These are some of our members who were recently at our table at Picnic in the Park at Lehmann Mansion in Lake Villa.  We will be at several local summer events this year. Check our events tab to see when and where.

The following message in a bottle was discovered in Cedar Lake: 

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Cedar Lake.  I’m not the only one with that name but, in danger of sounding a bit full of myself, I think I’m the best – especially at my age!

I was born as ice retreated from my shores at the end of the last ice age over 10,000 years ago, and I have been kept perennially young with the help of three springs, clean stormwater, and only gentle use for most of my years.  Things are changing though and I need my human Friends to care about me. 

I don’t like to think about it - but I am aging.  Sedimentation from erosion and chemicals that leach into me are clouding my water.  Even though I sit in a very privileged position at the top of a small watershed, my Achilles Heel is that whatever enters me stays in me for a very long, long time.  Sad to say, one day I’ll be gone as I fill in and be called a marsh.  But, I’m here to tell you that you can help keep that from happening for several more millennia.

Even someone as lovely as me needs a little primping and doctoring to stay as youthful and pristine as possible.  Here’s what my Friends are doing to help me.

Maybe the most important thing is being careful what goes into me.  I have to live with harsh chemicals and fertilizers that you humans like to put on your roads, on your lawns, and in your fields.  Please mitigate their impact by using green instead of gray infrastructure.  Plant vegetative buffer strips on my shoreline that will clean runoff before it gets to me and protect me from ice buildup in the winter and wave action in the summer.  It sure helps to not just pipe things into me but instead more gently pass it through retention ponds, water gardens, and swales planted with natives.  All that asphalt and concrete?  Yuck!

I’m pretty resilient but I do have my moments.  I love that so many of you love me but a lady can handle only so much!  And all that squawking from those pesky geese who leave such a mess.  It’s enough to make me lose my mind.  And please help me to not let those pesky invasives overtake all the native plants who love to live in me.  I am especially fond of the endangered and threatened aquatic plants and fish that call me home.  Again, I may sound a little stuck up but it’s the experts and not me who says that I’m a rare ecological sanctuary. 

I’ve got to go now but, before I leave, I want to thank you for monitoring my water, saving my island, and just loving me.  It makes me feel special that you like being on me.  Let’s keep close.  It’s good for both of us.