20 / OutdoorIllinois July 2008 July 2008 OutdoorIllinois / 21
NewsFront
Des Plaines CA, Will County:
Register at the site office
Kankakee River SP and
Momence Wetlands, Kankakee
and Will counties: Register for
one or the other site at Kanka-kee
River State Park
Mazonia SFWA, Grundy
County: Register at the site office
Shabbona Lake SRA, DeKalb
County: Register at the park
office
Sinnissippi Lake, Whiteside
County: Register at Harry
Oppold Marina
William Powers SFWA, Cook
County: Register at the boat
launch
Sunday, July 27, 10 a.m.-2
p.m. unless otherwise noted
(Blinds allocated for one year)
Anderson Lake CA, Fulton
County: Register at the area
check station
Lake DePue SFWA, Bureau
County: Register at Oak Grove
park
Marshall SFWA including the
Sparland Unit, Marshall County:
Register at the area check station
New Educational Resources from DNR
The Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Education has just
released several new supplemental teaching resources.
The Illinois Wild Mammals poster features images and information
about 23 species. Mammal characteristics, conservation and
additional resources available also are discussed. The Illinois’
Woodland Wildflowers poster illustrates 28 species and
includes a description of each species. Both posters were fund-ed
in part by a grant from the Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund.
Posters are 24 inches by 36 inches. To order the
posters, visit www.idnrteachkids.com.
Illinois’ Natural Resources Trading Cards
Set #3 and its accompanying poster are ready for
distribution. Each of the 63 species cards has an
image on the front and information on the back.
The poster depicts the entire set of cards and pro-vides
suggestions for using them in meeting the
Illinois Learning Standards, an activity about biodi-versity
and a summary of the card contents.
Teachers in Illinois may order these items by writ-ten
request on school letterhead. Send request to
DNR Education, One Natural Resources Way,
Springfield, IL 62702-1271. If you don’t have Sets
#1 and #2, request them as well.
Story By Kari Thornton
Photo By Adele Hodde
Cast no doubt about Groundhog Day.
Believers and skeptics alike know
the basis of this February holiday.
But how many people really under-stand
these furry winter forecasters
that modify their environment and
have both positive and negative
interactions with humans?
These large rodents are a forest-edge
species that modify their environment by
herbivory (eating plants), defecation and
excavation. Living underground in bur-rows,
groundhogs can excavate up to 700
pounds of dirt for just one den. Usually
dens are dug on slopes of hills, with a cou-ple
of entrances—important for a quick
retreat from a predator for this slow-mov-ing
mammal—and several nests, and are
used for sleeping, rearing young and hiber-nating.
Groundhogs generally hibernate
from October to February, although some
individuals rouse and emerge briefly from
their dens—even in late fall and winter.
Males wake from their winter’s nap a
month before females. A hormone related
to sleep, melatonin, alerts groundhogs to a
change in daylight hours and that it’s time
to leave the burrow. Abandoned dens may
be used by other mammals, including opos-sums,
river otters, rabbits and voles.
A recent study funded in part by the
Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project
posed the question of how the range of the
woodchuck had changed in Illinois as a
result of urbanization and modification of
preferred habitats.
“While woodchucks can be found in a
variety of habitats—residential, industrial,
agricultural and natural areas—they prefer
fence rows and woodlands, and numbers
are highest where these habitats abut
sources of abundant, palatable foods,”
reported Bob Bluett, manager of the DNR
Wildlife Diversity Program. “Four other
woodchuck studies have been conducted in
Illinois, one of which dates back to 1855.”
Woodchucks are found statewide, as in
the past. However, their numbers appear
to have waned during the past couple of
decades. Causes are not clear—habitat,
predators or any number of explanations
are possible. Research under way by South-ern
Illinois University and the University of
Illinois should shed some light on this puz-zling
problem.
Depending on your perspective, wood-chucks
are a source of headaches or a valu-able
addition to the Illinois landscape.
Damage to crops, homes, outbuildings and
archaeological resources concerns some
folks. On the other hand, the woodchuck
is valued for its pelt and meat, and as
model for medical research on human dis-eases
(hepatitis).
And, each year, the groundhog is cele-brated
on its namesake holiday, when its
ability to predict the weather is widely
touted in the media. Scientifically, the
groundhog’s ability as a weather forecaster
is pathetic, and observing birds, trees and
insects often more reliably predicts the end
of winter.
It appears that for years woodchucks
reigned predictable in their ability to adapt
to environmental changes. Or not. The
question has been posed and in the coming
years the Illinois scientific community will
be paying closer attention to groundhogs—
recording more than the date of their annu-al
appearance.
During the spring semester of 2008, Kari
Thornton worked with DNR through the
Illinois Governmental Internship Pro-gram.
She recently graduated from Wind-sor
High School and will be attending
Millikin University in the fall.
Some say groundhog, some say
woodchuck. Others call it a whistle
pig for the noise it makes to com-municate
with others.
Volunteer recognition
To commemorate National Volunteer Week, five individuals
and four organizations were recognized as 2008 DNR Out-standing
Volunteer of the Year award recipients. These awards
are presented annually to individuals and organizations for
exceptional volunteer service to the agency and the people of
Illinois. Detailed information about the following award recipi-ents
is available at www.dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/pubaffrs.htm.
Marjorie Jessen, campground host at Wayne Fitzgerrell
State Park
Wendell Kurr, Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park trail system
Mary Mitchell, Weldon Springs Foundation special events
Dagmar Rutzen, Starved Rock State Park special events
Wendell Stritzel, DNR Division of Fisheries projects
Big Island Soil and Water Preservation Association,
Hennepin Canal State Trail shelter
Friends of the Hennepin Canal, 100th anniversary
celebration
Rock Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, 100th
anniversary celebration
Kickapoo Mountain Bike Club, build trails at Kickapoo
State Park
from the Illinois State Police.
Expired FOID cards are not
acceptable. Applicants under
the age of 21 do not need a
FOID card if they are accompa-nied
by an adult who has one.
For those without a FOID card
in their possession, law enforce-ment
officers will not be able to
validate FOID card status on the
day of the drawing.
In order to be an eligible
applicant for the drawing, the
participant must not, at the
time of the drawing, have his or
her hunting privileges suspend-ed
or revoked by DNR or any
other jurisdiction. Out-of-state
residents must have a 2007 or
2008 non-resident hunting
license for Illinois and a 2007 or
2008 Illinois Migratory Water-fowl
Stamp. The schedule for
2008 blind drawings is:
Saturday, July 26,10 a.m.-2
p.m. (Blinds allocated for
one year)
Chain O’ Lakes SP and Red-wing
Slough/Deer Lake Natural
Area, Lake County: Register for
one or the other site at Oak
Point day use area
available at any DNR Direct
license and permit vendor,
through the DNR Web site at
www.dnr.state.il.us, or by call-ing
1-888-6PERMIT(673-7648).
Registrants also must possess
a current Illinois Firearm
Owner’s Identification card
Waterfowl blind
site drawings
Waterfowl hunters are
encouraged to mark their
calendars for upcoming water-fowl
hunting blind site random
drawings to be held at several
public hunting areas in Illinois
this summer.
Duck and goose hunters
must register in person for
waterfowl blind site drawings
and must be present at the draw-ing—
held at the designated loca-tions
below immediately after
the registration period—to claim
their blind sites. Mail-in registra-tions
are not accepted. Blind
allocations are good for one
year, except on the Mississippi
River and at Horseshoe Lake
State Park in Madison County.
To participate in a drawing,
when registering, applicants
must present a 2007 or 2008 Illi-nois
hunting or combination
sportsman’s license and a 2007
or 2008 Illinois Migratory Water-fowl
Stamp, unless exempted by
law (purchase prior to drawing
as sales not available at most
drawing locations). Applicants
must be at least 16 years old by
the date of the drawing.
Licenses and stamps are
