Help fight back against invasive woody brush such as bush honeysuckle and autumn olive from our community's most beloved preserve.  Involves some physical activity navigating unlevel ground, using loppers/handsaws, and handheld herbicide sprayers.  Please bring water, work gloves, sturdy shoes and long pants. Sign up to volunteer!   For more information: About Merwin Preserve About bush

Two different prairies, two different ecosystems, one story of conservation.  Join us for a morning comparing two high-quality examples of Illinois' most famous landscape; prairie. Guided hikes will start at either Ridgetop Hill Prairie Nature Preserve or Letcher Basin Land & Water Reserve, and switch halfway through.  A hayrack trailer will be used to tour

In follow up to last year's popular mussel event, we will again explore the river for a hands-on learning opportunity about the Mackinaw River's amazing aquatic diversity at ParkLands' Hayes Woods Preserve.  Yes, we'll find mussels, but we'll also find darters, microinvertebrates, macroinvertebrates, and more.   This is an event for all ages! ParkLands volunteers will

Help keep the invasive plant Lespedeza cuneata from further invading our prairie restoration.  This workday, led by Volunteer Stewards Frank Sanders and Suzie Rogers, will involve physical activity navigating unlevel ground, pulling and/or lopping of plants, and a 2-mile hike round trip hike to the prairie and back.  Please bring water, work gloves, sturdy shoes and

                    Join us for our 55th annual Meeting of the Members at Sweeney Woods Preserve. Register here!   Agenda:  10:30am Optional Guide Hike 12:00pm Lunch (boxed or bring your own) 12:30pm Formal Membership Meeting, Year in Review, and Volunteer and Board Member Recognition   In conformance

Help protect the biodiversity of one of central Illinois' best prairie restorations! We will removing invasive teasel before it goes to seed.  Involves some physical activity navigating unlevel ground and using pruners/loppers.  Please bring water, work gloves, sturdy shoes and long pants. Sign up to volunteer!   For more information: About Letcher Basin Land & Water

Please note the date has changed due to weather.  The event has been rescheduled to Friday October 1st at 7pm. Thank you!   Experience the stars, moon, planets over the prairie of Letcher Basin Land & Water Reserve  while enjoying wine, fruit, and cheese included with admission.  Experts from the Twin City Amateur Astronomers will be

A Mackinaw Cache blade and a collection of artifacts from the Mackinaw River ParkLands welcomes renowned archeologist, anthropologist, and historian Dr. Michael Wiant to Chinquapin Bluffs on Saturday, October 9th.  Dr. Wiant will pull from his extensive research on local Indigenous societies to present on the pre-settlement history of the Mackinaw River valley, focusing on

Help volunteer Mary Jo Adams establish a new trail on the south section of Chinquapin Bluffs by removing brush along the trail. Involves some physical activity navigating uneven ground, using loppers/handsaws, and handheld herbicide sprayers. Please bring water, work gloves, sturdy shoes, long pants, and bug spray. Sign up to volunteer!   Click here for

Help keep the invasive plant Lespedeza cuneata from further invading our prairie restoration.  This workday, led by Volunteer Steward Mary Jo Adams, will involve physical activity navigating unlevel ground, and pulling and/or lopping of plants.  Please bring water, work gloves, sturdy shoes, long pants, and bug spray. Sign up to volunteer!   Click here for directions

  Collect seeds from a tallgrass prairie remnant!  We will meet at the McDonald's in Chenoa before caravanning to Cayuga Ridge, which is just north of Pontiac.  Please bring water, work gloves, sturdy shoes and long pants.  This workday will involve physical activity navigating unlevel ground. Sign up to volunteer!  

What better way to bring in the new year than time outside?  Join us for a guided hike through one of our best-kept secrets.  Our New Year's Day hike at Kenyon-Baller Woods has been rescheduled to December 31st at 1pm due to a winter storm forecasted for New year's Day.   We’ll explore new trails and