Everyday Environment 2026

When water returned to the floodplain at The Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon Preserve in west central Illinois, it marked a major restoration success. After decades of draining the land for agriculture, restoring water to this landscape along the Illinois River helped recreate wetland, lake, and marsh...

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 Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) are a popular edible fungus that has become invasive in North America in the past decade. Walk...

On one warm afternoon last June, I suddenly throttled down the boat as a barrage of silver carp leaped out of the water and pummeled my assistants and me, leaving a generous layer of slime on everything in the boat. Anyone who has been in a boat on the Illinois or Mississippi rivers during the...

Have you ever had the sense that something is out of place, something just doesn’t belong? Years ago, on a fine summer day, I was hiking with a friend through a local nature preserve, and we were having fun quizzing each other on different plants we saw. We rounded a bend and nearly stumbled upon a...

Not all insects or pathogens that arrive from elsewhere are harmful. Many settle quietly into their new surroundings without causing noticeable change. But invasive species are different, and understanding what sets them apart is key to protecting our forests.A pest is considered invasive...

The Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program, CAPS, focuses on the early detection and surveillance of harmful or economically significant exotic plant pests, diseases, and weeds that have eluded first-line of defense inspections or have...

Did you know that many of the invasive plants that landowners, foresters, and conservation workers fight today were first introduced as pretty landscaping plants? It seems hard to believe that one little plant you install in your yard has the potential to rule the world, or at least the nearby...

Illinois is home to a diversity of natural ecosystems, including the grasslands, forests, and wetlands that once covered a majority of the state. Most of these ecosystems have been converted to other land-cover types, notably row-crop agriculture and urban and suburban development, but remaining...

EDDMapS, formerly known as The Bugwood Network, was launched 20 years ago by the University of Georgia - Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health to provide an aggregated source of invasive plant distribution data and information in...

If you live in the Midwest, you may be used to seeing garlic mustard thriving along forested roadsides or buckthorn shrubs taking over forests and parks. These are two examples of invasive plants that have become widespread. Plants are considered invasive if they are non-native, meaning they...

You may have heard about the new invasive species regulations in Illinois that took place in 2025. If not, then, in short, nine plant species were added to the...

It was a beautiful April Saturday afternoon at the Anita Purves Nature Center in Urbana. Like most spring Saturdays, the grounds of the nature center were full of families from the surrounding area exploring the indoor exhibits and strolling along the boardwalk through the nearby woods. Unlike most...

Emerald ash borer, bush honeysuckle, bighead carp – if any of those names made you shudder, you’re likely aware of the widespread environmental and economic harm invasive species cause in Illinois.But the first time I passionately spoke with a...