Monthly Newsletter Fall 2023

Celebrate Nature’s Most Vital Resource: Wetlands! From clean water to flood protection and homes for wildlife, wetlands provide many services to communities. Audubon Great Lakes has been working for years to empower our network in the region to protect and restore wetlands that improves habitat for breeding and migratory birds, builds our coastal communities’ resiliency to climate change and improves water quality for birds and people.  The results of that work recently reached new heights in Wisconsin when Governor Evers signed the Fiscal Year 2023-2025 state budget into law. This budget included $350,000 over the next two years to fund an ongoing collaborative partnership among the Oneida Nation, Audubon Great Lakes, Northeastern Wisconsin Audubon and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Cofrin Center for Biodiversity (UWGB), to understand how birds are responding to the Tribe’s conservation efforts. But due to the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Sackett v EPA case, wetland protections are at risk across the entire Great Lakes region and protecting what remains is now more important than ever. Learn just how important this natural infrastructure is and how wetlands benefits not only wildlife but the local communities. Did you know wetlands are like nature’s kidneys, or that an acre of wetland can hold onto 1 million gallons of water!?  Whether you’re in a suburban, urban, or rural landscape you can adopt several watershed and wetland friendly behaviors that will reduce your impact and preserve wetlands. Learn how you can help protect one of our planets most vital resources.Learn more

Wetlands at Pte. Mouillee in Michigan

Great Lakes Piping Plovers Are Flying High with a Second Record-breaking Breeding Season Thanks to the dedicated efforts of researchers, agencies, volunteers, and other members of the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Team, Great Lakes Piping Plovers recently celebrated a second record-breaking breeding season with 80 pairs of Piping Plovers that nested in the Great Lakes region, the highest number of pairs since being listed as endangered! Read more about our busy, yet successful monitoring season at Cat Islands in Green Bay, WI, including another first for the population: for the first time in the program’s history, birds were released outside the state of Michigan. Congrats to all those working hard to protect the important species! Read more

A male Great Lakes Piping Plover at Longtail Point in Lower Green Bay, WI. Photo: Tom Prestby/Audubon Great Lakes

Meet the Audubon Interns Who are Restoring Chicago’s Bird Habitat This summer, Audubon Great Lakes’ Restoration Interns rolled up their sleeves to protect the places that vulnerable marsh birds like the Common Gallinule need to thrive on Chicago’s southeast side. Together they celebrated a successful conservation season with impacts such as 116+ acres of natural areas enhanced or restored, 1300+ hours of ecological restoration, 500+ hours of field-based trainings and certifications and 150+ pounds of invasive plants/plant material pulled. Learn more about these future leaders of conservation! Read more

In 2023, Audubon Great Lakes’ Restoration Interns worked to protect vulnerable marsh birds need to thrive on Chicago’s southeast side.

Protecting Nature’s Treasures in Illinois This year, Illinois proudly commemorates the 60th anniversary of its Nature Preserve System! Whether you’re a nature lover, conservationist or an outdoor enthusiast, there is a lot to celebrate in Illinois and its 622 preserves and 121,492 areas of protected natural areas across the state! Earlier this month, Michelle Parker, Executive Director and VP at Audubon Great Lakes, and Vice Chair for IL Nature Preserves Commission joined Commissioners at Illinois Beach State Park and signed official documentation to protect an additional 186 acres of Illinois Nature Preserves!  Learn more

Cardinal Flowers are very yummy for hummingbirds, Bartel Grassland, Cook County, Illinois. Photo: Camilla Cerea

Take Action to Protect the Great Lakes The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GRLI) is the premier Great Lakes federal restoration program, guiding billions of dollars to critically important coastal wetland restoration projects and conservation programs within the Great Lakes region. Since 2010, the GLRI has funded more than 7,000 projects that have improved water quality and habitat for the benefit of our region’s wildlife, local communities, and economies. The EPA wants to hear from advocates like you about how to shape the next GLRI Action Plan IV, which will guide restoration efforts from 2025 to 2029. Take action and urge them to make birds, wildlife, and communities a priority. Learn more

Marsh birds like Pied-billed Grebes require high quality wetlands to thrive in the Great Lakes.

Migratory Bird Awareness Week in Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has officially declared September 17-22 as Migratory Bird Awareness Week in Indiana. This special proclamation underscores the importance of preserving and celebrating our native birds and the remarkable journey they undertake each year. Indiana remains a home to critical habitats, with more than 40 designated Important Bird Areas and over 60 Indiana Birding Trail sites, learn more about the heroic bird migration journey’s with Audubon’s Bird Migration Explorer.     Read more

Black Tern. Photo: David Fuller

Join a Restoration Day in Chicago Join us for a Restoration Day at Marian R. Byrnes Park in Chicago on Saturday, September 23 from 9:30am – 12pm with El Valor and partners Audubon Great Lakes’ Wild Indigo Nature Explorations, Southeast side Chicago Park District, US Fish and Wildlife Service and US Forest Service. During this free, family -friendly event, participants will be able to engage in art activities, a park clean up, seed collection, nature hike on the accessible trail and more. RSVP

Visit our Nature Centers

Fall Family Fest at Grange Insurance Audubon Center Join Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus, OH for an afternoon and early evening family event to celebrate outdoors and the Fall season on Sunday, Oct. 29 from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. This FREE event will feature live entertainment/music, trunk or tweet, hay rides through the park, a self-guided scavenger hunt, a costume contest/parade, Halloween lights, and more!  Food trucks will also be on hand. Register Grange Insurance Audubon Center Apple Pie Day Aullwood Farm and Nature Center Join us at Aullwood Farm in Dayton, OH on Saturday, September 30 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. as pie-baker extraordinaire Sam Romeo and his volunteer team bake fresh apple pies in cast-iron Dutch Ovens over an open fire. Apple Pie Day is not a festival but a simple celebration of pie baking and fall ambience. See and smell the baking pies, take a fall hike, maybe have a sample taste and take home a preordered pie of your very own! Register Aullwood Farm and Nature Center

Save the Date! Birds & Brews in Indianapolis Mark your calendar for Birds and Brews at Upland Brewery Co.- Fountain Square in Indianapolis hosted by Audubon Great Lakes and Amos Butler Audubon Society, an exciting event that will bring together people like YOU who love birds and want to help build a better world for them – all while enjoying a complimentary drink on us!  WHEN: Wed, Sep 27, 5:00pm-7:00pm EDT WHERE: Upland Brewing Co.- Fountian Square 1201 Prospect St, Indianapolis, IN 46203 COST: Free with RSVP (RSVP includes a complimentary drink and light appetizers).   Accessibility note: The event is accessible. It is recommended that guests that use a wheelchair enter through the southwest entrance, which opens up directly into the event space. There is a small parking lot adjacent to the southwest entrance. Link with more information: https://www.mobilize.us/audubon-great-lakes/event/575109/   During this event, you’ll hear from experts on how we can work together to protect wetlands and address the biggest threats facing our local wildlife and communities — all while enjoying a complimentary drink on us! Speakers will include David Bausman, Chief Legal Counsel for Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Brian Vigue, Policy Director of Freshwater for Audubon Great Lakes. RSVP

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