Everglades of the North:The Story of The Grand Kankakee Marsh - trailer - YouTube (NO SIGHTINGS)

[Suzanne Coleman]

This is a trailer for a documentary that I guess came out in 2012? about the destruction of a huge natural resource in our area. There’s only a little bit left now; the person who posted it was trying to figure out a way to save it but was having difficulty finding solutions/partners, they are in the Indiana area. The trailer below says that we lost I think it was a fifth of all migratory birds because of loss of this resource. It’s very upsetting. I hope moving forward that by sharing the bad decisions of the past that we won’t be making these kind of mistakes anymore.

Suzanne Coleman
Cook co

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKZQ772Yx6M

[Glenna Eaves]

Theres an excellent summary of this area in the Wikipedia article "Great Black Swamp," with extensive references.

Glenna Eaves

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[Mark Vaughan]

Lakeshore Public Television sells the DVD for a
very reasonable price. It is a very good documentary and the proceeds help fund Public Television which has just experienced a draconian funding cut.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 7, 2026, at 1:47 PM, 'Suzanne Coleman' via IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> This is a trailer for a documentary that I guess came out in 2012? about the destruction of a huge natural resource in our area. There’s only a little bit left now; the person who posted it was trying to figure out a way to save it but was having difficulty finding solutions/partners, they are in the Indiana area. The trailer below says that we lost I think it was a fifth of all migratory birds because of loss of this resource. It’s very upsetting. I hope moving forward that by sharing the bad decisions of the past that we won’t be making these kind of mistakes anymore.

>
> Suzanne Coleman
> Cook co
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKZQ772Yx6M
>

[M.Bernat]

I think I have the DVD of The Everglades of the North and I know I’ve watched it somewhere. As a media producer, public broadcasting supporter and natural history buff, I second Mark’s recommendation. 

In December I posted about my CBC adventure in Pembroke Township in the sands south of Momence. The documentary does a great job of explaining the natural and geopolitical history of the Kankakee River and sands area. Historically, the Grand Kankakee Marsh straddled the Illinois-Indiana border and was full of wildlife. I believe it is said the outdoorsman-potus Teddy Roosevelt, who founded the National Park System, hunted there.

The originally proposed footprint of the present Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area in Kankakee and Iroquois Counties in IL included the Kankakee Marsh area in IN but, ahem, politics led it to be established solely in Illinois. Thank goodness things went more smoothly for the bistate Hackmatack NWR on the IL-WI border. 

As I learned while drafting a grassland birds report for the Bird Conservation Network, altering the natural flow of water can have negative consequences on the landscape and its wildlife. In Illinois, the Kankakee River is still a marvelously meandering stream. On the other side of the state line it was channeled to drain the Grand Kankakee Marsh to increase farmland, which causes flooding on both sides of the state line and sand deposition on the Illinois side that alters the river itself and impacts Illinois landowners. 

Am blowing kisses to The Nature Conservancy for its work in the sands on both sides of the state line; the DNR and FWS for the areas they protect; and to Illinois Audubon Society, the Community Development Corporation of Pembroke-Hopkins Park (CDC-PHP), the Pembroke Preservation Alliance and Openlands for preserving Okàn Savanna in Pembroke. 

Think about ordering the movie from Lakeshore Public Television. 

See some of you at the Gull Frolic?!?

Mary Bernat

South Cook County

[Keith Bowers]

It looks like if you have PBS streaming you can watch this show now? I’m hoping to watch it later today.

Keith

> On Feb 7, 2026, at 12:47 PM, 'Suzanne Coleman' via IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> This is a trailer for a documentary that I guess came out in 2012? about the destruction of a huge natural resource in our area. There’s only a little bit left now; the person who posted it was trying to figure out a way to save it but was having difficulty finding solutions/partners, they are in the Indiana area. The trailer below says that we lost I think it was a fifth of all migratory birds because of loss of this resource. It’s very upsetting. I hope moving forward that by sharing the bad decisions of the past that we won’t be making these kind of mistakes anymore.

>
> Suzanne Coleman
> Cook co
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKZQ772Yx6M
>

[M.Bernat]

Thanks for the heads up, Keith. I hadn’t realized we could all watch the show on PBS’s website by just googling PBS and Everglades of the North! 

If that works for any of you, you can also  google PBS and My Life as a Turkey, which an IBET friend recommended to me earlier this winter and I’ve been passing it along to birding friends ever since. You have my gratitude, LB! 

And Suzanne, thanks for starting this chain. It’s been nice hearing from IBET peeps!

[Connie Smith]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I truly appreciate it. I hope we can all learn from our devastating mistakes and ensure that such errors are not repeated in the future It's essential that we take these lessons to heart and work towards preserving our natural resources. I know I'm preaching to the choir; I'm going to share it on my Facebook to reach People who might have a different mindset to be enlightened...

Thanks! 

-Connie

Get Outlook for iOS

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From: ilb...@googlegroups.com <ilb...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of M.Bernat <mbe...@fastmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 7, 2026 5:48:39 PM
To: IBET - Illinois Birders Exchanging Thoughts <ilb...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Keith Bowers <keefe...@gmail.com>; Suzanne Coleman <is...@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [IBET] Everglades of the North:The Story of The Grand Kankakee Marsh - trailer - YouTube (NO SIGHTINGS)

 

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