Winter Work Gear
by Emily Ptaszek, TLC’s Marketing and Communications Intern
As The Land Conservancy of McHenry County prepares to work outdoors in the winter months, it i…
Helping Wildlife in Winter Months
by Emily Ptaszek, TLC’s Marketing and Communications Intern
As winter descends on Illinois, nature has its ways of coping with the cold. Some animals, lik…
Farmers and Landowners Meet at Common Ground
Farmers and Landowners Meet at Common Ground 2024
On Dec. 8, area farmers and landowners gathered to…
Indigenous Perspectives to Honor During Thanksgiving
by Emily Ptaszek, TLC’s Marketing & Communications Intern
Many of us are reminded of the importance of community closeness as winter approaches. With …
Chop Saw/Miter Saw Needed!
Update: We received several offers to donate a chop saw. Thank you for your generosity!
Can you help?
TLC is in need of a miter/chop saw for various proje…
Lessons I’ve Learned from Nature
by Emily Ptaszek, TLC’s Marketing & Communications Intern
During my time interning with TLC, I have taken a lot of lessons with me. Not only from the …
Benefits to Working Outdoors
Benefits to Working Outdoors
by Emily Ptaszek, TLC’s Marketing & Communications Intern
I have always loved nature, but it wasn’t until I started my w…
TLC Hosts Native Plant Seed Sharing Day
Natvie Plant Seed Sharing Day
Thank you to all who attended TLC’s Seed Sharing Day at The Blue Farm in Alden this weekend! Seed Sharing is an opportunity ga…
TLC Welcomes Carol Elkins to the Team
TLC is excited to welcome Carol Elkins to our Conservation@Home team! Carol is joining TLC’s community ecologist, Sarah Michehl, in conducting site consult…
Got Horses? Consider Joining the Bull Valley Riding Club
Do you have horses? Consider joining the Bull Valley Riding Club! You’ll gain access to beautiful riding trails like the Thompson Road Preserve. https://www….
TLC Members Attend Wine and Cheese Hike at Hennen Conservation Area
TLC Members Attend Wine and Cheese Hike at Hennen Conservation Area
Thank you to the fabulous TLC members who attended our Wine and Cheese Hike last week …
A New Bridge at Gateway Park in Harvard
A New Bridge at Gateway Park in Harvard
Thank you to Deborah Church and Pam Schroeder for sponsoring the construction of a new bridge at Gateway Park in Har…
A Weekend Oak Planting
A Weekend Oak Planting
It was a beautiful weekend for a Project Quercus Memorial and Celebration oak planting at Moraine Hills State Park!
These oaks will…
TLC’s August Learning Circle for Women Farmers and Farmland Owners
Here are some photos from TLC’s Aug. 14 Learning Circle for women farmers and farmland owners. (Bonus photos include Claire’s daughter Nora on a planni…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP Week 11 – The final week!
Hi all, and welcome to our final week of TLC’s Conservation Leader Internship Program (CLIP)! This week’s blog is written by all four interns!
Monday was…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP Week 10
Hey it’s Madi and this is week 10 of CLIP!
Our week started off with a rain day on Monday that we spent on two research projects investigating teasel seed…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 9
Hello all and welcome to week 9! This week’s blog is written by CLIPtern Gia.
We started out this Monday at Apple Creek targeting all kinds of invasive sp…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 8
by Oliver Reisenbigler
With three weeks remaining of the CLIP internship, we are trying to make the most of each passing day, whether it is rain or shine!…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 7
by Emma Klein
Hello from TLC’s 2024 Summer CLIPsters! This week was hot and buggy! After a particularly wet weekend, the mosquitoes are now out in full fo…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 6
By Emily Ptaszek
It’s sad to think we are already over half way done with our time in TLC’s CLIP, but there is still so much to look forward to in the com…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 5
My name is Madi Benezra and this was our fifth week as CLIP interns! I just graduated from Prairie Ridge High School and plan to study wildlife rehabilitatio…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 4
This week’s blog is written by CLIP intern, Gia. I am a sophomore at Michigan State University studying environmental studies and sustainability, and with ea…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 3
We are now three weeks into the CLIP 2024 internship, and we have already learned so much! This week’s update is provided by one of the CLIP interns, Oliver….
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 2
We have officially completed our first full week of TLC’s 2024 CLIP and it has already been such a rewarding experience! I am Emily Ptaszek, a student at Lak…
Adventures in Conservation – CLIP 2024 Week 1
Welcome to the first week of TLC’s 2024 Conservation Leader Internship Program (CLIP)! This week’s update is provided by CLIP’s 2024 crew leader, Emma. This …
Volunteers Plant Milpa Garden in Woodstock
Thank you to the many volunteers who helped prep and seed TLC’s Milpa garden at the Food Forest on May 21!
What is Milpa? Milpa is an Indigenous s…
A Prescribed Burn at Irish Oaks Nature Preserve
Last week a group of volunteers came out to help with a prescribed burn at Irish Oaks! Prescribed burns are conducted rotationally to mimic what would have o…
Woodstock High School Students Volunteer at Donato Woods
Thank you to the amazing volunteers from Woodstock High School’s Blue Streak Service Club who helped clear brush at Donato Woods on March 3!
(Photos courtes…
Meet TLC Board Member Terry Willcockson
How do you spend your days?
Retirement has been an interesting motivational experiment, following decades of intense daily work and family demands. Zen t…
Meet TLC Board Member Melissa Cooney
How do you spend your days?
I have lots of hobbies including knitting, needlepoint, and I travel as often as I can.
What are your ties to McHenry Coun…
Meet TLC Board Member Kurt Taylor
How do you spend your days? (work, volunteering, etc.)
I still work, but I own the company and have time to volunteer and do what I’d like to do most days. …
New Year’s Eve Oak Rescue – Thank You!
Happy New Year!
Thank you to everyone who celebrated New Year’s Eve with an Oak Rescue at Thompson Road Farm in Bull Valley! This fabulous group…
Refer a Friend and Get a Cool TLC Gift!
Thank you for being a member of The Land Conservancy of McHenry County!
When you refer a non-member friend to TLC, we will send you your choice of a 2024 …
Vote for TLC’s Bitter Beaver Beer in MobCraft Brewing Voting
Here’s a fun one! MobCraft Beer Woodstock takes votes on crowdsourced beers. TLC has nominated the Bitter Beaver beer, a Double IPA infused with elderberry a…
Closing Out the 2023 Summer Season – CLIP Week 10
by Joee Cortina
Seeding at Apple Creek
Hello for the last time, and welcome to t…
Environmental careers, nature art and Nachusa – CLIP Week 9!
by Katie Mikkelson
Monday July 31
We started our day with a career panel where we talked to professionals in the field of ecology. They told us about h…
A Bat, a Food Forest and Hatching Caterpillars – CLIP Week 8
A bat in a pawpaw tree
Monday we spent the day with Jack and Judy Speer at Small Wa…
Rusty-Patched Bumblebee Sighting at a TLC Site!
A rusty-patched bumblee was spotted at a TLC site this week! TLC actually has two sites serving as rusty-patched bumblebee habitat. This bee is state and fed…
Finding Black Cohosh, Surveying a Stream and Destroying Turfgrass – CLIP Week 7
by Emma Klein and Leah Williams
Welcome to week seven of TLC’s 2023 Conservation Leader Internship Program! This week’s update is provided by Emma and Lea…
Parsnip, Parsnip and Rainy Day Activities – CLIP Week 6
by Joee Cortina
Welcome to week 6 of CLIP! The summer is well underway – as I write this, we just passed over the halfway point of the program! As interns…
A Field Trip to Midewin, Pulling Parsnip and More – CLIP Week 5
by Nari Coleman
Date: Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Entry: On Wednesday morning, the CLIPsters arrived at Hennen early for a field trip to Midewin National T…
Seeds, Butterflies and Trees – CLIP Week 4!
by Jenn Hernandez
To start off week 4 of CLIP, Monday didn’t exactly go as planned due to rain forecasted later in the day. Sadly, we couldn’t spray the t…
Monitoring, Planting, and Pulling – CLIP Week 3
by Kate Mikkelson
Monday 6/19
We started our week with a visit to Pistakee Bay, which is a property that’s owned and managed by TLC. We met with Randy …
A Trip to the Dunes, Learning to Chainsaw and More – CLIP Week 2!
By Leah Williams
Welcome to the second week of CLIP! This week all the interns picked up a ton of new skills, as we visited everywhere from Irish Oaks and…
CLIP 2023 is Underway!
by Emma Klein
Welcome to the first week of TLC’s 2023 Conservation Leader Internship Program! This week’s update is provided by CLIP’s 2023 crew leader, E…
Learning about Our Local Native Wildflowers
We had a great group of people at the Wildflower Walk on Saturday, May 6 at Spring Hollow in Woodstock! Thank you to all who attended and learned about our n…
TLC’s Latest Conservation@Home Yard Certification – Jermaine Burney
Congratulations to Jermaine Burney on his Conservation@Home yard certification! A new oak landowner in Crystal Lake, he reached out to TLC for advice on cari…
TLC’s 32nd Annual Celebration – A Recap
TLC’s 32nd Annual Celebration took place on Sunday, April 23.
Guests had a pleasant afternoon at a new venue, the McHenry Country Club and enjoyed a “high t…
Identifying Trees in Winter
TLC’s Winter Tree and Shrub Identification class took place Jan. 18 at Ryders Woods. We learned how to identify several native trees and shrubs as well as so…
Job Opening at TLC – Food Forest Manager
Food Forest Manager (part time) View PDF job description
The Land Conservancy is looking for the right person to help us with our food forest! Our goal i…
TLC’s Farm Program – Year in Review
Last year was a busy year for TLC’s farm programs! Watch this video to see some of the highlights from 2022.
Summer Position – Seasonal Restoration Technician
The Land Conservancy of McHenry County is hiring a Seasonal Restoration Technician for the Summer of 2023.
Position title “Seasonal Restoration Tech”
May…
TLC Hosts New Year’s Eve Oak Rescue
On New Year’s Eve, TLC hosted another successful McHenry County oak rescue! Thanks to the wonderful crew who worked at Irish Oaks Nature Preserve to free two…
CLIP Class of ’22 Research Report
The CLIP Class of ’22 put their knowledge and skills to work by putting together a research report on germination rates of Rudbeckia triloba after garlon che…
A Fond Farewell to TLC’s CLIP Interns – CLIP Week 11
(Casper) Monday:
Since it was raining today, we read and discussed our last assignment. Then we worked on making a map of all the locations we have gone …
Bison, native plant gardens, first aid and more – CLIP Week 10
by Breanna Christensen
To begin the week we spent Monday morning meeting on Zoom for a Conservation Career Panel. We met with multiple people CLIP Directo…
A visit to MCC, loads of toads and more – CLIP Week 9
by Gretchen Casper
On Monday, we had a work day around Hennen Conservation Area in Woodstock. We started by planting nine flats of plants donated from Red…
Field work, fungus fun and more – CLIP Week 8
by Amelia Swiecki
Week 8 of CLIP was packed full of invasive work, collecting mushrooms, and working with some great people out in the field!
We kicke…
Lots of work, lots of fun and lots of teasel – CLIP week 7
by Isaac Servin
This week was great; we got to get some work done obviously, but there were also some really fun activities and we met a couple new faces…
A visit to Midewin Tallgrass Prairie, pulling parsnip, jumping spiders and more! CLIP week 6
by Kristi Robinson, CLIP lead intern
After the day off on Monday, July 4, we kicked off our 6th week of CLIP on Tuesday with a morning of parsnip pulling …
Finding rare plants, removing invasives, and more! CLIP week 5
by Breanna Christensen
Monday morning of CLIP’s week 5 was spent with Bruce Kessler, McHenry County restoration expert, at the Tauck Conservation Easement…
Dunes, a farm, kittens and more! An overview of CLIP Week 4
by Gretchen Casper
On Monday we went to Glacial Park Conservation Area, and met with Sarah Michehl, TLC’s community engagement specialist. She talked to u…
Chainsawing, stream surveying and more! CLIP Week 3
by Amelia Swiecki
To kick off Week 3 of CLIP, we all headed out to Bluestem Ecological Services, a native plant landscaping company in Marengo. We began o…
Planting a pollinator garden and much more! CLIP Week 2
Welcome to Blog #2 of TLC’s internship program. This week it is brought to you by Isaac! He is one of the interns this year, and this week there was a lot of…
Happy June! TLC’s CLIP Week 1 is underway
Welcome to Blog #1 of TLC’s 2022 Conservation Leader Internship Program! This first week’s blog is brought to you by Kristi, CLIP’s Crew Leader for the 2022 …
Welcome 2022 CLIP interns!
On June 1 TLC welcomed four new interns (and welcomed back a Crew Leader) to the Conservation Leader Internship Program (CLIP) for 2022. We are excited to ha…
CLIP Wish List
As a nonprofit organization, TLC relies on the generosity of donors for the success of many of our programs. The CLIP team has created a wish list to help en…
Claire Hodge joins TLC as new farm program assistant
TLC is happy to welcome local farmer Claire Hodge to the team as the farm program assitant. Claire will develop TLC’s Women’s Learning Circle program through…
Welcome Karen Lavin to the TLC Board
Karen has lived in Wonder Lake, IL most of her life. She was an attorney for 35 years and is now retired. She has fond memories of growing up on a lake – whe…
Planning a Pollinator Garden for the Community
On April 12 the Youth and Family Center of McHenry County Conversacion de Conservacion Small Waters Education and Friends of Hackmatack National Wildlife…
Christine Nye Joins TLC Board of Directors
Christine is one of three people who were elected to the TLC Board of Directors in January. Christine has had a lifelong relationship with the land in McHenr…
The Dance of the Woodcock with McHenry County Audubon
Spring is here! Join us to watch American Woodcocks performing their amazing courtship flights. The male woodcocks will make several preent calls and then la…
Mark Newton Joins TLC Board of Directors
Mark is one of three people who were elected to the TLC Board of Directors in January. He is a Village of Bull Valley trustee and has a certificate in ecolog…
Farmland Conservation Easements 101 Video
Do you own or hope to own farmland, or know someone who does? Learn about agricultural conservation easements, what they can offer for your farmland, or how …
New videos posted on a variety of conservation topics
Have you ever wondered how to start a native plant garden, use a rain barrel or get rid of buckthorn? Check out some of the videos we have posted on these an…
Become an Annual Business Supporter of TLC in 2022!
If you are a business or organization that values the natural beauty and rural character of McHenry County and wants to make sure it remains that way, consid…
Look out buckthorn and honeysuckle! Grant helps TLC increase stewardship capacity
In 2017, through the advocacy of the Prairie State Conservation Coalition, Illinois Environmental Council, TLC and dozens of nonprofit conservation land trus…
A great day for an Oak Rescue
TLC hosted an Oak Rescue on New Year’s Eve at Crowley Oaks Woods in Harvard.
What is an oak rescue? It’s an opportunity for people to work together to fre…
An Eagle Scout project update
Jack Newton led Boy Scout Troop 149 in building a bridge at TLC’s Boloria Meadows in September for his Eagle Scout project. In addition, the bridge on the le…
TLC holds special workday in honor of Al Van Maren
TLC dedicated a workday to our friend, the late Al Van Maren on Sunday, Oct. 31. Friends and family of Al Van Maren spent time clearing brush in his oak wood…
Why share native plant seed?
Each fall TLC hosts a native plant Seed Sharing Day in McHenry County. Sharing native plant seeds with others is a great way to get more native plants growin…
The final week: A roundup of CLIP week 11
Monday: by Arden Podpora
The crew at the TLC office
Our last week started with r…
Sawing logs and seeing bison: A roundup of CLIP week 10
by Sofia Oropeza
Chainsaw practice
Monday always brings the start of a busy week…
Creek chubs to chainsaws: A roundup of CLIP Week 9
by Claire Gregory
It’s hard to believe that nine weeks have already passed since the CLIPterns joined the TLC team, but each day is still an adventure.
…
Seeds for the future: A roundup of CLIP Week 8
by Kristi Robinson
Though I was gone last week for a drum major camp, I was excited and ready to be back at TLC for week 8 of our CLIP internship!
We …
The Illinois Prairie: A Roundup of CLIP Week 7
by Arden Podpora
With more than half of the summer already gone, our time with CLIP has been flying by. Even though we had a reduced crew of just two inte…
Each day is a new adventure: CLIP Week 6
By Evelyn Bustos
Week 6 of the CLIP internship had many unique experiences and learning opportunities, from understanding forest pests to monitoring Plant…
Into the Open Arms of Nature: A Roundup of CLIP Week 5
by Sofia Oropeza
So much mullen!
Last week we were welcomed into the open arms o…
The Art of Restoration: A Roundup of CLIP Week 4
Testing plant identification skills
by Claire Gregory
Week 4 brought the first f…
Cherries, Berries and Prairies: A Roundup of CLIP Week 3
by Kristi Robinson
Hi! I’m Kristi, one of the CLIPterns, and I’ll be leading you through a recap of this past week.
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From Butterflies to Brush Saws: A Roundup of CLIP Week 2
by Arden Podpora
The second week of TLC’s internship program, CLIP, was no less eventful than the first. From butterflies to brush saws, we gained valuabl…
Let the summer begin! TLC’s CLIP program is underway
Last week TLC launched its CLIP internship program, which is designed to be a hands-on learning experience designed to empower participants with the knowledg…
Learning about McHenry County’s Vernal Pools
Those who attended the vernal pool hike on April 24 were treated to a beautiful hike and lots of tadpoles as well as other tiny creatures!
Vernal pool…
Blanding’s Turtle found on a TLC site
TLC staff found a Blanding’s Turtle on a TLC site. The turtle appears to have suffered (and healed) from a past injury. Blanding’s turtles are considered end…
Build Your Own Birdhouse for Your Backyard Birding Hobby
Throughout 2020, social distancing considerably limited our options for entertainment and hobbies. Sheltering-in-place has definitely expanded our appreciati…
TLC Celebrates 200th Conservation@Home Property
Congrats to Carol Giammattei on becoming TLC’s 200th participating Conservation@Home property!
Not only is Carol a dedicated TLC volunteer, she’s also la…
TLC Office Hours
Need to stop by or call the TLC office in Woodstock? Our office hours for the next few weeks will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Splendor in the Grass
After traveling 6,000 miles from Argentina, you make a stop in Alden, Illinois.
You are a bobolink, one of the most traveled migratory songbirds in the worl…
Piscasaw Gardens blossoms at new location
Sonja and Rich Brook have built a legacy on their farm in rural Harvard. People who frequent the Woodstock Farmers Market know the Brooks for their flavored …