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Mark Blassage took this photo May 24. (Photo by Mark Blassage)

From Natural Land Institute e-mail newsletter

May 12, from the overlook structure at the Nygren Wetland Preserve, Mike Descamps observed a sandhill crane chick with a pair of adults. A couple days later, he saw a second, smaller, yellow chick with the pair. His videos are posted on YouTube. This one shows the chicks at four days old; click here ^[2].

Lots of attention has been focused on our sandhill crane parents and their young. You can easily spot the parents on most days from the overlook area and, if you’re lucky, you will see their young. We must all be extra careful not to disturb the parents feeding as they are the source of protection and food for the young. Please observe from the overlook platform only.

NLI elects new board members

Kay Blair of Belvidere, Ruth Little of Rockford and Rich Muniz of Rockford have been elected to three-year terms on the Board of Trustees of the Natural Land Institute. Re-elected were Judith Barnard of Rockford, Mark Keister of Winslow, Mark Maffei of Roscoe and Daniel Williams of Rockford.

Kay Blair has lived in Boone County for 40 years and served on the Boone County Conservation District Board of Trustees for six years. Rich Muniz is a teacher at Maria Montessori School in the Rockford Public School system and is active in the Green Communities Coalition and Black Hawk Chapter of the Sierra Club. Ruth Little was executive director of the Rock River Valley Council of Girl Scouts for 30 years and served on the board of the Burpee Museum of Natural History for five years.

Trustees re-elected Judith Barnard to serve as president of the Natural Land Institute. They elected Dave Arnold to serve as vice president, Karen Blomgren as secretary and Tom Ptacin as treasurer.

Thank you to retiring board members Jay Evans and Sally Hoff for their years of service.

Conservation Day Camp 2010

No other camp is like the first-ever Conservation Day Camp. Participants will be exposed to abundant hands-on experiences, educational opportunities, and have fun every day.

Campers will leave at the end of the week having a well-rounded knowledge of opportunities in the conservation field and numerous practical experiences.

This five-day camp is set up to show off the highlights of local conservation organizations. Each day of the camp (see below) is run completely by staff from those organizations. The participants will be able to experience a variety of conservation topics all at one location, the Natural Land Institute’s beautiful Nygren Wetland Preserve.

Monday: Adventures in the Wetlands (Severson Dells Nature Center)

Tuesday: Ecosystems of Northern Illinois (Rockford Park District)

Wednesday: History of Agriculture, Soil ecology/Erosion (Soil and Water Conservation District) and Conservation Ethics/ Aldo Leopold (Pheasants Forever)

Thursday: Tools of the Trade/ Husqvarna safety class (Nicholson Lawn and Garden)

Friday: History of Natural Land Institute and the Nygren Wetland Preserve/Wildflower Weekend (Natural Land Institute)

For more information, contact Natural Land Institute at (815) 964-6666 or e-mail nli@aol.com ^[3].

If you write an essay about conservation and how it has impacted your life, your camp fee will be decreased $50. Essay must be completed and turned in before camp starts July 12; maximum two pages and minimum half-page.

Click here ^[4] to download registration form.