Chief’s Letter

Mike Wefer, Chief, Division of Wildlife Resources

We’re pleased to announce that the August 2024 edition of the online magazine OutdoorIllinois Journal is now live. Take a few moments to peruse this edition for the many timely, natural resource-based stories we have to offer.

Now in three languages! Ahora en très idiomas! Teraz w trzech językach! If you are fluent in English, Spanish and Polish, please forgive the title duplication. We can’t help but be excited about the broadening of OutdoorIllinois Journal. Offering articles in multiple languages underscores IDNR’s commitment to inclusion and highlights the message that ‘Everyone Belongs in Nature.’

Mitch Oswald, a Wildlife Disease Biologist with the USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services, provides a timely update of a disease surveillance project that took place to determine how zoo animals were being exposed to the COVID-19 virus, and if wildlife played a significant role in the transmission of the virus. Fortunately, across the zoos and aquariums that took part in this surveillance project in Illinois, no detections of either active infection or antibodies, indicating a prior exposure were found.

You may have heard about chronic wasting disease, or CWD, and wondered what causes it, who is affected, and what is happening to the white-tailed deer in Illinois. All the details, including common and confusing myths about prion diseases, is summarized in the article Legend or Reality: Breaking the code of CWD myths by Nelda Rivera De Morales and Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, research scientists with the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Laboratory.

With the onset of the 2024-2025 Illinois hunting season this month we are pleased to provide a story highlighting the 2024-2025 Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations. Check out the Digest for four key changes:

  • An amendment to the Illinois Wildlife Code gives Illinois residents the option for a three-year fishing, hunting or sportsmen’s combination license.
  • The Duck Stamp Modernization Act of 2023 allows hunters to carry an electronic federal duck stamp during the waterfowl hunting season.
  • The Eurasian collared dove and ringed turtle dove have been removed from the list of protected, migratory game birds in Illinois.
  • Three new Public Hunt Area sites are open: Ken Russell “T” Lake (Knox County, Region 1), Dug Hill State Fish and Wildlife Area (Union County, Region 5) and Fox Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area (Richland and Wayne counties, Region 5).

A new educational program may be just the thing to answer your questions about coyotes. Do rural coyotes travel farther than urban coyotes? Who covers more area—male or female coyotes? Where do coyotes spend most of their time? GPS-collared coyotes are providing answers to these questions and more on the Coyote Track website. While the site is designed for educators and students, it is a fascinating resource for all students of nature.

It’s always heartwarming to hear about organizations working to involve more folks in outdoor activities. In this edition you can learn about the upcoming Illinois Hunt Camp offering a mentored hunt as a prize and the Wheelin’ Sportsmen’s annual inclusive archery deer hunt.

Thanks to the advent of technological resources, a new smartphone app is helping fisheries biologists collect information from anglers that can be used in managing fish populations. Recently, Illinois Conservation Police Officers attended a workshop that allows them to become “force multipliers” in the detection of exotic crayfish, plants and fishes. Other fisheries articles in the August 2024 edition of OutdoorIllinois Journal include the Jake Wolf Memorial Fish Hatchery rainbow trout program, role of the Chicago Fishing Advisory Committee and some exciting additions State Fair visitors can experience in the Division of Fisheries tent at Conservation World.

Our series of articles exploring the Natural Divisions of Illinois takes us to southwest Illinois this quarter as we feature the Ozark Natural Division, a region characterized by the bluffs along the Mississippi River and a sinkhole plain. Formed by the dissolution of limestone and other carbonate bedrock layers, the sinkholes and caves of the region host unique wild creatures, many of which go about their lives partly on the surface and partly underground.

We’ve prepared even more for you in this edition of OutdoorIllinois Journal. Check out the stories on motus tracking of migratory rails and conservation agriculture practices benefiting wildlife. Catch up on what has been learned about the fisher that was killed on an Illinois roadway in 2023. Learn about the native bees that rely on Illinois wetland communities, the best habitats for bats, landscaping with native plants and the best repellents to defend yourself against ticks. That’s 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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