JDCF is thrilled to announce that our own Steve Barg, JDCF Executive Director, is the 2026 recipient of the George and Barbara Fell Award presented by the Natural Land Institute (NLI). The award will be presented at the NLI Annual Dinner on March 19 in Rockford, IL....

The Galena Area Land Enthusiasts (GALE) is an all volunteer group that holds weekly workdays on JDCF preserves throughout the year. As GALE wraps up their 2025 season of land stewardship work, JDCF asked the group’s leaders, Fred Petersburg and Cam Moore, how the year...

A group of 120-plus members of JDCF and the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin gathered recently for a naming ceremony of our 316-acre preserve (loosely known as Portage) on Ferry Landing Road just south of downtown Galena, IL. A new sign now stands at the entrance to the...

JDCF is pleased to announce that it has received a 2025 Community Impact Grant from The Foundation for Northwest Illinois. This grant will support JDCF staff in starting the Chicago Field Museum’s Mighty Acorns outdoor education program in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade...

By Master Naturalist and JDCF volunteer, Pam Johnson In 2017 the Rusty Patched Bumblebee was placed on the Federally Endangered Species List. In 2020-2022 a group of volunteers sponsored by JDCF went out weekly during the summary to survey and see if the Rusty Patched...

“It just happened,” said Bluebird Recovery Project (BBRP) founder Joan Harmet when asked how the program she started in Jo Daviess County flourished for over 30 years. It seemed an unlikely way to describe the beginnings of a conservation success so great that it...