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Gretchen Steele

New digital library opens doors for Illinois outdoorsmen

Featured, Fishing, Hunting, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky, News /

For many Illinois hunters, anglers, birdwatchers, and outdoor enthusiasts, the local library may not be the first place that comes to mind when planning a fishing trip, researching wildlife habitat, identifying a mushroom, or preparing for hunting season.
Thanks to a new statewide initiative announced by Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias, that may soon change.

New digital library opens doors for Illinois outdoorsmen Read More »

Gretchen Steele: June has become ‘the season between seasons’

Featured, Fishing, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky /

I feel like the title above needs a qualifier. Like everything else this year, what I commonly associate with mid-June down here in the hills and hollers of southern Illinois has been happening early. Generally about two to three weeks early.
It’s confounding for someone like me, who has taught young people not to rely on a calendar but rather to listen to the woods and look around you.

Gretchen Steele: June has become ‘the season between seasons’ Read More »

Gretchen Steele: May in southern Illinois an example of ‘give and take’

Featured, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky /

By mid-May in southern Illinois, the countryside no longer feels gentle; it presses in close, demanding attention and resilience from those who venture out. April is a flirt. May is a commitment.
The woods that just weeks ago felt airy and forgiving now press in close, green and insistent. Trails blur at the edges.

Gretchen Steele: May in southern Illinois an example of ‘give and take’ Read More »

Commentary: Illinois recalibrates its fight against CWD

Featured, Hunting, Illinois, National Hunting /

There is a quiet that settles over the deer woods after the season. It is not silence, but a pause many of us trust – a familiar, brief stillness in the rhythm of the land.
For over two decades, Illinois hunters and wildlife managers relied on another kind of steadiness. It was determined, often controversial, but mostly effective. The aim was to hold chronic wasting disease at bay.

Commentary: Illinois recalibrates its fight against CWD Read More »

Gretchen Steele: In southern Illinois’ outdoors, April lies

Featured, Illinois, Nature Page & Night Sky /

Easter has just passed through, we’ve been eating big grey morels for a good week, and even the big sought-after yellows were found by a few in the last few days. Lilacs are blooming.
Then today, as I sat down with my plate of morels, bluegill, and an omelet full of spring greens for my lunch, the weatherman on the noon news forecasted snow tonight and in the morning.

Gretchen Steele: In southern Illinois’ outdoors, April lies Read More »

Gretchen Steele: Ideas for getting kids outdoors before summer chaos

Featured, Fishing, Illinois, National Fishing, Nature Page & Night Sky /

Late March into early April might be the most underrated window of the year for getting kids outside.
It’s easy to wait for “real spring” or push plans into summer, but once school lets out, schedules fill fast – camps, games, vacations, and long, hot days that tend to pull everyone back indoors by afternoon. Good intentions get crowded out.

Gretchen Steele: Ideas for getting kids outdoors before summer chaos Read More »

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