About The Illinois Beaver Alliance

Mission:
The mission of the Illinois Beaver Alliance is to improve the health and function of Illinois watersheds, which will increase climate resilience, improve water quality, increase biodiversity, and create floodwater storage capacity; and to educate the public about the ecological importance of beavers and the modern tools for resolving human-beaver conflicts.

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Goals:

• Promote low-tech, process-based river restoration--the practice of using simple, low unit-cost, structural additions such as locally sourced rock, Beaver Dam Analogs, and anchored log structures that mimic functions and promote specific ecosystem processes--as well as beaver-related restoration to improve Illinois’ degraded watersheds.

• Educate stakeholders about the role of beavers in engineering, maintaining, and upgrading wetlands and healthy river systems.

• Educate the public about the ecological importance of beavers and how to resolve human-beaver conflicts by protecting trees with tree wrapping and using pond levelers and culvert protection devices to prevent flooding caused by beaver dams.

• Share information throughout Illinois and with other states within the Western Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi River Basin that share similar hydrology and water quality issues as Illinois.

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Strategies:

• Reach out to stakeholders about process-based river restoration to generate interest in launching pilot programs in Illinois.

• Share information about resolving human-beaver conflicts.

• Help property owners resolve human-beaver conflicts nonlethally by consulting on the conflict and providing referrals to ILM Environments.

• Present an annual Midwest Beaver Summit to accomplish regional beaver advocacy work.
   

President and Founding Member: Rachel Schick Siegel. Rachel does grant writing for several community-based organizations. In 2022 she completed a certificate program in Environmental Law and Public Policy at Loyola University Chicago. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts in English Literature from Northwestern University. She can be reached at rachel.siegel@illinoisbeaveralliance.org

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Vice President and Founding Member: Jeff Boland-Prom. Jeff is a graduate of the Beaver Institute’s BeaverCorps training program, where he learned state-of-the-art techniques for managing beaver conflicts. He brings together his love of nature with his education in applied mathematics and previous teaching experience. His efforts on behalf of the Illinois Beaver Alliance include watershed outreach, research, regenerative agriculture, and agroforestry. He can be reached at jeff.boland-prom@illinoisbeaveralliance.org
 

​Advisory Board:

• Gloria Charland is an active member of the Sierra Club Harmful Algal Blooms National Team, the Manitou Creek Watershed Alliance, and Together for Nature. Fluent in Spanish, Gloria works to bring inclusion and diversity to the field of sustainability and environmental stewardship

• Mary Handelsman is an active volunteer for the Manitou Creek Drainage District and the Manitou Creek Watershed Alliance, where she regularly manages beaver conflicts. She is a former member of the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District; a past board member and treasurer, Habitat for Humanity in Waukegan; and a past board member of Wild Ones in Grayslake.

• Mike Luxem is a property manager and a bat enthusiast. He lives in Glenview, Illinois.

• Hannah Malicky has worked as an administrator at an environmental nonprofit. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Justice and Peace and Conflict Studies, Grinnell College. She is a first-year law student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

• Katerina Pestova is Clinical Affairs Lead at Abbott Labs. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an MBA in finance/entrepreneurship. She lives in Glenview, Illinois.

• Sandra Urban is an animal rights activist and nature photographer. She lives in Glenview, Illinois.

• Andrea Zavala is a graduate of Lake Forest College. She served as Lead Research Intern for the Manitou Creek Watershed Alliance

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We mourn the loss of Founding Member and Advisory Board Member Edwin Prom. Edwin was an essential member of our team. He was passionate about wetlands restoration and resolving beaver conflicts nonlethally. We will miss him, his infectious smile, and his love of beaver advocacy work terribly.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​