“Chuck: You mentioned recently the patio had some weeds that needed to be cleaned up.  I took these photos today.  The areas in the photo are student garden areas.  I did see someone in one of the garden areas southeast of LAR last week.  I am not clear if she was there to work in the garden or perhaps for other research work.

John: Would you be able to assist (organize some student help perhaps) with weeding in the patio gardens?  Could you also  include the student garden plantings at the main east entry to the building as well as the smaller gardens each side of the drive at Lincoln Ave.?  These are the first areas people will encounter at move in.”

-Wayne Bugaj (07/27/2021)

“Hello All,

Yesterday I did some cleanup along with Sara Mason, a former LAR LLC member who graduated last year.  We pulled weeds by the small beds near the wheelchair ramp and did some trimming in the front beds including the one near Lincoln Ave. Two other former LLC students from 2016 and 17 helped a couple times this summer with some very basic weeding.  The people who started this maintain an interest, but most have let town.  The virus and “student priorities” have kept the regular LLC students from doing anything in the plantings for about 2 seasons.  Hopefully that will change this year.   Basically the plantings are mostly doing well.  They need some weeding and thinning.  A couple spots on the S side of the front steps and SW side of the building have areas where one or two species have taken over.  Some replanting would probably be good there, but is not critical.

The main goal of providing pollinator resources is definitely being met.

Chris Murphy told me in the spring that he hoped to get a faculty member to oversee a few students who could get credit for maintaining the plantings. 

 Anyway things look better now.  We took out 2.5  35 gallon cans of weeds.

 I hope this helps”

-John Marlin (07/29/2021)

Recycling plastic bags is an important aspect of specialty recycling for campus.  

The Illini Union Bookstore has started plastic bag recycling in collaboration with their vendor.  This program is an exciting opportunity to reduce plastic film waste on campus.

Morgan White reviewed the following Entomology courses with Professors May Berenbaum and Adam Dolezal:

• IB 105: Environmental Biology
• IB 335: Systematics of Plants
• IB 329: Animal Behavior
• IB 444: Insect ecology
• IB 451: Conservation Biology
• IB 468*: Insect Classification and Evolution – being held this fall
• IB 526: Seminar in Entomology

*During the review, Professor Berenbaum and Professor Dolezal added IB 468 to the pre-existing list of the other courses.

On July 12, 2021, Adam Dolezal, May Berenbaum, Layne Knoche, Eliana Brown, Morgan White, and Avery Maloto met over Zoom to discuss pollinator efforts on campus. The conversation included topics such as: Bloom Calendar, Red Oak Rain Garden, Dorner Drive Retention Pond, Setting up a BioBlitz, and more.

See the attached file to view the minute notes. 

Bee Campus USA is a nation-wide movement to support pollinators on university campuses. A university that is Bee Campus USA-certified proves that they are progressing in awareness, native plant landscapes, and safe pest management. The Bee Campus committee developed an official web page in spring 2018 and worked with Facilitites & Services to develop a University Habitat Plan. In addition, with funding from the SSC, we will be installing pollinator signage on campus in fall 2018.