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Brush Piles, Burning, and Butterflies

40 Years of Habitat Restoration at Bluff Spring Fen

Bluff Spring Fen is a 170-acre preserve near Elgin with wetlands, hill prairies, and oak woodlands. The program uses images to trace 40 years of restoration and its rare plants and wildlife.

Bluff Spring Fen is a 170-acre preserve on the southeast side of Elgin.  The site includes wetlands, hill prairies, and oak woodlands, and is home to numerous threatened and endangered species.  The program includes current and historic images of Bluff Spring Fen and tracks the forty-year effort to transform the preserve from neglect and abuse to a premiere example of a rare Illinois ecosystem.  We will also explore a selection of the many plant and animal species that make the Fen their home.

Presenter, Doug Taron, grew up in Massachusetts, where he received his first butterfly net at age 6.  In 1979 he completed a BA in Biology from Colby College in Waterville, Maine.  He migrated to the Chicago area that same year to attend Northwestern University, where in 1984 he received a Ph.D. from the department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology.  During his graduate studies, Doug began helping to restore Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, an activity he continues as a Volunteer Steward for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.  Later, while spending 13 years working in the biotechnology industry, he directed the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, a volunteer-based organization monitoring the health of butterfly populations on nature preserves throughout Illinois.  In 1997, the Chicago Academy of Sciences hired Doug where he is now Chief Curator Emeritus for the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.  He is active in butterfly conservation research in the Midwest.  

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