EAST ALTON, IL – Neighbor Nights are back at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) in a new virtual format.

Join NGRREC’s conservation specialists in a Zoom meeting, from 7-8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 20, as they talk about their efforts to help create healthier watersheds and river habitats.

“We look forward to bringing Neighbor Nights to a virtual audience this year,” said Director of Environmental Education Sarah Fisher. “It’s so important to engage the public and educate them about the work being done at NGRREC.”

Neighbor Nights is an ideal way for the public to interact with those in NGRREC’s little known Land Conservation Specialist program.

“Our dedicated specialists work from the U.S. Department of Agriculture service centers throughout Illinois,” Conservation Program Manager Justin Shew said. “They guide landowners in conservation practices to address environmental issues using federal conservation programs. They also monitor many of these practices and assist landowners with any natural resources issues that may arise.”

Land conservation specialists provide technical ecological expertise and administrative assistance to both private landowners and our federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) partners to determine appropriate conservation practices and management strategies to benefit water quality and wildlife in the agricultural landscape of Illinois.

Those interested can sign up at http://bit.ly/NeighborNightsOct20.

For more information, contact Fisher at saafisher@lc.edu.

About NGRREC

Founded in 2002 as a collaborative partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lewis and Clark Community College, The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center is dedicated to the study of great river systems and the communities that use them. The center aspires to be a leader in scholarly research, education, and outreach related to the interconnectedness of large rivers, their floodplains, watersheds and their associated communities.

To learn more about NGRREC, visit http://www.ngrrec.org. For details on the Land Conservation Specialist program, visit http://www.ngrrec.org/LCS/.