Join Dr. Eric Schauber, Director of the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and the Illinois State Biologist, on Wednesday, January 12 @ 7 PM CST via Zoom to learn about the Illinois Natural History Survey and hear your questions answered. 

Dr. Schauber will give a brief background on the mission and accomplishments of the INHS over the past 160+ years as well as some of their current major areas of research, and answer questions about how and why they do what they do and what they are learning. Questions about the natural history of Illinois should be submitted below. There will be time for additional questions during the presentation as well.

A little about our speaker: Eric Schauber is an animal ecologist, the Director of the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and the Illinois State Biologist. Prior to his role at INHS he worked at Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a wildlife ecologist in the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory and a professor and the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Zoology. Schauber’s research tackles a broad suite of questions mainly centered around populations of mammals. Topics range from documenting factors that influence where foxes, coyotes, and other carnivores are found across southern Illinois to understanding how marsh rice rats move between wetlands. One main focus of his research has been studying contacts within and between social groups of white-tailed deer, and using that information to understand and manage how diseases spread in the deer population. He was appointed Illinois State Biologist in 2019. This role was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 2008 to communicate information and provide expert advice to the residents of Illinois and to our legislators and policymakers.

This program is brought to you by the Champaign County Forest Preserve District and our University of Illinois Extension Master Naturalist program. Our East Central Illinois Master Naturalist mission is to develop an expanding corps of well-educated volunteers to provide service and support for partnering organizations in the conservation, restoration, management, and interpretation of natural resources and natural areas in East Central Illinois. Sessions will be recorded and available on our YouTube Channel. Find more at https://go.illinois.edu/ECIMN

This event is free and open to the public. If you need reasonable accommodations, please call Randy at 217-333-7672