Sierra Club Calendar Photographer Comes to Libertyville Garden Club

Mike MacDonald, an internationally-acclaimed nature photographer with photographs in the 2019 and 2020 Sierra Club calendars, came to White Deer Run in early November to an event sponsored by the Town & Country Garden Club of Libertyville. The club was awarded a Plant America Grant by Garden Clubs Inc. to bring MacDonald to the community and raise awareness of the importance of native plants.

Mike MacDonald inspired the audience with his powerful photographs of Chicago-area forest preserves and readings of elegant prose from his literary coffee table book "My Journey Into The Wilds of Chicago." Bill Kurtis wrote the foreword to his book and describes McDonald as an evangelist for nature who uses his breathtaking photography to connect people with the natural world and inspire them to protect it. Publisher's Weekly describes MacDonald's book as "celebratory, soulful and poetic."

MacDonald has a web site, Chicagonaturenow.com that publishes weekly reports from forest preserve volunteers to inform the public about native flowers in bloom at various local forest preserves.

His photograph of sand coreopsis along the banks of the Dead River at Illinois Beach Nature Preserve is featured in the 2020 Sierra Club Wilderness Wall Calendar. See Chicagonaturenow.com for more information.