Northbrook Resident Botanic Garden Volunteer of the Year

Elizabeth de la Baume has counted herself fortunate for she has a unique position.

Twice a week for the last 15 years, the Northbrook resident has tooled around in a golf cart or on foot, a pair of binoculars and log book in hand, and counted and assessed the species of waterfowl that come to or live at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.

And for her work, she's been named Volunteer of the Year for 2011.

De la Baum began volunteering at the Garden in 1997 and over time has contributed more than 4,400 hours of service. A retired teacher from Glenview School District 34 with interests in cycling, photography, swimming and birding, de la Baum is known for her dependability, accuracy and keen observations.

She began volunteering in the Garden Shop and now works as a volunteer scientist in the Waterfowl Management Program to study the phosphorus level in the Garden’s lakes.

Her passion for protecting the environment shows in the meticulous records she keeps of her observations of birds and waterfowl. She most recently has helped to monitor the waterfowl in the Barbara Brown Nature Reserve.

"I love it. It's a lot of fun," said de la Baume, a retired teacher from Glenview School District 35."I love being in this beautiful environment."

De la Baume came to the Botanic Garden to volunteer because she wanted something to do. She had marked down that she had done some field research on fiddler crabs in North Carolina. It meant that she knew how to do data collection. And the rest as they say is history.

And she's seen a wide variety of the waterfowl that like to use the Botanic Garden as their version of Motel 6: egret, Canada geese, a nice variety of ducks, such blue wing teal, green teal, ring-necked ducks and goldeneyes, de la Baume said. "A lot of waterfowl come up Lake Michigan and I think the garden gets a bit of the overflow," she said.

At least one species calls the Botanic Garden home. Trumpeter swans hang there year around. Three cygnets are there, but in September they will leave to be reintroduced into the wild, she said. Visitors, she said, are curious about them and ask her on her rounds where she's seen them.

Occasionally she comes across a bird that she doesn't recognize. What does she do? "I go and look it up," she said.

There's always something to see. And visitors are naturally curious about what she does - and what she sees. Once she tells them what she does, they want to now what she has seen on that day and ask her to point out if there is something spectacular.

The Garden has certainly changed in the years she's been there. The park's gotten busier; bird species have come and gone. Children are coming to the Garden in their school groups, and she hopes they use their visit as a stepping stone to learning about and becoming more appreciative of the environment.

"We just need to get kids outside more," she said. "It's hard to get them to have an appreciation for the environment when they're not out in it."