OBTU Chapter Meeting September 18, 2024

IMPORTANT: SEE BELOW NEW MEETING ROOM!

MUSSEL MATTERS / URBAN STREAM RESEARCH OBTU Chapter Meeting – September 18 @ 7:00PM

You are invited to a special screening of the original mini-documentary – Mussel Matters: Saving Critical Species in DuPage County. 

This short film highlights modern challenges within the Upper DuPage River and Salt Creek systems and community efforts to protect the local watersheds that impact nearly one million people across 77 Northern Illinois municipalities. 

The film was a co-production of North Central College, The Conservation Foundation, and the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. It premiered at the For Love of Waterways (FLOW) Film Festival hosted by North Central College in March 2024. Oak Brook Trout Unlimited was proud to be one of the sponsors of this film festival which featured specially selected short films to increase the knowledge, concern, and action about our local water and sustainability issues. 

After the film, Everett Krause, Aquatic Technician, will be giving a more in-depth presentation of the work done at the DuPage Forest Preserve District’s Urban Stream Research Center. 

Freshwater mussels are one of the most imperiled animal groups in the U.S. Known as the “livers of the rivers” freshwater mussels provide numerous ecosystem services. In addition to this, Freshwater mussels can act as an indicator species whose presence, or absence, tells ecologist in general about water quality and the environment. At the Urban Stream Research Center (USRC), staff work to propagate Freshwater mussels with the hope to keep common species common. However, this is no small task with a complex lifecycle and dwindling habitat USRC staff need to overcome these challenges in order to produce mussels for stocking in streams and rivers in DuPage County and beyond. 

The Urban Stream Research Center is located at Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Illinois. It is one of the few facilities in the country propagating freshwater mussels. Since opening in 2012, the Urban Stream Research Center has successfully propagated more than 25,000 mussels that have been released into local waterways. This aquatics laboratory also serves as a field research station, partnering with local conservation groups, universities and other institutions on collaborative applied research in aquatic conservation that seeks solutions to problems facing urban rivers and streams.

After the film, Everett Krause, Aquatic Technician, will be giving a more in-depth presentation of the work done at the DuPage Forest Preserve District’s Urban Stream Research Center.

Speaker Everett Krause

Everett has B.S. in biology from Dominican University in River Forest, IL and a Master’s of fisheries and Aquatic science from the University of Florida. His professional, and academic interests lie in the field of aquaculture, specifically integrated multi-trophic aquaculture systems. He currently works as an aquatic technician with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, where he propagates Freshwater mussels for reintroduction into the Des Plaines, Fox, and Chicago River watersheds.

This is a hybrid meeting:

 Note:   We have been notified that our normal Oak Brook Park District meeting room in the Central Park West Building will be unavailable due to planned maintenance instead we will again be meeting in Studio ‘C’ in the Family Recreation Center at the Oak Brook Park District (see map below) or you can attend the meeting remotely by signing on to Zoom.

Link to Zoom meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82768033798?pwd=eF5aNQMPuSXfMDd6CELhoHsZBsuwcH.1 

Meeting ID: 827 6803 3798

Passcode: 499496

OR Connect by Phone:

Phone #:   (312) 626-6799     Meeting ID: 827 6803 3798    Passcode: 499496