From left: Alex Bell, a junior from Columbia, Illinois, studying zoology with a specialization in wildlife biology; Hannah Judge, a junior from Burbank majoring in university studies; and John O'Connell, a Ph.D. candidate in zoology from Miami, research wetland availability Feb. 12 off Illinois Route 3 near Gale, Illinois. O'Connell said the research is done in an effort to see how much of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service define as wetlands is actually available to different migratory bird species such as waterfowl, shore birds, wading birds and water birds.

Justin Allen hikes while his son Theodore Allen, 11 months, sleeps on Trillium Trail during a session of “Backpacking Baby,” a group that meets every month to hike with their babies, April 3 in Giant City State Park in southern Illinois. Nicole Allen, Justin’s wife and Theodore’s mother, said she hikes with Theodore on a regular basis. She started the group of hikers in January. “I wasn’t really seeing a lot of baby hikers so I wanted create an environment where people felt encouraged to bring their kids to play outside,” Nicole said. She said the group has seen a big increase in numbers since the first hike. “The main goal of the program is to encourage families to explore and enjoy nature together,” Nicole said. “Nature is the perfect learning and therapeutic environment for children especially.”

“I don’t care if it’s cold, hot, whatever. I like catching fish,” Sherry Buschkoetter said while making use of the cold weather to do some New Year’s Eve ice fishing Dec. 31 on the pond behind her Jasper home in Indiana. She said the fish taste much fresher when caught while ice fishing than those caught in warmer weather. “You don’t have that muddy kind of lake water kind of taste that you get sometimes in the summer when it gets hot,” Buschkoetter said. She said this is the first time in three years that the ice has been thick enough to go fishing.

Clouds above the Andes Mountains in Peru.

Sunset on the Missouri River near Columbia, Missouri.

Sister M. Gloria Buckley, of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George, prayed the Stations of the Cross during personal prayer time Oct. 31 at St. Francis Convent in Alton, Illinois. Sister M. Gloria, who entered the convent in fall 2021, is from St. Louis.

As beads of sweat formed on his face, Sam Johnson of Portersville picked tame blackberries with the assistance of his wife of nearly 25 years, Stacey Johnson, on July 6 outside their Portersville home in Indiana. Sam said tame blackberries, as opposed to wild blackberries, don’t have thorns and get significantly larger. Stacey said they grow things like corn, squash, onions, tomatoes, peppers and oregano in their garden. “We’ve got a little bit of everything,” Sam said. “I just can this stuff and we just eat on it all year.”

Dalton Marshall of Jonesboro starts making his way around a trail while riding with a group of cyclists Wednesday, Dec. 19 at Bono Lake in northeast Arkansas.

Beach in Peru.

After finding a quiet place to sit among the livestock, Morgan Smart (left) and Emma Shaw, both 15 and of Piggott, laugh after Shaw points out that Smart's heifer stuck its tongue in its nose at the Northeast Arkansas District Fair in Jonesboro. Shaw said she thought the heifer's actions were odd because it's something a human wouldn't do. Smart and Shaw, both with the Piggott High School FFA, are showing the heifer and a pig, respectively, at the fair.

Former public school teacher Lindsey Groth saw a need for young kids to get outside. That’s what made Groth, originally of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and now living in Jasper, start Little Spruce Nature School, a preschool that holds classes at Camp Carnes in Jasper. “There’s just a lot more chances for problem solving and social development, things that I saw kids were struggling with in the classroom,” Groth said. “There’s just a lot more opportunity to teach those kind of lessons outdoors.” On Nov. 28, Little Spruce student Will Knies of Jasper, 5, traversed a fallen log while taking a hike off the trail with his classmates and teachers at Camp Carnes in Jasper.

AM Vets Outdoors founder and Air Force veteran Bill Coomer, aka “Wild Bill,” of Cape Girardeau looks out of a blind during a snow geese hunt March 14 in Ware, Illinois.

Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains of Peru.

Kennedy Baker, 7, of Goreville, rides Dauber with the assistance of Dallas Broeker, a senior from Chadron, Nebraska, studying nursing, during a session of Specialized Equine Services and Therapeutic Riding on May 1 at Giant City Stables in Makanda, Illinois. The session marked the second time Baker was able to ride a horse without the assistance of another rider to support her. “It’s like when you first see your kid making the first two steps by herself,” said Santiago Tomas, barn manager at the stables who typically rides with Baker. “It kind of gives you pride.”

Preston Turney, 8, of Manila, runs his hand through Ranger's mane during an equine assisted therapy session at Diego Ranch on Oct. 3 off Arkansas Highway 91 West near Jonesboro.

Desert near Huacachina, Peru.

Larry Hahn (left) bottle feeds one-week-old triplet calves near his son, Lance Hahn, on Feb. 5 at the Hahn family's farm in rural Bollinger County, Missouri. After research, Lance said it's a one in 100,000 chance of triplet calves being born. "You know we were excited about getting it anyway and then, lo and behold, we got three," Lance said with a laugh. "It was like, 'Boy, we started out with a bang.'"

Machu Picchu scene in the Andes Mountains of Peru.

John O'Connell, a Ph.D. candidate in zoology from Miami, traverses wetlands Feb. 12 off Illinois Route 3 near Gale, Illinois. The Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, through which O'Connell conducts his wetland research, could be at risk of losing $507,388 in funding if the university doesn't receive state appropriations by July 1. "I imagine if funding is cut that that's going to impact the number of students and maybe the number of faculty that we have," he said. "We lost quite a few students last year because their projects were funded and their assistantships were funded through federal money that was blocked because of the failure of the state to pass a budget that authorized the spending of that money." He said the different academic departments that use the lab overlap and mingle, and that the sharing of information in the lab is a way to collaborate and further their research.

A snowplow on a road in Big Cottonwood Canyon on May 7 in Utah.

“He’s so sweet and kind and loving,” said 12-year-old Cheyenne Scherle of Ireland about Bubby shortly after she gave him a kiss July 19 at the Dubois County 4-H Fairgrounds in Bretzville, Indiana. Scherle, who shows sheep, goats, pigs and cattle at the fair, said she likes 4-H because she gets to meet new people and have fun with her animals.

Heith Steckler of St. Henry, 9, watched the tug of war competition July 20 at the Dubois County 4-H Fairgrounds in Bretzville, Indiana. Steckler said this is his first year with 4-H.

Ellen Vonderheide of Jasper, looked through harvested hops to clear excess debris Aug. 15 at the Hoffman family farm along the White River near Haysville, Indiana. Ellen, whose mother used to live in the house on the Hoffman farm, said she is the fourth generation of her family to use the land.

Fall leaves Oct. 15 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Yellowjackets seen on a Norton grape during picking Oct. 1 in a vineyard of River Ridge Winery in Commerce, Missouri.

Paul Kozlowski of La Porte helped herd cattle to the barn area Oct. 26 at Wild Serenade Ranch in Stendal, Indiana.

Native Aquatics Biologist Dale Fonken, of the Division of Wildlife Resources of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, releases June Suckers into Utah Lake on May 7 at the American Fork Boat Harbor in American Fork, Utah. Fonken said Utah Lake is the only place in the world where June Suckers exist in the wild. The Division of Wildlife Resources plans to release about 3,000 June Suckers into the lake between Monday and Tuesday.

Tyler Myers of Cape Girardeau pays a visit to the edge of the Mississippi River as ice flows downstream Jan. 31 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  

James Parris of Dexter, Missouri, floats in the water after the final scuba dive he needed to become a certified open water diver July 21 at Mermet Springs in Massac County, Illinois.

Front three classmates from left: Robin Harbison of Cape Girardeau, Colette Banda of Jackson and Cristina Welker of Jackson take part in a riverfront yoga class while the American Queen is docked Aug. 3 along the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

David Dugan of Charleston, Missouri, speaks on the phone with Ashley Freese of St. Louis, Missouri, who was about the join the hammocking group of Southeast Missouri State University students including Harley Allen of Dexter, Missouri, (middle) and Ashton Hopper of Cape Girardeau (in background) on March 3 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau. "It's beautiful out here," Dugan said. "It's really peaceful to come out here and just enjoy nature, enjoy God's creation."

Mason Hanners and Mckenzy Barrett of Commerce, laugh while taking a look at flooded areas of the Mississippi River community of 67, with the company of Landon Urhahn of Commerce (not pictured), on May 6 in Commerce, Missouri. "We go set a lot of limb lines and help everybody out," Hanners said about getting the boat out. Hanners is a lifelong resident of Commerce and said the worst flooding he recalls in the community was the New Year's flood of 2015 when water was 8 feet 6 inches deep inside his shop. The Mississippi River is forecast to crest close to 44.0 feet at Cape Girardeau on Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Tanner Mendoza, 17, of Cape Girardeau goes fishing May 27 at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau. Mendoza said he tries to go fishing every day. "It's one of my favorite hobbies, that and football," Mendoza said. He said fishing is a stress reliever for him and something he's been doing more during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brandon Pals, a parishioner at St. Mary’s Assumption in St. Louis, sat at a bench overlooking the Missouri River during a Katy Trail Marian Pilgrimage on Oct. 11 along the Katy Trail in Warren County, Missouri.

Willem Sichling (center in green cap), 6, climbed a tree with other children including (from top, facing forward) Duncan Hagens, 14; Marcus McDonough, 6; and Hans Deronne, 5; during Wilderkids Urban Forest School's Spring Break Camp on March 21 at Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. “Everybody’s out here together and, in nature, it’s very healing,” Angela Wildermuth, director of Wilderkids Urban Forest School, said. Wildermuth, who goes to church at St. Mark in Lemay and St. Margaret of Scotland, started the school in 2017.

Connor Bullock, 17, son of River Ridge Winery co-owners Denise Bullock and Rob Bullock, puts a load of Norton grapes in a container during picking Oct. 1 in a vineyard of River Ridge Winery in Commerce, Missouri. “Basically you put your heart and soul into the whole thing and then you hope your heart and soul tastes like good wine,” Rob said.

“I’ve just been crazy about horses my whole life,” said Nathan Jones, founder of Wild Serenade Ranch in Pike County, Indiana. “Even still yet today, I just love a horse and I always will.” Jones shoes and trains horses and raises longhorn cattle on his roughly 130-acre Stendal ranch. Pictured: Jones, a native of Wheatfield, rode back to the barn after herding cattle back to the field Oct. 26 at Wild Serenade Ranch.