(left to right), Ken Forbeck, Lydia Wilson, Elizabeth Allen

Introducing our amazing Super Summer team for 2021!

I could have posed my team in so many ways for this photo, but instead I took a photo of them cooling off in the stream on a 90 degree day after they’d pulled buckets of glass and rusty metal from the exposed bank of Turtle Creek at the Confluence of the Rock River (see photo below). This is my super summer team and I’m really excited to work with them this summer. They have such a great attitude and love of nature and the environment! ~ Therese Oldenburg, Executive Director

Stop in soon to meet our team! We would love to show you around and give you a taste of what we have to offer!

Kenneth Forbeck (left) – Ken is interning with NATC this year after 4 years of volunteer work for us. Ken is a rising Sophomore at UW Madison. His major is undecided, but he hopes to continue down an environmental science path. This summer, he will be focusing on invasive plant mapping and removal, stewardship, and Rock River Trail advocacy.

Lydia Wilson (center) – Lydia is our AmeriCorps volunteer through a cooperative program with Severson Dells. She just graduated from Beloit College with a major in Biology and is from Grayslake, IL. Lydia will also be working on 815 Outside, a collaborative partnership with outdoor organizations in Winnebago County that promotes outdoor activity. We are so excited to have her join the team, and she can’t wait to meet you!

Elizabeth Allen (right) – We’re so pleased that Elizabeth is coming back for her 4th year at Nature At The Confluence. She is a rising junior at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin and her major is organisms biology. This summer her focus will be creek health, citizen science, and social media management. She’ll be performing stream studies on Kelly Creek to establish baseline data as we continue work to restore that stream.

 

This is just a fraction of the garbage pulled from the banks of the Rock River and Turtle Creek. Extreme low water levels have exposed garbage we’ve never seen before.