Inside Out & About
14 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsJoin Friends of the Chicago River on a journey along the Chicago River system for an exploration of our river, natural areas, local wildlife and history, and meet people locally and nationally who are helping bring these amazing places to life.
Complemented by programming which can be found on Friends’ website at chicagoriver.org, Inside, Out & About includes a myriad of experiences, art, music, interviews, tours, family activities at home and outside— and we hope it will inspire your sense of adventure and provide hours of entertainment and interesting information presented in English and Spanish. Studies show that being outside in nature is good for our health—and we hope Inside Out 7 About will inspire you to get outdoors.
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Episodes
Nature Inspires Art
October 19, 2022 19:30 - 44 minutes - 30.4 MBIn this episode of Inside, Out & About we explore the confluence of nature and art with acclaimed artist Ben Miller and Friends of the Chicago River Executive Director Margaret Frisbie. Miller works in a unique painting style with a rod and reel in a process he calls "fly cast painting." In the spring of 2022 Friends of the Chicago River hosted Miller at our McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum, located on Chicago's iconic Riverwalk, where Miller toiled for hours angling his line...
STORY 12: The Beauty of Dark Sky Places
April 21, 2022 15:52 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBIn this episode we speak with Ashley Wislon the director of conservation for the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). In 2021, the IDA named Forest Preserves of Cook County’s Palos Preserves, in partnership with the Adler Planetarium, as the largest Urban Night Sky Place in the world. The Palos Preserves is part of the largest area of protected natural land in Cook County, Illinois encompassing 6,662 acres. The Adler Planetarium also measured about four times more stars that are visible...
An Opportunity for Water in Cities
February 26, 2022 04:35 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBIn this episode of Inside, Out & About we are joined by Mary Pat McGuire, associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and director of Water Lab. McGuire talks about the relationship between water and pavement, and the vital need to rethink our overreliance on impervious paved surfaces. She details how we can undo the harmful environmental effects of paved surfaces by reducing their area, which creates positive impacts for human and ecologic...
Episode 10 Inspiring Leaders and Ideas
January 14, 2022 23:43 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBOur Inside, Out & About series is expanding in its second year to feature people whose work inspires action and advocacy for the natural world; advancing ideas and strategies of how we can all work together to and improve and protect the river system for people, plants, and animals. The featured guests on the first episode of this year’s series are the recipients of our 2021 River Commitment Awards. These individuals are exceptional leaders on behalf of the river system who inspire others ...
Students learn from the Chicago River
November 03, 2021 16:41 - 25 minutes - 57.8 MBSolorio Academy High School chemistry and environmental science teacher Greta Kringle - the 2019 recipient of our Educator of the Year award - successfully uses the Chicago River as a teaching tool to help her students learn science develop a sense of stewardship for the river and its wildlife. In this episode, Kringle discusses her passion for teaching, the environment, and her active engagement in our premier education program the Chicago River Schools Network.
Crooked Creek, A Flowing Beauty
October 22, 2021 21:23 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBTraversing through the Palos Preserves of southwest Cook County, Illinois – the largest concentration of preserved land in the Forest Preserves of the county– is beautiful Crooked Creek. A winding tributary to the Cal-Sag Channel, which is a part of the Chicago River system, Crooked Creek and the surrounding land are fertile habitat for dragonflies and damselflies, including the endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly. It is also home to many fish species including largemouth bass, bluegill, and...
Whistler Woods
October 08, 2021 16:11 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBIn this episode we take you on a journey to Whistler Woods in south suburban Riverdale, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. The 137-acre forest preserve along the Little Calumet River is an excellent site to see a wide diversity of bird species and to explore the historic Major Taylor Trail named for Marshall “Major” Taylor, who was an African-American bicycle racer and civil rights advocate. Taylor was one of the first African-American athletes to become a world champion in any sport. He was...
Wampum Lake
September 24, 2021 22:33 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBWampum Lake forest preserve is located in south suburban Cook County near Thornton, Illinois. At 412-acres it includes the Wampum Lake Nature Preserve, a mosaic of sand seep, freshwater marsh, dry-mesic upland forest, wet floodplain forest and an eroding bluff community located along Thorn Creek which runs through the west side of the preserve and flows to the northwest side of the lake. The lake itself has nearly one mile of shoreline. The site includes a mix of creekside habitat, savannah,...
Big Marsh Park
July 16, 2021 21:19 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBHosted by Friends’ Executive Director Margaret Frisbie, this episode includes interviews with Stephen Bell, park supervisor for Big Marsh Park, who discusses the history and restoration efforts at Big Marsh as well as upcoming plans. Chicago sound artist, designer and composer Norman Long, also discusses sound art production using field recording, electro-acoustic composition and dub technique within the larger context of landscape.
LaBagh Woods
June 04, 2021 15:53 - 54 minutes - 49.9 MBOne of Chicago's wildest places, LaBagh Woods in located on the Upper North Branch of the Chicago River on city's Northwest Side. In this episode Liza Lehrer, Assistant Director, Urban Wildlife Institute and Chicago Lead at the Urban Wildlife Information Network, discusses the Chicago region's native bats species that like the river-edge places such as LaBagh Woods. Lehrer also discusses the work being done to protect bats that are unfortunately at conservation risk. Annette Anderson, Fri...
Beaubien Woods
May 07, 2021 23:38 - 47 minutes - 43 MBIn this episode Chris Anchor, senior wildlife biologist for the Forest Preserves of Cook County, discusses how osprey are increasing along the Chicago River system due to a FPCC program that has installed about 20 constructed osprey nesting platforms so far. From Openlands, Aquatic Ecologist Laura Barghusen, and Education and Community Outreach Coordinator Lillian Holden, discuss The African American Heritage Water Trail which is one of the most recent contributions to the cultural histo...
Inside, Out & About: Bubbly Creek
March 26, 2021 14:48 - 1 hour - 102 MBHosted by Friends’ Executive Director Margaret Frisbie, this episode includes interviews with Emmy Award-winning public television writer, producer, and program host Geoffrey Baer; Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History; and James Burns, president of the South Branch Park Advisory Council. Baer’s new program, The Great Chicago Quiz Show, premiered Friday March 26 on WTTW and runs for four weeks. Baer is also the host of a fascinating C...
Inside, Out & About
March 02, 2021 17:57 - 58 minutes - 80.2 MBJoin Friends of the Chicago River’s Executive Director Margaret Frisbie on a journey to the Kickapoo Woods Forest Preserve on the banks of the Little Calumet River in the Chicago suburb of Riverdale. Get to know Bridgehouse Museum Director Josh Coles and volunteer site steward and former Chicago Public School teacher June Webb as they explore the site, its value and wildlife, and the volunteers who work there. Then meet Liza Lehrer, the assistant director of Lincoln Park Zoo's Urban Wildlife...
Inside, Out & About
February 03, 2021 15:01 - 1 hour - 85.7 MBIn this episode Friends of the Chicago River's Executive Director Margaret Frisbie explores the history and natural history of the Chicago Portage National Historic Site which was a critical transit point between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. Joining Frisbie are Gary Mechanic, founder of Friends of the Chicago Portage; Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter; and Mayor Sergio Rodriguez of Summit, Ill.