Letters

RAILROAD RALLY

Dear Editor and Others at Large,

Every time I take the train from Chicago to Carbondale I see small patches of high-quality remnant prairie in the railroad right-of-way. I want to go back on foot or bicycle and find those spots all along the way and mark them using GPS. I envision contacting the owner of the rails, the farmers who own the fields adjacent, and the local township folk. I am wondering if anybody has done this before and what advice they might have for me. I am open to all suggestions. I also envision creating a partnership between the owner of the land and local conservationists to utilize the seed from these rare populations of plants. Further, to increase the genetic diversity, maybe to incorporate fire back into the right-of-way, and to enrich restorations nearby. With almost all of our tallgrass prairie heritage gone under the plow, the value of these patches is incredibly great!! What do people think of this idea? I am all ears and hopeful.

Ryan E. Campbell
Carbondale, IL (formerly Batavia)

FOX NEWS

Dear Editor,

Here’s what has transpired since I wrote [in Letters, Summer ’08, reporting on a family of red foxes living at the beach in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago]: Someone did call the Chicago Animal Control Department, and after they consulted with a federal agency, their advice was very much along the lines of John Elliott’s [to simply enjoy and leave them alone]. The foxes soon moved about a block north, to the campus of Loyola University, where I still often see one or two of them while walking my dog. A once-thriving rabbit population on the campus seems to have dwindled significantly, so apparently they are doing okay there. According to another dog walker I spoke with, however, one was killed by a car on Sheridan Road. I can’t confirm that, but early one morning, a couple of weeks ago, I did see the mother crossing Sheridan with a squirrel in her mouth. It seemed to me at the time that being hit by a car was inevitable. Very sad, but I guess that can be life (or death) in the big city for any of us, including foxes.

Steve White
Chicago, IL

SCOUTING NEW PRESERVES

Dear Editor,

I really enjoyed your article on Jason Pettit, director of the Kendall County Forest Preserve District. As a Kendall County resident, Boy Scout, and wildlife enthusiast, I am grateful for the work he and the board are doing to protect our open space and expand our trail system. I enjoy hiking in the preserves and look forward to seeing what the new projects will be like.

Ricky Spohnholtz
Troop 42
Newark, IL

OTTER GLADNESS

Dear Editor,

I read your article on otters (CW, Winter ’06). I live on the Iroquois River eight miles (by river) west of Watseka. While fishing near my home this evening (April 5, 2008), I had my first otter sighting. I have hunted and trapped all of my life and have never seen an otter in the wild. It was at the water’s edge as I approached the river. I startled what I thought was a muskrat, which fled underwater. About ten feet from the bank, it resurfaced, and, to my surprise, it was an otter. It was not frightened. It swam against the current watching me before heading to the other side of the river and cautiously exiting the water. It rolled around on the bank for 10 to 15 minutes, entered the water again and swam out of sight downstream.

Troy Krumwiede
Watseka, IL

CORRECTION

In “The Perfect Nature Shot” (Summer ’08), photographer Mike MacDonald gives the tip: “Check the day’s weather for interesting conditions like fog (when dewpoint is 1 degree greater than temperature) or frost.” He wrote to clear up some of our own fog: “The information is reversed. It should say that fog forms when the temperature is 1 degree greater than the dewpoint. Now, some would say that fog forms when the temperature and the dewpoint are equal. This is true. But, the temperature is measured six feet above an airport tarmac, not at the actual nature preserve. I can almost be certain that the temperature at the preserve will be at least a couple of degrees cooler, dropping it down to the dewpoint and giving us fog.