DuPage Rivers | Enhancing Water Quality

Garden Refresh: It Starts With a Plan

January 19, 2021

Now that spring is here, the plans for the Garden Refresh project are coming along for re-designing and re-planting the native garden beds on two sides of the Clow House at The Conservation Foundation (TCF) McDonald Farm. Since it has been a number of years since the garden beds were planted, it’s time for an update! The process began on a winter day when staff measured the garden areas and drew it out on paper. Jan Roehll, a landscape architect by training, took the lead on the project. Once she had the area mapped out, noting…

Introducing Garden Refresh: Update Your Landscaping with Native Plants

January 16, 2021

Dupage Rivers

Conservation@Home

In the midst of winter, many of you look forward to getting seed and bulb catalogs, eagerly thumbing through them, dreaming of springtime and warmer weather. The Conservation Foundation looks forward to re-doing the garden beds on the east and south sides of the Clow House office space at McDonald Farm in Naperville. In those beds, staff will plant native flowers and grasses to create a garden that is both environmentally friendly and attractive. It’s been quite a few years since these beds were planted. Some plants prospered and grew too big for the space while…

Create a Rain Garden to Reduce Flooding and Water Pollution

January 12, 2021

Dupage Rivers

Conservation@Home, Managing Stormwater

Standing water can cause big problems on your property: dead grass, leaky foundations, and a potential mosquito paradise if rain water fails to soak into the ground. Fortunately, there’s a way to help that water infiltrate instead of leaving it to pool atop your lawn. A rain garden can help solve flooding problems on your property, and at the same time, add attractive landscaping to your yard and provide habitat for birds and butterflies! You can create a rain garden by digging a shallow basin in your yard and planting it with native plants that…

Critters in Our Waterways: Meet the Freshwater Mussel

January 5, 2021

Dupage Rivers

Life in the Watershed

Freshwater mussels, sometimes referred to as clams, are an important part of our aquatic ecosystem. From the outside they can easily be mistaken for a rock on the bottom of the stream, sometimes partially covered in algae. Inside the shell is where the magic happens—freshwater mussels are like miniature water filtration plants. They feed on the plankton they filter out of the water, but also filter things like bacteria and detritus, before returning clean water back to the stream. A mussel can filter up to…

Scoop the Poop to Keep Nature Healthy and Beautiful

November 13, 2020

Dupage Rivers

Pet Waste, Pollutants

Many people escape to trails in local forest preserves to enjoy nearby nature or exercise outdoors. What they don’t come for is the dog poop scattered along the trails.