Year of the Cicada

By Brier Gunderson

“2024 is a big year for periodical cicadas in Illinois, where Broods XII and XIX will be emerging throughout much of the state at the same time. This simultaneous emergence is the first time since 1803 and will not happen again until 2245.”

Back home in Illinois, this is the summer of the cicada—where trillions will emerge after seventeen years of life underground. Every summer, cicadas have been a part of my life, and I’ve found them only more and more fascinating as I’ve spent less and less time in the Midwest.

Plant power: Ecologists map vegetative makeup of Smart Wetlands to guide ecosystem management

In an exciting development for TWI’s Smart Wetlands program, staff ecologists have taken a step toward better understanding the evolving vegetative makeup of our farm-based Smart Wetlands sites, designed to improve water quality. Beginning in 2023, plant surveys were conducted at the sites for the first time. The surveys add to an existing body of water, soil, and nutrient data already collected for the purpose of better understanding, monitoring, and improving the Smart Wetlands going forward.

Birders flock to the Refuge to see unusual avian guests

Longtime birder Vicky Sroczynski typically doesn’t “chase” rare birds, but she considered the opportunity to see a Roseate Spoonbill—normally a resident of the Gulf Coast and rarely seen further north—at TWI’s Dixon Waterfowl Refuge too good to miss. As soon as Vicky entered the Refuge gates after a two-hour drive from her home in Darien, she craned her neck toward the boat launch… just in time to glimpse a pink-winged bird fly behind the island and disappear.

Cranes at the Dixon Refuge and beyond

About five years ago, the International Crane Foundation (ICF) began to explore with the Wetlands Initiative (TWI) the potential of our Dixon Waterfowl Refuge as high-quality habitat for the reintroduction of seriously endangered Whooping Cranes. As part of this partnership, we began to more methodically monitor the Sandhill Cranes that have already chosen to nest and breed at the Refuge, since Sandhill Crane habitat will also often be good for Whooping Cranes.

New ag partnership with Ducks Unlimited

Long known for the restoration of lost wetlands, the Wetlands Initiative (TWI) is now also a leader in the practice of farm-based constructed wetlands that reduce nutrient pollution in agricultural runoff. This efficient and effective way to naturally improve water quality needs to be adopted on a large scale to really make a difference, and TWI has found the perfect partner in Ducks Unlimited (DU) to spread the practice in Illinois.

Milkweed project helps keep monarchs flying across Illinois

The Wetlands Initiative recently completed a five-year monarch butterfly conservation project that, for the first time, crossed two of our major project sites: Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge. Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the project focused on increasing high-quality habitat for monarchs and also increasing availability of a range of milkweed species, the monarch caterpillar’s only food, across Illinois.

Motus towers at the Dixon Refuge: Helping to unlock migration mysteries

Most of us humans stayed close to home over the past 18 months, but the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t impact birds’ incredible migration journeys. This summer, researchers with the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) and the Forbes Biological Station partnered with TWI to install three Motus towers at our Dixon Waterfowl Refuge in north-central Illinois to learn more about birds passing through the area.

When ecology meets engineering: Restoring wetlands in the Calumet

At TWI, successful wetland restoration involves more than getting rid of invasive species and planting native wildflowers and sedges. While these are important steps, it’s ecology combined with engineering that makes the magic happen. This is especially true in the Calumet region along the southern shores of Lake Michigan, where the hydrology has been extensively altered by industrial and residential development.

3,376 acres and counting: TWI's restoration projects at Midewin

The Wetlands Initiative has been a core restoration partner at Midewin nearly since the site’s designation as the country’s first National Tallgrass Prairie 25 years ago. Since 2001, when our habitat restoration efforts there really ramped up, TWI has worked in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service on restoring eight distinct parcels of land across a total of 3,376 acres on Midewin’s west side. As we celebrate Midewin’s silver anniversary this month we’re taking a walk down memory lane, looking at some of the highlights of what we’ve accomplished so far to transform this former U.S. Army arsenal, including the huge Glacial Plains Prairie project that’s now underway.

Restoring wetlands: A path into the future

Award-winning author and naturalist Julian Hoffman wrote this original essay for the Wetlands Initiative’s 25th anniversary in 2020. Julian’s first book, The Small Heart of Things, won the 2014 National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature and his most recent book, Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save Our Wild Places, was a finalist for the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation.

TWI ecologists teach virtual field classes during COVID-19

The plan was exciting: Wetlands Initiative ecologists would host biology students from Brookfield Zoo’s master’s degree program at both the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie to learn hands-on about wetland and prairie ecosystems and their restoration. But like many of 2020’s well-laid plans, it took considerable adjustment for TWI ecologists Dr. Gary Sullivan and Anna Braum to lead the virtual equivalent of these field classes via Zoom.

TWI exhibits at the nation's largest outdoor farm show

In the closing days of August, TWI’s Senior Environmental Engineer Jill Kostel and Field Outreach Specialist Jean McGuire showcased Smart Wetlands at the Illinois Farm Progress Show. It’s the nation’s largest outdoor farm show, with 90 acres of exhibits, 300 acres of field demonstrations, and more than 600 exhibitors—from tractor manufacturers to seed purveyors to ag-tech startups. The three-day show drew more than 100,000 attendees to Decatur from around the world to learn about the latest in farming.

Illinois River partnership leads to Refuge benefits

For the past several years, the Wetlands Initiative has been an active partner in a new collaboration of conservation groups called the Middle Illinois River Conservation Collaborative (MIRCC). Earlier this summer, that partnership led to a grant to Ducks Unlimited (DU) from the federal North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) program that will support infrastructure improvements at TWI’s Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, among other benefits for Illinois River Valley wetland conservation sites.