Restoration efforts at the Forest Preserve District’s Kankakee Sands preserve have converted former agricultural fields into large patches of prairie, that support a wide variety of native flora and fauna, including this swamp milkweed and cabbage butterfly. (Photo provided)
Denise M. Baran-Unland is the features editor for The Herald-News in Joliet. She covers a variety of human interest stories. She also writes the long-time weekly tribute feature “An Extraordinary Life about local people who have died. She studied journalism at the College of St. Francis in Joliet, now the University of St. Francis.