A recent episode “Storms, Sanctuary and Suckers” of the PBS series “Great Lakes Now” featured the work our Park District of Highland Park Natural Areas Department is doing to help scientists learn more about the Great Lakes. Natural Areas Manager Rebecca Grill and Program Volunteer Coordinator Liz Ricketts are featured in the episode.

The Park District of Highland Park is part of a Shedd Aquarium research project led by Shedd researcher Karen Murchie to track the movements of sucker fish across the Great Lakes. The sucker fish up until now has been kind of a mystery, but the incredible work being done has allowed a better understanding of their biology. The episode highlights the work Murchie, and her team has done to learn more about the fish that is such a vital part of our local ecosystem. Murchie explains that “if there was an academy award for fishes, she would give suckers the academy award for best supporting fish because of the amazing services they provide.”

The episode aired on PBS across the Midwest, and the full video is below.