• News Archive

  • May 2023

    Volunteers are needed to help the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) and the Three Rivers Project plant trees in Alton, Sunday, May 7 and Monday, May 8.

    March 2023

    RiverWatch Volunteer Nina Carmichael hunts for mussels in the Sangamon River. This screenshot was taken from the film “Mussel Grubbing,” which will open the World Water Film Festival in New York this month.

    Riverwatch Film About Mussels Set to Open Festival

    Illinois RiverWatch Network will host several training sessions across the state in March and April. The sessions will teach community members how to monitor the health of their local streams.

    January 2023

    Illinois RiverWatch will be premiering their film “Biodiversity of Freshwater Mussels: Community Science in Action” along with a short presentation highlighting community science during the next National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s Neighbor Nights event, Jan. 17.

    November 2022

    This year, the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) is partnering with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Community Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) to solve key issues in the region

    Tracking nutrient loads in Arkansas just got easier. A new data portal was recently launched on the Great Lakes to Gulf (GLTG) Virtual Observatory that showcases Arkansas water quality trends with a focus on nitrogen and phosphorus loads.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) will highlight the work of its interns and staff during a special November Neighbor Nights event on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

    October 2022

    Area dignitaries, along with officials from Lewis and Clark Community College and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠), gathered at the Jerry F. Costello Confluence Field Station, Oct. 27, 2022, to celebrate NGRREC’s 20th anniversary.

    Volunteers are needed throughout October to help the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) the Three Rivers Project of Sierra Club Illinois and the City of Alton plant trees in Alton, Illinois.

    Winter is quickly approaching, and Illinois RiverWatch is hoping to train community members to monitor for chloride levels in local streams to identify areas where salt use is impacting water quality.

    October through mid-April marks prescribed burn season for the Habitat Strike Team, part of the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC).

    Xyla Nixon and TRIO classmate take part in a litter clean up along the banks of the Mississippi River. Photo by Route 3 Films.

    Join the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) for the first screening of “Kids on the River” a film showcasing high school students exploring the Mississippi River watershed.

    Kids competed in a water safety relay race while learning safety basics with staff from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Photo by Jen Young, NGRREC/L&C Marketing & PR.

    Nine regional fifth-grade classes explored interactive booths focusing on the importance of water during the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠) 20th Annual Water Festival, held Friday, Sept. 30, at the Lewis and Clark Community College’s Godfrey campus.

    September 2022

    Join Illinois RiverWatch, part of the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) for their virtual Fall Speaker Series, starting October 4 and running through early November.

    Environmental Educator Erica Doerr has joined the education team at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) and will be responsible for developing earth science curriculum for teachers throughout Illinois, as well as leading community outreach events. She started her new role in early September.

    Over the next two years, scientists at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) are investigating dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) throughout Central and Southern Illinois.

    August 2022

    Jenny Mullikin joined the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center staff this month as a new assistant scientist with a focus on wetlands ecology.

    Illinois RiverWatch staff are looking for volunteers to help monitor local streams throughout the Metro East region at three events this September.

    For over a decade, volunteers with the Illinois RiverWatch program, part of the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠), has been monitoring mussel populations in the Upper Sangamon River.

    July 2022

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center will highlight the work of its interns and staff during a special July Neighbor Nights event on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.

    June 2022

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s Terrestrial Ecologist John Crawford, along with co-authors Christopher Phillips and Andrew Kuhns, recently published a field guide focusing on Illinois amphibians and reptiles.

    Bird-voiced treefrog sitting on the PVC trap. This species can be identified by their green flash on the side of their body, near their legs.

    EAST ALTON – The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) is currently in its second year of a treefrog research project taking place in southern Illinois’ bald cypress swamps.

    NGRREC Habitat Strike Team and partners assess a hill prairie that burned in an unintentional fire where invasive honeysuckle removal had previously occurred. Photo by Justin Shew, NGRREC Conservation Program Manager.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠) staff and land management partners visited the Palisades Nature Preserve near Grafton recently to gain a better understanding of how the Nov. 19, 2021, wildfire affected the preserves’ rare hill prairies.

    Mississippi River Network (MRN) Policy Director Maisah Khan will be the featured presenter at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s upcoming hybrid Neighbor Nights event, June 21.

    Former Southwestern Illinois College Dean of Math and Sciences Paige Mettler-Cherry has joined the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), a division of Lewis and Clark Community College, as the new Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives.

    May 2022

    Kathy Fournier at the 2022 Earth Day 365 event

    Spring brings new possibilities, not only in nature, but also in the education department at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC).

    Volunteers are needed to help the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) and the Three Rivers Project plant trees in Alton on Wednesday, May 25.

    Papin speaking at the April 2022 NGRREC Neighbor Nights event.

    Betsy Papin and Jacob Futrell are two local college students currently interning with the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center.

    Three National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) staff members were among the experts featured during the 2022 annual meeting of the Illinois Chapter of The Wildlife Society (ICTWS).

    April 2022

    Jen Mandeville and volunteers helped to plant a river birch tree as part of the Piasa Park planting event on April 28

    Volunteers are needed to help the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) and the Three Rivers Project plant trees in Alton on Saturday, May 7.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) team is launching a multi-year microplastics initiative to understand how plastics are affecting our freshwater ecosystems.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm) is hosting a three-day Freshwater Symposium for Earth Science Educators, July 18-20, 2022.

    Chloride monitoring test strips used for sampling

    Research from RiverWatch Director and Stream Ecologist Danelle Haake illustrates how community members can be a part of the scientific field and provides new insight on how road salt application affects our local streams.

    Volunteers are needed to help remove bush honeysuckle and autumn olive at the Wadlow Restoration Site in Alton, Illinois, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Thursday, April 14. Free lunch and necessary tools will be provided to volunteers.

    Volunteers learn how to look for mussels in a creek during a mussel monitoring workshop.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s (NGRRECsm) Illinois RiverWatch Network and Education Department were both recently awarded $7,500 grants to produce short films focusing on freshwater science and education.

    March 2022

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠), a division of Lewis and Clark Community College, is offering paid summer internship opportunities to current college students in the greater St. Louis region.

    The Illinois Chapter of The Wildlife Society is holding its annual meeting, April 10-12, in The Commons, on Lewis and Clark Community College’s Godfrey Campus.

    Japanese Hops. Photo Credit: Guyon, Terrestrial Ecologist, NGRREC

    New research findings from local Terrestrial Ecologist Lyle Guyon are changing the game for Japanese hops control and management in large floodplains.

    A series of upcoming training opportunities will prepare the next wave of citizen scientists to help shape stream health across the state of Illinois this spring.

    Volunteers are needed to help to remove bush honeysuckle at Piasa Bird Park in Alton, Illinois from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Thursday, March 24. Free lunch and necessary tools will be provided to volunteers.

    Explore the key elements that determine what makes a river great at the March Neighbor Nights event presented by Media Specialist Jen Young.

    January 2022

    Learn when, why and how to prune your trees in a virtual February Neighbor Nights event presented by the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠)

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠), a division of Lewis and Clark Community College, is offering an opportunity for students enrolled in area colleges and universities to apply for paid internships in the 2022 School Year Internship program.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠) will kick off 2022 with a virtual Neighbor Nights event, featuring the work of artists Libby Reuter and Joshua Rowan and their Watershed Cairns: Water Marked with Art project.

    December 2021

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRRECsm), a division of Lewis and Clark Community College, has been awarded a renewal of their grant with Swarovski Waterschool.

    November 2021

    Every year, more than 20 million tons of salt is spread on roads across the United States

    Each summer the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC), located in East Alton, offers upper-level undergraduate students from across the nation the opportunity for hands-on experience in the world of ecological research.

    The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠) will celebrate America Recycles Day with an interactive Neighbor Nights, providing information about recycling and composting.

    Due to the success of the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s (NGRRECsm) recent Walk and Talk events, the program will be extended into November.

    October 2021

    October Neighbor Nights at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) will present research findings on grassland birds and how they respond to different management practices.

  • National Great Rivers Research and Education Center

    One Confluence Way
    East Alton, IL 62024

    ngrrec@lc.edu
    Phone: (618) 468-2911

    NGRREC Assistant

    Amy Monroe
    National Great Rivers Research and Education Center

    One Confluence Way
    East Alton, IL 62024

    ammonroe@lc.edu
    Phone: (618) 468-2910

    Media Inquiries: 

    Jen Young, Media Specialist
    NGRREC/L&C

    One Confluence Way
    East Alton, IL 62024

    jenryoung@lc.edu
    Phone: (618) 468-2785