Stories by Patty Wetli

Skunk cabbage is the first native wildflower to emerge in Chicago’s woodlands in spring. Other ephemerals will follow, blooming briefly on the forest floor before disappearing for another year.

Analog communication is having a moment, ironically thanks to digital platforms where people share product info and connect over their shared love of stationery.

The wait is on to see whether at least one, or possibly two, pairs of plovers will nest at Montrose Beach this year.

Poisonous plants are having a moment, courtesy of the “White Lotus.” The Field Museum has a whole collection of toxic specimens, and the public can get a rare look next week.

Newly published research suggests that despite all the pampering corpse flower plants receive from their curators, conservation efforts have fallen short in one key area that threatens the species’ survival in captivity as much as in the wild.

Waves of rainstorms are expected to move through Chicago Wednesday, prompting an “overflow action day” alert from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

The Chicago Fair Trade Museum is hosting what it's billing as “Chicago's biggest community clothing swap,” Friday through Sunday.

Participating vendors at Saturday’s Trash Bash will be accepting everything from electronics and expired prescription drugs to musical instruments and eyeglasses.

NASCAR officials have announced their traffic plan for the Chicago Street Race course, and, not surprisingly for a sport that emphasizes speed, set-up and tear-down will take fewer days than in 2024.

"Unofficial" trails were damaging rare ecosystems in Swallow Cliff Woods. The forest preserve district asked people to stick to marked paths and the message succeeded.

A new notification system is being proposed at access points along the Chicago River to warn recreational users when untreated wastewater has entered the waterway.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the forecast for Chicago includes a chance of almost anything and everything: rain, thunderstorms, wind and even snow.

A group of microscopic sunflower sea star larva arrived at Shedd Aquarium last year and have been bulking up behind the scenes ever since. Now, after growing 16,000%, they’re ready to make their public debut.

A high wind warning is in effect for Chicago through noon on Saturday, with the potential to bring down trees and power lines, according to the National Weather Service.

This week’s lunar eclipse will be the first witnessed in high-def from the moon itself — technically a solar eclipse on the moon — thanks to a lunar lander. “I cannot wait for this to happen,” said astronomer Michelle Nichols of Adler Planetarium.

The decades-old St. Patrick's Day tradition routinely attracts tens of thousands of revelers to the riverfront, but in recent years it's also attracted criticism from environmentalists.

Brian Gladstein, a long-time Rogers Park resident with an extensive background in nonprofit management, will lead the organization into its 50th year.

The dump — known as a confined disposal facility — was constructed in 1984 to store polluted sediment dredged from the Calumet River and Cal-Sag Channel. When it reached capacity, the initial plan was to top off the 45-acre site and turn it over to the Chicago Park District. Instead, the Army Corps proposed a 22-foot vertical expansion that would extend the dump’s life for another 20 years.

The monarch butterfly population has rebounded from a near record low number in 2024, according to the latest annual survey conducted by the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico.

Clocks will officially move ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, but President Donald Trump has called Daylight Saving Time “inconvenient, and very costly.”

Preservation Chicago has released its annual “Chicago 7 Most Endangered” list of threatened buildings and assets, and the roll call reads like a trip through Chicago history.

In a lot of ways, the history of the North American beaver is interwoven with the history of Chicago.

From December 2024 through February 2025, Chicago notched less than a foot of snow.

After a career in city government spanning 35 years and five mayoral administrations, Rosa Escareño, general superintendent and CEO of the Chicago Park District, announced her resignation Wednesday.

The donation is one of the largest to the aquarium in recent history, according to Shedd.

In just a handful of decades, the rusty crayfish has become dominant in the Great Lakes. Join us on a deep dive into this elusive invader.