Master Naturalist

Events

REAP Day: Bluebell Seed Collection

May 16, 2026

County

Winnebago

Birding Across Kankakee: Gar Creek

May 16, 2026

County

Kankakee

NatureFest 2026 | Genoa

May 16, 2026

County

DeKalb

Birdwatching Hike

May 17, 2026

County

Putnam

Blog Posts

A golden opportunity to learn that mushrooms can be invasive too

May 14, 2026

You’ve heard of invasive plants and animals, but what about mushrooms? Around Illinois, you won’t have to look far to find invasive mushrooms.Golden...

Protecting Illinois from invasive pest threats

April 23, 2026

The Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program, CAPS, focuses on the early detection and...

The far-reaching effects of invasive landscape plants

April 16, 2026

Did you know that many of the invasive plants that landowners, foresters, and conservation workers fight today were first introduced as pretty...

25 years of research on illinois ecosystems

What two decades of research tells us about invasive species

April 9, 2026

Illinois is home to a diversity of natural ecosystems, including the grasslands, forests, and wetlands that once covered a majority of the state....

More Blogs

News Releases

Youth walk across a log and play in the forest

May 14, 2026

Extension brings Joliet schools to the outdoors with support from ExxonMobil
JOLIET, Ill. — For many years, University of Illinois Extension and Extension Master Gardener and Master Naturalist volunteers have brought youth from six...

Two Master Gardener volunteers holding bug nets

April 22, 2026

'It's more than plants and landscapes:' Recognizing horticulture volunteers during National Volunteer Week
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — In communities across Illinois, the impact of a vegetable garden or a monarch waystation often begins long before the first seed is planted. It begins with a volunteer. During National Volunteer Week, University of Illinois Extension...

A 4-H member shows a volunteer judge his small engine project

April 19, 2026

Illinois Extension volunteers drive $353K in local impact across three Northern Illinois counties
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — For more than a century, University of Illinois Extension has developed educational programs, extended knowledge, and built partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land grant...

March 30, 2026

Illinois Extensions brings lifelong impact to Grundy, Kankakee, and Will communities in 2025
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — For more than a century, Illinois Extension has worked side by side with communities to turn knowledge into action. Housed within the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences...

More News

Videos

Public Wild Areas Around the Kankakee River Basin

Visit some places you never knew existed, right in our own backyard!

Join University of Illinois Extension and retired Chicago Sun-Times Outdoors Columnist Dale Bowman in this info-packed Wilderness Wednesday webinar sponsored by the Kankakee River...