water garden

Members of IISG’s aquatic invasive species team are introducing their newest risk assessment suite of products today at the Illinois and Wisconsin Landscape Show in Schaumburg, Illinois.

The brochure, wallet card, and poster distill all the complexities of the species assessments done by researchers at the University of Notre Dame, Loyola University Chicago, and the Nature Conservancy. IISG facilitated the meetings between the researchers and retailers to ensure that the tools developed for them to use to assess the risk for invasion met the states’ needs.

These assessments provide retailers and hobbyists with information about whether a plant or animal imported for the aquarium and water garden trades poses a threat to the states’ waterways.

Greg Hitzroth, IISG aquatic invasive species outreach specialist will be urging retailers at the conference to not sell or grow plant species that are known to be invasive.

“The retailers and wholesalers—the types of folks who are at this trade show—want to do the right thing,” Hitzroth said. “And we’re here to help them.”

You can download the materials for free from these links! If you need a specific quantity, contact Danielle Hilbrich, aquatic invasive species outreach specialist, at hilbrich@illinois.edu.

What’s in Your Water Garden – Wallet Card
What’s in Your Water Garden – Brochure
What’s in Your Water Garden – Poster

IISG Instagram

Located in Washington, D.C., the Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational and professional experience to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources, and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. This is a one-year fellowship open to any student, regardless of citizenship, who is enrolled toward a degree in a graduate or professional program on the day of the deadline.Students enrolled at an Illinois or Indiana university or college should submit their applications through Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant by emailing Angela Archer at amcbride@purdue.edu. Students in surrounding states without a Sea Grant program should contact the National Sea Grant College Program at oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov for a referral. Application deadline: June 3, 2026.To learn more about the fellowship, visit the link in bio.
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