois Learn to Hunt program, recounts mornings in a spring turkey hunting blind with a new hunter. Despite leaving with an unfilled tag, the experience was unforgettable for both the mentee and mentor.
As the days grow longer and warmer, school children grow restless for summer break. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Fisheries prepares its seasonal workers for summer Urban and Community Fishing Programs. The program has inspired generations of young Illinoisans to explore the natural resources of our Prairie State.
Let’s celebrate gar not as “trash fish,” but as treasured natives — remarkable, misunderstood and undeniably Illinois residents. Three species of gar occur commonly in Illinois waters and provide a firm, clean white meat that has become the perfect fish-fry tradition.
The monarch butterfly has been a familiar sight drifting across Illinois fields, prairies, and backyards, but in recent decades it has experienced significant population declines. In response, the Illinois Monarch Project was formed in 2016 and set a goal of adding 150 million milkweed stems by 2038. A new evaluation of 10 years of voluntary conservation efforts shows that Illinois is over two-thirds of the way toward its goal.
Small and often silent, insects are frequently overlooked by casual visitors to a prairie ecosystem. When scientists with a passion for insects visit a prairie, however, they’re tabulating what species they find, how many of each are present and what plants they associate with. Decades of this information was reviewed by the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board in resulting in the 2025 addition of several prairie insects to the endangered and threatened species list.
