Fermilab’s natural areas are one of its distinguishing characteristics. The ELM Committee manages them.
ecology
The Ecological Land Management Committee is a group that meets monthly to discuss and plan for the management of the natural areas at Fermilab. It is made up of lab employees and local experts. The ELM Committee is looking for a lab employee to volunteer as an administrative assistant to take meeting notes and help organize the SharePoint site. If you are interested in helping and would like to find out more, please email Wally Levernier (wleverni@fnal.gov). Wally Levernier is…
From National Geographic (Spain), April 29, 2021: Fermilab houses some of the last remnants of small populations of historical plants as told by Fermilab ecologist, Walter Levernier.
Former Fermilab ecologist Ryan Campbell leads Fermilab employees on a prairie flower photowalk on April 20, 2015.
Fermilab employees plant trees on April 27, 2006.
Students from Cowherd Middle School visit Fermilab on Oct. 5, 2017.
To help maintain an ecologically safe and healthy environment at the lab, complete an Environmental Review Form as soon as you begin planning a new or changing activity that could have an effect on lab surroundings.
From Daily Herald, Nov. 27, 2020: Fermilab Natural Areas is restoring 500 acres of grassland near Eola Road at Fermilab to serve as a breeding habitat for several endangered and threatened bird species that do not use tallgrass prairies or woodlands, such as the upland sandpiper, bobolink and Henslow’s sparrow.
If you live in the Chicago suburbs and have ever taken a walk on the Fermilab hike-and-bike trail along Batavia Road, you’ve probably noticed large trees with long, slender bean pods, which — even after they fall to the ground — are ignored by wildlife. Not that long ago, mammoths, mastodons and giant ground sloths roamed the Fermilab grounds and feasted on these bean pods, along with the fruit of two additional species that still can be found growing on site.
Happy Earth Day! Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Here we flash back to Fermilab’s 2019 Earth Day Fair.