Natural Land Institute’s Annual Dinner 2025

Natural Land Institute’s Annual Dinner
and presentation of the George and Barbara Fell Award

March 20, 2025 | 5:30 PM Social Hour, 6:30 PM Dinner and Program

Location: The Radisson Conference Center, 200 S. Bell School Rd., Rockford, Illinois

NLI’s Annual Dinner is an ideal time to mingle with like-minded conservationists and community leaders from around the region. There will be a nature themed silent auction throughout the evening and the program includes recognizing the recipient of the 2025 George and Barbara Fell Award, Ed Collins, and a message from NLI’s Executive Director, Alan Branhagen.

Brita Lorentzen

Guest speaker will be Dr. Brita Lorentzen. Her keynote address is called: Out of the Woods: Environmental History Lessons from Ancient Tree-Rings

Summary: Humans have been using forest resources and shaping ecosystems for thousands of years around the world. But how can we strike a balance of healthy co-habitation with our forested landscapes? In this talk, I will discuss how we can examine the detailed archives found in tree-rings to learn about past climate, environmental change, and human resource use. Using these “talkative” tree-rings, we can better understand our shared environmental history and effectively plan for a more sustainable future.

Bio:

Dr. Brita Lorentzen is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Tree-Rings and Archaeological Wood Analysis Lab at University of Georgia. She is a dendrochronologist (tree-ring scientist) and environmental archaeologist who studies wood remains both on land and underwater to learn how humans impacted forest ecosystems in the past and present. She has conducted research projects in the Mediterranean and Middle East, as well as in Northeast North America and around her hometown in the Driftless Area in the Upper Midwest.

Consider attending Brita’s Tree Coring Event at NLI’s Howard D. Colman Dells Nature Preserve at 1:30 p.m. on March 20th. Read about it and register here.

Ed Collins, 2025 Recipient of the George and Barbara Fell Award

Ed Collins has dedicated his career to developing a deep understanding of the ecology and conservation of the woodlands, prairies and wetlands of McHenry County. He retired as Director of Land Preservation and Natural Resources of the McHenry County Conservation District after serving thirty-eight years with the agency. There, he was involved in the preservation and restoration of 25,000 acres of open space.

Ed also played an important role in the re-meandering of Nippersink Creek in Glacial Park, in the development of the first comprehensive spatial mapping of oak loss and in the creation of the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge.

Ed is well known as a speaker and storyteller, as someone knowledgeable in technology and scientific data, as a consensus builder, and most importantly, as a conservation champion who advocates for the natural world!

Read more about Ed’s work and conservation impact here.

Cost:

• $65 each, non NLI member
• $60 each, NLI member
• $480 table of 8, NLI member
• $520 table of 8, non NLI member
• $1,000 Benefactor (Sponsor) Table (includes table for 8, card-size ad in the program, two bottles of wine – deadline for the ad is Mar. 7)

Menu:

• BEEF BORDELAISE – Tender beef filet of sirloin, grilled and served with a rich Shitake Bordelaise sauce, roasted potatoes & house veggies.
• PUB (Atlantic Freshwater) SALMON – with citrus lemon basil butter sauce, roasted potatoes & house veggies.
• PASTA PRIMAVERA – Penne Pasta with sauteed veggies and parmesan herb cream sauce.

Fill out the registration form below or call the office to make reservations.

You may also mail a check to: Natural Land Institute, 320 S. Third St., Rockford, IL  61104

Reservation Deadline: March 13, 2025

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