In its
selection of Creekside for this award, the Illinois RiverWatch
Network noted that Creekside has supported volunteers conducting
annual RiverWatch surveys, sponsored RiverWatch activities with
Master Naturalist volunteers and 4H youth groups, and participated
in public communication efforts about research findings. Creekside
has also organized public Earth Day celebrations and nature
festivals that promote RiverWatch priorities within the local
agricultural community.
The Illinois RiverWatch Network is a volunteer monitoring initiative
coordinated by the National Great Rivers Research and Education
Center (NGRREC). RiverWatch is the only statewide biological
monitoring program that provides volunteers a hands-on opportunity
to become stewards of local waterways by monitoring stream habitat
and water quality. The program, established in 1995, hosts over 200
participants annually.
“Lincoln College Creekside has been most fortunate to be an official
part of the Illinois RiverWatch Network program since 2014 when
Illinois Extension Service Logan County Master Naturalist, Dr. Pam
Moriearty, was seeking a site to participate in the RiverWatch
monitoring program,” said Dr. Dennis Campbell, Director of Creekside.
In 1996, Dr. Campbell was a Citizen Scientist trainee in Illinois’
early RiverWatch program under the auspices of the Illinois
Department of Conservation.
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“Many of the techniques used in the monitoring program have been
used in a two-decade long freshwater mussel (clam) study on Sugar
Creek,” said Dr. Campbell. “It has been Dr. Moriearty, along with
other Logan County Master Naturalists, 4H students, and local and
Lincoln College volunteers that have been most diligent in
accomplishing the many tasks for the present comprehensive
RiverWatch monitoring program coordinated by the NGRREC.”
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Creekside is an innovative 104-acre educational site recognized
by the scientific community for its biological diversity and geological and
archeological significance.
The Center features a lecture pavilion, insectarium, greenhouse, restored tall
grass prairie, native gardens, demonstration pond, counsel ring and fire pit,
solar and wind energy developments, storm water management and rain garden,
nature trails, and boardwalk leading to Sugar Creek.
Creekside is an integral part of the hands-on learning opportunities Lincoln
College students experience. Coursework for the conversation biology major
require students to apply their classroom learning at Creekside. Students from
all course levels carry out scientific experiments using portable laboratory
equipment capable of taking a wide range of data.
Though frequently used for Lincoln College science curriculum, Creekside is
available to area educators for teaching students of all ages about land use,
environmental science and conservation, and to the general public for walking
and recreation.
Creekside has free parking and portable restroom facilities. Boardwalks and
sidewalks make the site handicapped-accessible.
Creekside is approximately 4 miles due north of Lincoln, off of County Rd 2000N
halfway between County Road 1100E and 1215th Ave (Google map address is 1234
2000th St., Lincoln, 62656); from Co Rd 2000N take the gravel road (at the large
Creekside sign) north to the Center.
For more information, contact Creekside Director, Dr. G. Dennis Campbell,
217-735-7260; dcampbell@lincolncollege.edu
[Lauren D. Grenlund] |