This year marks the 50th year of Sinnissippi Audubon, which was founded in 1972.

One of our first efforts, besides lobbying the City of Rockford to recycle, was to lobby it to stop dumping the snow it cleared from downtown streets into the Rock River. It contained salt, trash, and miscellaneous debris, like car mufflers. Over the years, we have provided stewardship and advocated for places like Searls Park Prairie and Bell Bowl Prairie. It's hard to believe that Bell Bowl Prairie advocacy has spanned 50 years! We have spread conservation awareness through education and the Audubon Mural Project. And celebrated the addition of an official city bird, the peregrine falcon.

Please join us as we celebrate more of our accomplishments over the past 50 years, bring back our environmental awards to Cheer & Jeer those in our community, and welcome guest speaker Chris Benda. Chris is a botanist, accomplished photographer, and author of several publications about natural areas in Illinois. He is also known as Illinois Botanizer. He will speak about the importance of remnant prairies, including Bell Bowl.