Following the theme of the Bicentennial Anniversary for the State of Illinois, the Volunteer Miller program for April focuses on native grasslands that dominated this Midwest landscape at one time. The presentation will begin at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at the Windmill Cultural Center, 111 10th Avenue, in downtown Fulton, IL, across from the authentic Dutch windmill.
The event is free and open to the public. The facility is accessible to persons with disabilities. Light refreshments will be served following the presentation.
The Tallgrass Prairie Ecosystem once covered 80% (28 million acres) of present-day Iowa. Today, only 0.1% of that original ecosystem is left in the state.
This presentation will focus on the history of how the prairie formed, as well as the how and why of its subsequent demise. It will discuss where you can still find some of these prairies locally, why they are still there, and some of the local resource management and reconstruction efforts being done to help preserve these areas.
Speaker Ryan Welch will share his expertise on this subject. Welch has been a full-time faculty member at Clinton Community College for seven years, teaching a variety of natural sciences. These include Environmental Science, General Biology, Plant Biology, Conservation Biology, and Wildlife Ecology. Prior to being an instructor at CCC, Ryan was the Outreach Coordinator at the Tallgrass Prairie Center at University of Northern Iowa.
He received his Bachelor’s degree from UNI in the area of Ecology and Systematics. In 2009, he also received a Master’s degree working with prairie conservation and ecology. In addition to his degrees, Welch has had the opportunity to study native ecosystems throughout the U. S. and abroad.
All programming is sponsored by the Volunteer Millers of de Immigrant Windmill with financial assistance of a grant from the D. S. Flikkema Foundation.
For more information, visit the Windmill Cultural Center and de Immigrant Facebook page, www.cityoffulton.us, or call 815-589-3925.