- [Narrator] This program is made possible in part by the Backlund Charitable Trust, established to educate and create awareness of environmental issues.

- The latest environmental news impacting you and your family in Central Illinois starts now.

(upbeat inspiring music) (upbeat inspiring music continues) (music fades) Welcome to the first episode of "EcoWatch" on WTVP.

I'm Mark Welp.

This program is dedicated to bringing you the latest environmental stories impacting our area and the state of Illinois.

We're going to introduce you to some people finding unique ways to make the Land of Lincoln a better place for mankind and animals by protecting plants, water, soil, and crops.

So let's get started.

On our inaugural show, we traveled to Peoria, McLean, and Logan Counties; meet people living in cave homes and how they help the environment; to a farm that produces almost all the food for four area restaurants; and get the buzz about local efforts to help the bee population.

But first, throughout history, fire has shaped the Earth's landscape.

While the effects can be devastating, modern land stewards use fire so vegetation can flourish.

Every year, the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department does prescribed burns around the city so that invasive species like this, well, turn into ash.

But what they do isn't all about destruction.

It's also about creation.

Here at White Oak Park and other spots around Bloomington, a trained team is targeting phragmites: tall, invasive reed grass.

- It gets out of control.

It can take over the whole bank.

It provides a pretty big block for fishermen.

- [Mark] Phragmites can replace native plants, deny fish nutrients, and, ironically, pose a fire hazard.

David Lamb says one of the benefits of using fire is that only a small amount of chemicals will be needed to eradicate the perennial problem.

On the other side of the lake, they use fire to perpetuate a species.

- Native prairie grass, big bluestem, little bluestem, stuff like that over there.

And that responds really well to the fire.

The seed pods release into the soil.

And that species has developed through fire from pre-settlement times.

You know, the state of Illinois, as you know, is a prairie state.

And fire would come through here.

And that is what would remove the weeds and the woody plants and stuff like that from the prairies and allow the prairies to flourish.

So we're basically mimicking that action of nature.

- [Mark] The prairie grass will grow back fairly quickly, providing food, cover, and nesting for wildlife, and an important habitat for pollinators.

Lamb says the process is safe and convenient.

- This shows how with proper management, our qualified team can coexist out here.

On a beautiful day, there was somebody fishing, there was people walking, hiking, everything like that.

We didn't close the trail down.

A lot of the systems got to see us in action.

And we're real happy about that.

- [Mark] In total, crews burned 54 acres at seven Bloomington Park locations this spring.

Now, for your 'EcoWatch" news updates.

On recent episodes of "At Issue with Mark Welp," I brought you information on two big energy-related projects in Central Illinois: the controversial CO2 pipeline project and the clean hydrogen facility in LaSalle.

First, Constellation Energy, which owns the LaSalle Clean Energy Center in Northern LaSalle County, plans on building the world's largest, nuclear-powered, clean hydrogen facility, the funding coming from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a regional clean hydrogen hub.

This is backed by the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, or MachH2, a multi-state coalition of energy producers, utilities, and universities.

As an energy source, hydrogen does not emit carbon and can be used to reduce emissions from multiple sectors of the economy, including steel making, manufacturing, aviation, agriculture, and long haul transportation.

Constellation estimates its LaSalle clean hydrogen facility will cost about $900 million.

Plans to run a CO2 pipeline through Central Illinois are on hold for now.

Wolf Carbon Solutions has withdrawn its application with the Illinois Commerce Commission.

The pipeline would run 280 miles from Archer Daniels Midland facilities in Iowa to Decatur via Peoria and Tazewell Counties.

CO2, or carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Under this plan, CO2 would be transported in an underground pipe to be stored permanently underground.

And there was a lot of pushback from people living near the proposed route.

They cited safety and eminent domain issues.

Wolf Carbon Solutions says it will refile its application this year.

Stay tuned.

Well, imagine living in a cave home.

Now, get the image of Fred Flintstone out of your head.

One of the original cave-home builders is from here in Central Illinois.

And we learn why these structures are financially and environmentally sound.

The 1970s energy crisis saw gas and heating oil prices double and even triple in the U.S. if you could even find the products.

In 1976, a man named Andy Davis in tiny Armington, Illinois came up with a solution to part of the problem and unknowingly started a new industry which his son Marty Davis continues today.

- He kind of got the idea if he could build something that used the temperature of the Earth but make it comfortable that it would save on heating and cooling.

'Cause he was paying $400 a month, which would be like $1,000 a month now, to heat and cool this rendered house.

- [Mark] So Andy Davis built a new $15,000 home covered in soil.

It went viral before viral was a thing.

National magazines and TV crews descended on Tazewell County.

And after so much attention and interest, eventually, the families started building earth-sheltered homes or what others called cave homes.

- And the big thing on that first winter and what the headline was, was, you know, " Illinois man heats his home for $1.29," which is the gas and oil for Dad's chainsaw to cut wood.

He had a Ben Franklin stove.

And he didn't have air conditioning.

It would stay cool in the summer too.

- [Mark] Not only has Marty Davis built more than 300 homes around the country and as far away as Denmark, he raised his family in this 2,000 square foot cave home.

Getting on your roof can be a dangerous job.

No, this isn't a commercial for gutter protection.

This house doesn't even have gutters.

That's because it's an earth-sheltered home.

The term cave home may imply darkness, but light is not an issue if you have the right design.

Here at Marty Davis's house in Logan County, which doubles as a model home, you can walk up a hill to the grass-covered roof and see the secret for naturally lighting the home: tubular skylights.

Inside, it's hard to tell only sunlight is illuminating the rec room.

Like many cave-home owners, Davis doesn't need AC or a furnace and has a wood burning stove if he needs more heat.

In Northern Peoria County, retirees Roger and Pat Wehage spent years researching cave homes and working with Davis Caves before finishing their house in 2011.

They wanted an efficient home and took it to the next level using large windows, solar energy, wood heating, and a heat pump.

- We could leave this house for a full winter, provide no heat, and the temperature would not drop below about 60 degrees all winter, even if it got down to below zero.

- [Mark] Building a cave home will typically cost more upfront because of all the concrete used.

But the eventual financial savings is impressive.

The Wehages electric bill is normally about $10 a month, which pays for the meter.

The propane for their kitchen stove and clothes dryer costs less than $100 a year.

And solar provides more electricity than they need.

Many cave owners keep landscaping changes to a minimum so the green space isn't lost and wildlife isn't disturbed.

- Well, we did have to do that to some degree for erosion control.

But we tried to build the house so that it fit into the environment.

- [Mark] Other benefits include fire resistance because the structure is mostly concrete and metal studs; protection from tornadoes, lightning and hail; a longer lasting concrete structure; and less maintenance.

Plus, what kid wouldn't want to tell their friends they live in a cave.

- Definitely, it made for a very nice childhood, that's for sure.

- [Mark] Your dad ever tell you to go mow the roof?

- Surprisingly not.

But maybe now that I'm older, that things might change.

(Victoria laughs) - During our "EcoWatch" programs, we wanna let you know about events where you can learn more about the environment and/or volunteer.

Illinois State University is hosting a series of two-hour films about the global climate change crisis during this spring semester.

You can check out the dates there on your screen.

The Normal Theater will host the screenings on Tuesday nights at seven.

All screenings are free and open to the public.

The farm-to-table movement is booming in our area.

Simply put, produce, fish, or even wine go straight from the producer to a restaurant.

And one man I met in McLean County is all in on this concept.

(upbeat music) - It's just so cool to like you got this sphere of liquid that can be turned into something that's just, you know, so complex and delicious.

- [Mark] Whether it's talking about making wine or describing where his hens lay their eggs... - These are my egg mobiles.

(hens clucking) - [Mark] McLean County farmer and chef Ken Myszka has a unique way of looking at the world.

And he's passionate about the food and restaurants many of us take for granted.

In 2007, he had an epiphany.

- This is actually how I started.

So when I was working in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, we were buying these from a farm in the Midwest.

And I'm like, these seem so easy to grow.

I was like, I bet I can grow these.

And so I got rid of my computer desk, I put in grow lights, I started growing microgreens and then selling them to Caesars Palace.

And that's when all of a sudden, this light bulb went off.

I was like: Man, I could do this with everything.

Why don't we just grow all this stuff?

It makes so much more sense.

- [Mark] That inspiration has grown into Epiphany Farms, a 70-acre estate in Downs that may be one of the most diverse farms in Illinois: 12 acres of gardens growing 300 varieties of vegetables that you won't find in stores, fruit and nut trees, hogs and chickens for meat, hens for eggs, beehives for honey, vineyards, (goat bleating) goats and more.

What does Ken do with all that food?

Well, in part, he supplies his four Bloomington restaurants: Epiphany Farms Restaurant, Anju Above, Harmony Korean Barbecue, and a speakeasy, Bakery and Pickle.

- We buy about $1.2 million worth of food as a hospitality group.

And we're raising, you know, around $350,000 worth of product and then it's sold to our restaurant.

Our dream is to get to about 50% someday.

- [Mark] Ken says a restaurant isn't a place of rest but restoration to restore our health with substance and nutrients.

He says he witnessed a disconnect in the food system and wanted to start a social change.

- I wanted to move back home and try to connect the community to the land as much as possible and connect our menus to the seasonality and the local production of the region.

- The "Wall Street Journal" described Epiphany Farms as farm-to-table 2.0.

It's also becoming an a agritourism destination featuring an event facility for weddings, parties, and fundraisers; a huge rental house; and a popular place for tours and field trips.

- When we have more organic matter, we have more water retention in the soil.

We have more nutrient accessibility.

- [Mark] Ken isn't trying to build his own empire.

He wants to teach others to have a positive impact on the environment.

- On this farm, we have a lot of microclimates.

We can increase organic matter.

We can increase water retention.

We can increase biodiversity, have more beneficial insects.

We have more beneficial pollinators.

There's a lot of things we can do on our site.

And then we can ask that as a showcase and an inspiration for other people to adopt some of these practices.

- [Mark] None of these good intentions will support the farm, restaurants, and 200 employees if the food isn't good.

- [Chef Stu] These are bone-in.

We got about a 16-ounce cut here so you can see great fat, great marbling.

- [Mark] At the Epiphany Farms Restaurant, Chef Stu Hummel shows us the work that goes into creating a signature dish.

- Knowing where your product comes from and knowing that we have this multiplier effect where we can support the community and, you know, give nutritionally dense food to the people that support us, that's why we're here.

It's paramount to our success.

(skillet scraping burner) (upbeat music) There you have it.

We have our 16-ounce bone-in pork chop, potato gratin, glazed farm veg, a little roasting juice around the outside, available at Epiphany Farms seven days a week.

Come join us.

(upbeat music) - That is some delicious looking food.

Well, if you wanna burn some calories and learn more about conservation efforts in Woodford and McLean counties, you can take a hike.

The Parklands Foundation has 18 preserves in the Mackinaw River Watershed covering 3,600 acres of prairie, savanna, floodplain forest, and river habitat.

They've got two hikes in March and April.

And you can learn more about that by going to parklandsfoundation.org.

As the weather slowly gets nicer, a lot of people will be dusting off their golf clubs.

But some environmentalists complain that golf courses take up too much natural area, displace wildlife, and waste resources.

Why I toured one of Central Illinois's most popular country clubs to find out how recreation and nature can coexist.

The Country Club of Peoria is nestled in one of the most beautiful areas of Illinois.

The 100-acre golf course and surrounding woods are home to many varieties of plants, animals, and insects.

When the club was founded in 1897, there probably weren't as many environmental concerns as there are today.

Some groups like Audubon International argue golf courses can destroy wildlife habitats, waste water, and pollute water.

I talked with Country Club of Peoria's Superintendent Jeff Kerr about how his crew keeps the course in tip top shape while still being environmental stewards.

When it comes to fertilizer, he says they use as little as possible.

- You really don't want that grass to be growing that much, to be honest, because it's harder to get a golf ball out of it.

It means we have to mow more.

You know, that's a constant cycle as well, which is where the trickle feeding of the products that you need just a little at a time is a great way to not have it all go down the toilet.

The short grass areas, we just trickle feed every couple of weeks.

And it's just a minute amount of... 'Cause we spray it, it's a minute amount of nitrogen.

And we are starting to use a lot more natural products as well.

There's kelp additives, things like that, which are turning out to be really good.

- [Mark] Kerr says there's no benefit in being chemically aggressive including from a budget standpoint.

When it comes to pesticides or herbicides, those are used sparingly as well.

- And we do use a product that's coated with Acelepryn which controls grass grubs and not a whole lot else to be honest.

Most other bugs are pretty beneficial in the soil including worms, you know, which help aerate the soil.

Obviously, we get a lot of cart traffic out here.

- [Mark] Not only do those pesky grubs chew on grassroots, like you see here, raccoons and moles will dig into the greens and fairways to eat the grubs.

But other animals are welcome around the course.

- There's about four hawks that live out here.

They take care of the squirrels, which eat the nuts.

So it's a nice little ecological system going on.

- [Mark] Coyotes, deer and other animals take advantage of the natural recycling area.

- We call it a dump, but it's not really a dump.

It's just organic waste.

So we do take care of the dead and dying trees on the course ourselves.

So a lot of the firewood will go to members or members' families.

The deer hang out in the shade.

And then they have full access to and through to Grandview Drive and the river all the way through the golf course.

They can just cross the road and down the hill and they're at the water's edge.

- [Mark] Water management is another important part of the process.

The country club uses 13 to 18 million gallons of water a year, which Kerr says is average for most courses except for those in the desert southwest that can each use a million gallons a day.

The country club relies on Mother Nature as much as possible but also has a computerized irrigation system that can water specific spots in order not to waste water.

- We collect a whole lot of water off all the houses around the area.

So this will actually turn into a river and go right past our workshop and go through the whole golf course and down to the creek.

But, you know, during that time, we're catching an awful lot of that either in the ground or, you know, we do have lots of drains and drain systems in here.

- [Mark] Organizations like Audubon are working with thousands of golf courses to help the environment in ways the Country Club of Peoria is already doing, like planting native tall grass and milkweed that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

- Any area that we can leave unmown and untouched is just a really good habitat for whatever critter wants to live in there.

- After a seven-year wait, the state of Illinois is finally issuing Monarch Butterfly Specialty License Plates.

Proceeds from sales of the plate will go to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Roadside Monarch Habitat Fund which supports monarchs as they make their twice yearly migration between Mexico and the Chicago area.

The department has a goal of adding 150 million new milkweed stems and other nectar sources to Illinois' landscape in the next 15 years.

The Monarch specialty plate is available to order at ilsos.gov.

News from a Central Illinois chapter of the National Audubon Society, the John Wesley Powell chapter based in McLean County, is now called the Grand Prairie Bird Alliance.

Powell was a professor at Illinois Wesleyan University.

And prior to that, he was an Army soldier and explorer.

The birdwatching group believes the new name will help with partnerships, collaboration, and inclusion.

Some Audubon chapters are dropping the name Audubon altogether.

John James Audubon was a famous wildlife painter but also a slave owner and against abolition.

Cities like Chicago and Detroit are now using the Bird Alliance wording.

Bee populations in the U.S. have been declining for years.

I went to a local apiary to find out more about these important pollinators.

(bees buzzing as soft music plays) - They know they make honey and that they sting you, right, that's about it.

- [Mark] Beekeeper Luke Harvey sums up the two things most of us know about bees.

His interest in bees began when one stung him.

He started researching them and became fascinated.

- Very few times have I been stung by a bee that's not my fault.

They're there to protect the hive.

- [Mark] 10 years after that first sting, Luke owns Riverview Road Apiary in Chillicothe and cares for nearly 5 million honeybees.

- My first year, I think I only got stung 20 times.

And then I stopped keeping track after that.

I get stung probably five, six times a week.

This time of year, it'll probably be five, six times a day.

I'm really in them a lot this time of year.

This is the peak of when we start harvesting honey.

We're gonna take this off.

Got a couple of bees in here - [Mark] Yeah, just a few.

- [Luke] This is not so bad.

- You can certainly hear them.

- Yeah, we can hear 'em.

So I'm gonna just remove some frames.

This is honey.

This is what honey looks like.

This top of this frame, this is capped honey.

And this is nectar that's being turned into honey down here.

- [Mark] Stinging aside, the fruits of his labor go far beyond the honey and other bee products he sells.

He and other beekeepers are helping ensure we have enough pollinators as their numbers dwindle.

A recently released University of Maryland and Auburn University study found 48% of U.S. colonies were lost from April last year to April of this year.

That's the second highest death rate on record behind the nearly 51% mortality rate from 2020 to 2021.

(bees buzzing) So why are these numbers concerning?

Well, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says 35% of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants.

And honeybees are responsible for 80% of that pollination.

So what would happen if most or all honeybees were killed off?

- We'd starve pretty quickly.

Pretty short period of time, we'd follow them.

And that danger was tied to a mite called the varroa mite.

That mite's still around; it's still a problem.

It's also tied to the pesticides and herbicides and fungicides that we use in our food, which gets into our food supply as well.

But that impacts the bees and the other pollinators around.

We still have losses year to year, about 50% losses is what I would estimate locally is what we have for a hive.

So it's not the bees themselves, right?

A single bee doesn't die, a colony dies.

So you lose basically half your colonies.

Some of our commercial beekeepers do a lot better.

Some of our small beekeepers don't do as well.

- [Mark] Scientists say starvation and climate change also add to the large die offs.

Because honeybees pollinate more than 100 of the crops we eat, it's in our best interest to ensure their survival.

The National Wildlife Federation has tips on how to help the honeybee population.

You can do it at your own home.

Plant natives.

Blooming native trees, shrubs, and wild flowers can collectively provide blossoms for bees.

Plant garden beds.

Bees love melons, cucumbers, berries, pumpkins, and fruit trees.

Finally, go organic.

There are natural ways to keep bugs and weeds out of your garden that won't kill bees or other pollinators.

You can learn more about local beekeeping by checking out the Heart of Illinois Beekeepers Association.

And if you're allergic to bees or you just don't like to be stung, here's some advice from someone who knows a thing or two about stings.

- Don't flail your arms.

If you're just calm and not afraid of 'em, just be slow and methodical in what you're gonna do if they're around if you're afraid of 'em, they largely won't bother you.

They have jobs to do.

Their job out in the field is to go get pollen and nectar and water propolis and come back.

It's not to sting you.

(soft music) - We wanna wrap up our first episode of "EcoWatch" with a trip to the playground, but not just any playground.

This is an environmentalist's dream.

- [Teacher] Isn't that interesting?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- [Teacher] Do you know what those are called?

Bulbs, bulbs.

So you can take the bulb, and that would plant like a whole new one of them.

- [Mark] On this windy morning in Normal, fourth graders at Colene Hoose Elementary are digging up canna lily bulbs to replant in the spring.

It's not unusual to find plant boxes at Central Illinois schools, but this area is just a small part of a newer concept not seen anywhere in our area.

This is a 16-acre natural playground surrounding Colene Hoose.

Charlie Jobson, seen here digging with kids at the grand opening in October, donated more than $5 million to make his dream a reality.

- If everyone remembers Colene Hoose, the space around us was open.

And so his love of Colene Hoose and knowing his mom's love of Colene Hoose, this was a space that he knew that he could build something like this.

- [Mark] There are things to climb and swing on that you would expect to see at a typical playground, but that's where the similarities end.

Exploring and learning about the environment is what kids do while also getting exercise and blowing off steam.

- I think it gives them a more, a deeper understanding of the world around us.

I feel like it's super important for them to apply things that we learned in the classroom outside of the classroom.

And so the playground in general has been wonderful for that.

And so we've come out here a couple of times and we made leaf structures.

So they had to come out and pick a bunch of leaves and make them into certain animals and use their imagination to kind of figure out, you know, what animal they might see with the leaves that they pick up.

And so we've done a couple things like that which has been fun for them.

- [Mark] There are also plenty of places for kids to gather and socialize like this amphitheater or the Alphabet Labyrinth where they can explore.

The Beaver Lodge is a favorite for kids to play on, and the natural instruments are hard to pass up.

(musical notes on the xylophone) (soft music) (upbeat music) Some students even got the chance to leave a lasting legacy as part of the mosaic river.

- Can find fish of different designs.

And students actually got to design those.

So in art class, they were able to draw that design.

And then they took those drawings and used it to develop those mosaic tiles.

So it's really neat to see students find their fish that they designed and see it there in real life.

- [Mark] As part of the Jobson Family Foundation gift, Unit 5 hired a horticulturist to take care of the playground that includes more than 1,000 trees, shrubs, plants, and prairie grass native to our area.

- The little kids just go crazy when they're out here like touching and feeling plants and digging in the soil, digging in the paths and pulling at grass and, you know, things we did when we were kids.

But it's interesting on weekends, I see like junior high and high school kids come out here.

And it's fun to watch them like put their phone away and like go play.

So like they just kind of forget about that world that they're so engaged in and like actually look at things.

(upbeat music) - Thanks for joining us for "EcoWatch."

If you'd like to watch again or share with a friend, just look for us at WTVP.org.

I'm Mark Welp.

See you again soon.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music fades) - [Narrator] This program is made possible in part by the Backlund Charitable Trust, established to educate and create awareness of environmental issues.