Shawnee Group Programs - Educational and Free!

Free and Open to all!

Upcoming Programs, Shawnee Group

NOTE: Start time at 7 PM!
Location (unless otherwise noted): 217 East Main, Carbondale, IL. Entrance is in the alley behind Consume, Buckwater Brew Works and Holt Tire, through the blue door. The front door is locked! Ample parking is accessible from the alley and from Monroe Street (between Washington and Marion).

FALL 2024: SHAWNEE GROUP SIERRA CLUB MEMBER PROGRAMS

Note the in-person Shawnee Group member programs. Do also consider other Illinois Sierra groups’ virtual presentations, as well as our own, listed on www.sctrips.org.

Thursday, September 12, 2024, 7 pm

Presenter: Brent Pease, Assistant Professor, Forestry Program at Southern Illinois University
Presentation Title: "Using Soundscapes to Study Wildlife: From Daily Activities to Solar Eclipses"
Summary: At this presentation, Brent Pease will discuss several research projects that he's pursuing that use sound to study wildlife ecology, including the recent Eclipse Soundscapes project and his ongoing research project, Sounds of Nature. 

The research interests of Brent Pease, Assistant Professor in the SIU Forestry Program, include wildlife ecology, participatory science, and university education in natural resources. Brent, a native of southern Illinois, returned to the region with his wife and two kids once he had accepted his position here. Outside of the university, he enjoys family camping trips, mountain biking, and working on his firewood pile.

Thursday, October 10, 2024, 7 pm

Presenter: Sonja Lallemand, Horticulturist & Educator
Presentation Title: "Seed Dispersal and Propagation: How do Plants Do It?"
Summary: What ecological advantages exist in seed dispersal?  What happens when the site is not ideal? This presentation will look at the various means of plant reproduction via seed dispersal mechanisms and the various methods of propagation.  What do they mean for the survival of the plant species and their predators?

Sonja Lallemand retired in 2015 from her position as Horticulture Educator with University of Illinois Extension, for six Southern Illinois counties. A graduate from Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, Sonja holds a B.S. in Horticulture and a Master’s Degree in Plant Science – Fruit science.  Her Master’s research investigated the allelopathic effects of daffodils in the landscape, and its application in sustainable agriculture. Most of her working experience has been with public parks and gardens. For the last 25 years, she has delivered numerous horticultural programs as well as organized conferences (INPS Indigenous Plant Symposium), workshops, and seminars for various organizations and businesses. Still growing things, Sonja enjoys selling at the Humpday Farmers’ Market from April to October and the indoor winter Market from December to March providing customers with bread, jam, jellies, vinegar and spice blends and the occasional unusual vegetable and off course PLANTS.

Thursday, November 14, 2024, 7 pm

Presenter: Kay Rippelmeyer Tippy, Regional Historian & Author
Presentation Title: The Illini in Southern Illinois
Summary: During this presentation, Kay Rippelmeyer Tippy will focus most on the 100-year period, 1700-1800, which saw the final decline of all native American tribes still in the Illinois country, through disease and war and intermarriage. The history of the Illini’s extensive marital relationships with the French in Illinois Country has been written about extensively. Kay will draw on accounts of this history by noted historians such as Margaret Brown, J. H. Schlarman, R. G. Thwaites, Wayne Temple, and Carl Ekberg. Another source drawn on for this presentation will be an environmental history of the region by M.J. Morgan, Land of Big Rivers: French & Indian Illinois, 1699 - 1778, published 2010 by SIU Press.  

I grew up in “The Bottom” in Monroe County, migrated south to the bluffs overlooking "The Bottom" in Jackson County.  I have been driving back and forth for the last 50 years to visit my folks, time-tripping along the way, researching and writing when I get to my desk.  My French-Canadian fur-trader grandfather, Charles Danis (8 generations back) married an Illini baptized native woman.  They were both born in the 1680s.  (Much thanks to the Jesuits for keeping the records, now known as the Kaskaskia Manuscripts.) Their son, my ancestor, Michel Danis, was an interpreter between the Illini and the French when the English made a deal at Ft. Gage with the Illini chiefs to trade for most of central and all of southern Illinois land in 1773. But then the American Revolution happened. And the Northwest Ordinance. 

Meet Fellow Shawnee Group Members for Dinner! CANCELED ~COVID-19

The Shawnee Group meets at a local restaurant before each monthly meeting for an hour of socializing and relaxation. New faces are most welcome and we would love to have you join us at any time! Call (618) 549-4673 for more information about group dinners.