This week, Notes from the River celebrates its Second Anniversary! And in celebration, we here at the Notes from the River Crack Research Staff decided to give our regular feature writer some much-needed time off. So we’re writing this week’s column. However, since we had such a hard time coming up with any interesting subjects, we decided just to interview […]
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to become better informed about the world around them and to demonstrate the Superiority of their continent to those Europeans, they should take up Citizen Science.” So wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1776. Well, he didn’t actually write that of course. But he could have. He should have. […]
I just recently learned that June is officially Illinois River Appreciation Month! I read in the Chicago Tribune that there are activities going on along the Fox River, the Des Plaines, the Illinois, the Kankakee and many others, too. And what a better way to appreciate our own Sangamon River, thought I, than to get out there on it. So […]
A riddle to start the week: I was consumed by dinosaurs. They are extinct. I survived. I was here before you. I will be here long after you are gone. I can kill you. I can destroy your cities. You can’t survive without me. I can invade your property at any time and you can do nothing to stop me. […]
While paddling the Sangamon River, one of the more frequent spectators are the whitetail deer. This trip was no different. Paddling along, I spotted a whitetail along the bank. Ears up, eyes wide, he seemed more curious than frightened. I approached calmly and quietly. Deer are beautiful animals, but they’ve become a nuisance, encroaching on our farms and suburban gardens […]
You know the river’s at flood when you wake up to a pair of mallards swimming around in your backyard. When the Sangamon’s at flood stage, water consumes the forest and it becomes a swampy Louisiana bayou. The River spreads out beyond its banks and becomes lost, flowing somewhere in a clear spot through the swampy forest. So obviously it’s […]