Chapters in Illinois

Our Annual Chapter Member Meeting will take place on:

 Thursday January 23, 2025

5:30 - 6:30 p.m

This meeting will be presented via Zoom

 Link will be sent the week of the meeting

We will share the “Year in Review," annual financial report, our ideas (and yours) for relevant and interesting programming for 2025 and board election results. 

Please email comments or questions before meeting  at: [email protected]. 

However, there will also be a 15 minute opportunity to make public comments at the end of the meeting.

West Cook Wild Ones invites all members to our annual member meeting on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 2:00 pm in the Veterans Room of the Oak Park Public Library-Main Branch.

First, A Little Business: We want to celebrate our accomplishments, plan for the year ahead, introduce new board members and celebrate departing board members. In 2024, we hosted eight virtual programs, our spring native plant sale enjoyed robust sales, our in-person native garden tour featured nine beautiful gardens, our grant program helped fund 30 native gardens, and our membership grew to over 300 strong! None of our accomplishments would be possible without our members! Thank you!

Then, Garden Photography Workshop: We want to thank you for your support by offering a celebration featuring a smart phone photography workshop with Cynthia Harris. Cynthia will give a short presentation on photography using an iPhone. We plan to have someone to translate to Android phones. Following the presentation,we will have a hands on workshop practicing our photography skills on some beautiful botanics. Please bring your phone but subjects for photographing will be provided. 

We look forward to getting better acquainted in January! We will have time to chat with each other, and will offer catered snacks and some pretty terrific prizes to give away.

What are the 13 invasive species found in Lake County?  Learn identifying characteristics, practical tips and the best time of year to manage them.  Plus discover key steps to introduce native flowers, shrubs and trees into your home landscape.

Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Note:  This program will be presented on Zoom.  Advance registration is required.  A recording of this program will be available on our chapter YouTube channel soon after the presentation date.  Click the “Register” button below the program description to register for this program. 
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Butterfly expert and photographer Betsy Betros will teach us about the high-flying, colorful world of swallowtail butterflies in the Kansas City region (and also found in Illinois). Betsy will take us on a tour of what makes each swallowtail unique from each other and what groups them together. 

Presenter Bio:

Betsy Betros‘ lifelong love of insects began in childhood, and she went on to earn a degree in entomology from Colorado State University, focusing mostly on aquatic insects. She worked for 35 years for the Environmental Department of Johnson County, Kansas, and worked to earn a Master’s degree from Kansas University in environmental health science. She taught environmental science for 15 years, part time at Johnson County Community College, and found time to write a book on the butterflies of the Kansas City Region, which was published in 2008. In her retirement, Betros studies and photographs invertebrates on her five acres of land. So far, she has submitted more than 4,000 of her invertebrate images to Bugguide.net, including several rare species.