In this episode of the Everyday Environment Podcast, hosts Amy Lefringhouse and Karla Griesbaum talk with Allen Lawrance, Curator of Entomology at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, to discuss the power of community science and how volunteers contribute valuable data to wildlife monitoring programs across Illinois. Allen highlights initiatives like the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, the Illinois Odonate Survey, and the Calling Frog Survey. These programs help track species abundance and distribution and are crucial for understanding environmental change, including the impacts of habitat loss and climate change. Allen emphasizes that anyone can participate with basic training—no science background is needed.

Resources

• Federal Community Science Opportunities
• Illinois Odonate Survey
• Calling Frog Survey
• Peggy Notebaert Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network
• East Central Illinois FrogWatch
• North American Butterfly Association Butterfly Counts

Share your own Everyday Observation

Was there something about this topic we didn’t cover? See something cool in nature? Let us know! Send us your question or share your everyday nature observation with us at go.illinois.edu/EEconnect, and we may share it in a future blog or podcast.

Questions? We'd love to hear from you!
Abigail Garofalo aeg9@illinois.edu, Erin Garrett emedvecz@illinois.edu, Amy Lefringhouse heberlei@illinois.edu

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