Environmental Almanac

Despite their heedless ways and the dangers posed to them by human traffic, squirrels are in no danger of extinction--so why do they deserve our attention? Tune in for an answer from University of Illinois student Laura Schultz.

Have you noticed friends or coworkers looking a little sleep-deprived lately? You may be encountering birders caught up in the excitement of spring migration.

If you struggle with the perception that, as a state, we too seldom get things right in Illinois, let me call your attention to the success we’ve had managing a wildlife issue that’s causing far more trouble in neighboring states.

No mammal that thrives in human-dominated landscapes is more misunderstood that the coyote. Tune in to get the facts about these amazing creatures.

It may be too early in the year to contemplate April showers bringing May flowers. But in much of Illinois heavy rains in late February and early March trigger an astonishing and ancient natural phenomenon—the annual congregation of amphibians in the waters where they breed.

Few people appreciate ticks the way scientists do, but everyone can enjoy films featuring them at this year's Insect Fear Film Festival on the University of Illinois campus.

The statewide moose population in New Hampshire peaked at about 7,400 animals in the 1990s, but even then, moose numbers in the north country never reached levels biologists had anticipated the habitat could support. Why weren’t there more of them? And why did their numbers then begin dropping off?

People who go looking for beauty in the woodlands of central Illinois tend to get excited about the months of April and May, when showy beauties like Virginia bluebells carpet the woodland floor. But if you wait until April to get out, you may already be a month late for the emergence of the first flower of spring.

Despite their heedless ways and the dangers posed to them by human traffic, squirrels are in no danger of extinction--so why do they deserve our attention? Tune in for an answer from University of Illinois student Laura Schultz.

Connecting the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin seemed like a good idea in 1900. Tune in to hear why that's an idea whose time has come and gone.