Words of the Woods

The alarm clock is ready to ring for the periodical cicadas of Lake County. The previous mass emergence of these true bugs in 2007 set the alarm for 2024. During spring and summer 17 years ago, millions of cicadas tunneled out of the soil, crawled up trees, sang, mated and completed their life cycle. This will be a magical year for their offspring.

Host Brett Peto is here with a bite-sized piece of good news.

Music:

Swoop by The Mini Vandals
Trail of Breadcrumbs by Lyle Workman

We’re back with a new short-form episode.

It’s tempting to hibernate during winter. But there are good reasons to get outside. Your preserves are home to many winter activities, including sledding, snowshoeing, ice skating, ice fishing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and, yeah, good ol’ walking.

We aren’t the first generations to discover the loads of fun these activities provide, though. Drawing from the Dunn Museum’s collection and archives, Museum Educator Nicole Stocker is here to give us a snapshot of how Lake County residents enjoyed winter outdoors in the past.

Music:
Covid Come Not Near by Nat Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum
Everything Where it Needs to Be by Nat Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum
Swoop by The Mini Vandals
The Slow Rabbit by Nat Keefe & Hot Buttered Rum

Nature is one of the best classrooms around. Study after study shows that time spent outdoors fosters a child’s healthy development. It helps kids manage stress, stimulates their imaginations, and improves their social skills.

Alyssa Firkus, Education Manager, and Jenny Sazama, Environmental Educator, have seen these positive effects firsthand. Hear how they like to connect kids with nature—and how nature connects with kids.

The Preservation Foundation is the charitable partner of the Lake County Forest Preserves. What does that mean?

When we undertake a project, the Foundation extends and accelerates it. Take the Green Youth Farm at Greenbelt in North Chicago, for example. Or the Dunn Museum in Libertyville. The summer concert series at Independence Grove. Our Adopt-a-Turtle program benefitting the state-endangered Blanding’s turtle. Habitat restoration efforts. And so much more.

They wouldn’t be the same without the foundation that, well, the Foundation gives them.

Ty Kovach, Executive Director; Rebekah Snyder, Chief Development Officer; Nels Leutwiler, President of the Preservation Foundation; and Karen Hunter, Chair of the Development Committee, discuss how supporting the Foundation supports all of the Forest Preserves’ work.

What do trees need computers for? Well, the people working to preserve them do. Our team of IT professionals manages technology that supports hundreds of staff across Lake County. Not only desktop computers, but smartphones, servers, databases, laptops, projectors, and more.

Debbie Boness, Information Technology Officer, and Rian Crowley, Database Developer, discuss how we turn technology into technolo-tree.

Crisp fall air. Cider and donuts. Funny, nature-themed skits. An evening in the woods. All of these elements combine into a successful run of Halloween Hikes, our annual autumn event that’s become a tradition for many families.

To protect the health and safety of all, we decided not to hold Halloween Hikes in its typical, in-person format this year. Instead, we’re bringing it to you in a new way with a new focus: how exactly do we create a better-than-the-last iteration each year?

Eileen Davis, Environmental Educator; Jill Stites, retired Environmental Educator; and Janice Aull, volunteer, reveal behind-the-scenes stories of pumpkin carving, scriptwriting, costume creation, and more.

We all know nature has value. Perhaps you love its beauty, its serenity, its creatures great and small. On an economic level, it’s recently become possible to quantify some of nature’s beneficial effects—what we call ecosystem services. Carbon storage, flood mitigation, water and air purification.

Jim Anderson, Director of Natural Resources, shares his insights into how nature supports human existence, and how we humans can support nature.

The woods are back with even more to say. From the value of nature and ecosystem services, to how we turn technology into technolo-tree, and the benefits of a childhood spent outdoors, plus more, here’s a taste of what you’ll hear this October and November.

Music:

Swoop by The Mini Vandals

Trail of Breadcrumbs by Lyle Workman

What are the woods telling us? Have you ever stopped for a moment to listen?