News & Media
There’s always something happening at the Macon County Conservation District! Staff and volunteers work all year round to provide you with educational programs, restore natural areas, and preserve historic sites. To know what’s going on:
Prairie Islander
Subscribe to the Prairie Islander, our free, quarterly newsletter. You may also read the current issue online or subscribe to our mailing list to have the Prairie Islander emailed to you each quarter.
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries about stories or photo requests, call 217-423-7708. If you wish to receive our news releases and photo opportunities via email, send a message to mccd@maconccd.org or call 217-423-7708.
Social Media
Receive trail condition updates, see the work we’re doing, and share pictures of your visits to the conservation areas by following us on Facebook.
A Summer Intern’s Involvement
By DCLI Intern, Sam R. Being an intern with the MCCD (Macon County Conservation District) this summer has been absolutely amazing, to say the least. All sorts of different opportunities and tasks came my way that exposed me to things I hadn’t necessarily done before, let alone in a work environment! These new experiences not only allowed me to improve my photography skills but also have fun and meet new people while doing it! This article provides an in-depth look into my experience as an intern with the MCCD and also explores how it influenced my personal and professional...
Let Them Be Wild
By Ashton Dukeman We understand more than most that baby animals are downright adorable, but is it ever a good idea to take an animal from the wild to keep as a pet? The answer to that would be, no. No matter how cute a wild animal is, removing them from their home in the wild to bring in and attempt to keep them as a domestic animal is never advisable for many reasons. Wild animals can be dangerous. Wild animals are just that: wild. They have natural instincts that they have developed to protect themselves, and it is not...
A Solid Foundation
By Ashton Dukeman We here at the Macon County Conservation District wouldn’t be able to do what we do without several vital things that all play major roles in our daily operations, including our amazing volunteer base, our stellar and knowledgeable staff, and of course, the public that we serve. One other major piece of the puzzle that makes up the Macon County Conservation District is the Macon County Conservation Foundation. As the fundraising arm of the District, the Macon County Conservation Foundation actively works to restore and preserve local natural areas, and to ensure a good quality of...
April is Citizen Science Month
by Beth Lane April is Citizen Science Month, and is celebrated by renewing the effort to involve the public in scientific research projects. But why should we care? Citizen Science is a collaboration between public and scientific professionals to collect and analyze data for research projects. It has pseudonyms such as: community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring. Citizen scientists are not always professional scientists! In fact they can be any age, from any walk of life, with any amount of experience. All that is really needed to be a citizen scientist is curiosity...
A Natural Partnership
By Ethan Snively For over a decade, Dr. David Horn’s biology classes at Millikin University have assisted the Macon County Conservation District with various natural resources projects, totaling well over 1,000 volunteer hours. This partnership with Millikin has been important for both the students and MCCD. While the Conservation District gets hands-on help for projects that would otherwise not get completed, the students get realworld experience, which Horn says better prepares them for their professional careers. “At Millikin University, we emphasize both theory and practice,” Horn said. “Ecological principles can be taught in the classroom and those concepts can...
This week's Sunday Storytime is cancelled, but there is still plenty of other fun things to do at Rock Springs on Sunday! Explore the Nature Center, tour Homestead Prairie Farm, or stop by to watch the Summer Concert Series: Back Porch Trio concert!
With Jimothy's rise to fame, it's a good reminder to let our wild things stay wild 💚🦝
You can find a short article written by our staff for the 2023 fall Prairie Islander about this subject in the comments below!We wrote and deleted a whole think-piece about Jimothy - can fame and wildness ever coexist? Are parasocial relationships and anthropomorphizing two sides of the same coin?? - but we’ll spare you that and just say, please give wild things the space to be wild. Even when they’re cute, or different, or famous.
That can mean driving with care on park roads (and all roads). It can mean keeping food closed safely in a bear can when you backpack. It can mean seeing an animal and knowing that it means something special to you, and that it has the best shot in life if you don’t try to get close. It’s a good way to love them.
1 CommentsComment on Facebook
Even on a hot day, there's always something fun to do at the Rock Springs Nature Center.
#midwest #Illinois #hikeillinois #outdoordecatur #DecaturIL #decaturhiking #DecaturEvents #maconconservation #thingstodo #decaturillinois
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
🐺There is still time to register for the free Crazy About Canids indoor program happening this Saturday, July 18 at 2pm. Learn about the local critters from the family Canidae, including coyotes and foxes. Registration is open until noon Friday, July 17. You can find the link to the event registration in the comments below! 🐾
1 CommentsComment on Facebook
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
View more comments