The Reed-Turner Botanical Artists will have their art exhibit “Beauty in Nature” up in The Heller Nature Center’s Prairie Room from 5/4/23 – 6/23/23, with their open house on 5/6/23 from 1-2:30pm. They will have a speaker, Nick Furlan, giving a presentation at 1:30pm. Below is the blurb about him:

Nick Furlan is a lifelong Illinois native and avid naturalist since childhood. He began documenting and collecting plant gall species while taking long hikes for stress relief during COVID lockdown. In his professional capacity, Nick serves as the Pest Survey Specialist for the state of Illinois for the United States Department of Agriculture, where he coordinates and oversees early detection surveys for invasive plant pests and pathogens.