From the Daily Herald, Oct. 26, 2023
The Fermilab Natural Areas was one of three organizations who were recently recognized for their outstanding contributions to pollinator conservation. FNA received the Pat Miller Community Engagement Award for their comprehensive outreach and public engagement about ecology, native plants and land stewardship.
The Bird Conservation Network recently shared its findings from 22 years of surveying bird populations throughout the Chicago area and compared their data to Fermilab’s decades-long bird monitoring data.
Fermilab’s Roads and Grounds team use prescribed burns to restore land around the lab.
Levernier shares his passion for the environment, birding and prairie restoration at Fermilab.
The bison population is growing as the birth ushers in spring.
From The Daily Herald, July 15, 2021: Dr. Caren Cooper of North Carolina State University will lead the Fermilab At Home arts and lecture series Friday, July 16, with “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Data: Truths and Myths about Citizen Science as a Knowledge Democracy.
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.
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.
From Kane County Chronicle, Dec. 16, 2019: The Commission on Excellence in Ecological Restoration has recognized Fermilab with a Chicago Wilderness Excellence in Ecological Restoration Award. The commission was impressed with the lab’s knowledgeable staff, their work and its dedication to helping protect, restore and maintain one of Chicago Wilderness’s significant natural areas.