OUR MISSION STATEMENT
“Hoo” Haven is dedicated to rehabilitating and releasing, sick, injured and orphaned, North American Wildlife. And to educating individuals to the importance of the conservation of Mother Earth, to maintain the land, clean and beautiful for all.
NEWS
“HOO” HAVEN HONORED BY SETH B. ATWOOD AWARD
On April 14, 2010, Karen and Steven Herdklotz were honored with the Seth B. Atwood 
Memorial Park & Conservation Service Award (Business Category) at the City of Gardens Spring Kick-Off event at Cliffbreakers. The Atwood Award is named in honor of Seth B. Atwood, the late industrialist who preserved and donated more than 1,000 acres of valuable land for the citizens of Winnebago County. The award is presented by the Rockford Park District, the Rockford Park District Foundation and the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District. The award recognizes individuals and organizations for their exceptional volunteer contributions to facilities, programs or services which preserve natural areas and park spaces, or provide recreation and education. The Individual award recipient for this year is Anne Meyer of Ender’s Greenhouse in Rockford. Thank you Rockford Park District, Winn. Co. Forest Preserve District, and the Atwood family for supporting our mission and honoring Hoo Haven with this prestigious award!
Video Supplied Courtesy of BAKER STUDIOS (815) 398-1114
“HOO” Thanks YOU Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation!
“Hoo” Haven Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Center recently went ‘green’ with Phase I of its first large-scale Renewable Energy Project. The new solar photovoltaic (PV) energy system is helping to generate electricity for the facility and educate the community on renewable energy. The benefits to the facility, the community, the environment, and the wildlife extend far beyond Hoo Haven.
A recent $30,000 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation helped to provide more than half of the funding needed to purchase and install the 5Kw solar photovoltaic system on the Hoo Haven property. The solar power generator powers several buildings including the medical facility, eight animal enclosures, walk-in freezer and refrigerators. The Marlys Bulander Eagle Flight Recovery Center is also powered by the solar PV system.
Hoo Haven is excited to use this project to educate the community about the benefits and importance of renewable energy sources. As part of the project’s community education goal, real-time graphing and power generation data is now available online. This is especially useful for teachers and students to see first-hand on a daily basis how sunlight is converted into electricity. Live Solar Electric Generation monitoring is provided through Micro Specialists (Marvin Permenter) and Fat Spaniel Technologies. The site provides simple data or a more detailed picture of the energy produced by the solar panel system. A section named Environmental Benefits offers a kid-friendly glimpse at how the energy created could support everyday items such as televisions, computers, homes, etc. It also offers information on the amount of pollution prevented and greenhouse gases avoided by use of renewable energy at Hoo Haven.
The facility hopes to be a model for other organizations in the community and/or region. “Its important for me as Director of Hoo Haven to ‘walk our talk’ and to be an example of ‘going green’ to help Mother Earth. It makes me feel good to realize how much we are helping the environment,” states Karen Herdklotz. Her husband and co-founder, Steven J. Herdklotz, designed and installed the system and expects that it will reduce the monthly energy expenses by nearly one half. According to Herdklotz, “The energy savings will be quite a bit of help at Hoo Haven. Being an electrician, it’s enjoyable to see more alternative energy sources and it was fun to set up and work on. On our website, you can see the energy produced and the CO2 emissions that were not put into our atmosphere.” In addition, the use of ‘net metering” and connection to the Com Ed utility grid allows Hoo Haven to store excess power generated to be used as needed. This summer, Hoo Haven will reapply to Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and other sources for grants to support Phase II of the Renewable Energy Project - the addition of a vertical-axis wind turbine.
Mission and Program Areas
The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation invests in clean energy development and land preservation efforts, working with communities and residents to improve environmental quality in Illinois. The Foundation funds projects in three core program areas: improving energy efficiency, developing renewable energy resources, and
preserving and enhancing natural areas and wildlife habitat throughout Illinois.
2 N. LaSalle St. Suite 1140 Chicago, IL 60602
312.372.5191 fax 312.372.5190
www.IllinoisCleanEnergy.org
Pelicans
Yes "Hoo" Haven has another Pelican. I believe we are 
Florida in Illinois. Sunshine came from Frentress Lake Marina in East Dubuque where they have open waters around their slips all year. However the weather took its toll and his feet got bloody. Tom and his lovely wife Linda our Trusty volunteers and Transporter went and captured him and brought him back for rest, warmth and healing.
He is doing great and if weather is good we will release him April 10th back at Lake Frentress.
He is a joy as all of the pelicans have been. It is fun to watch them eat and they have a voracious appetite.
The joy of working at "Hoo" Haven is that you not only get to see animals up close, that you may not otherwise have an opportunity to see, but you get the joy of seeing them heal. It is a labor of love.
EXCITEMENT HERE AT "HOO"
We here at "Hoo' are very excited about our new guest. We have Georgina The Otter. Georgina came to us after being trapped accidentally by someone trapping beavers. We are so happy this gentleman decided to do the right thing and bring the otter to us. She has quite a gash on her leg but other than that she is doing great, and eating like a pig.
Georgina is an example of why we need our new wa
ter area for aquatic birds and animals.
If you would like to help us you can either use pay pal, under "Helping Us" or mail your donation for the aquatic area to "Hoo" Haven PO Box 594 Durand, IL 61024.
Our goal is to raise $50,000 dollars to accomplish this.
If you have any types of groups that would like to do a fund raiser to give to our project we would love to have your help. What fun and joy to help all God's Creatures.
Be part of our team... TOGETHER WE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS.
Karen
OPEN HOUSE SUCCESS
I can not tell you how pleased we
were with the turn out for our open house. We had about 300 people and
tours were running all the time. Everyone enjoyed clear weather, snacks inside with much to see including
the snakes and talks by volunteers about all sorts of animals and birds.
Ruffles decided she would perch outside the Educational building that is being restored and so it was view
through a fence.
The calendar sales and the Owl Pellet necklaces were a big success. If you missed getting either you may order from the web page. Wayne's Feed on Auburn and Just Goods on 7th Street also carry them. Make sure you ask for the Calendar and if you are in our neck of the woods, stop by Hearth and Garden in Durand or the Big Scoop in Durand both on Main Street. We really would love you to show your support to us and let the businesses know you are glad they carry our merchandise.
100% of all sales go to the care and feeding of the animals NO WHERE ELSE.
A picture of the owl pellet necklaces will be on the web page in the next week. They are designed by Deb
Hysell.
The Photo Voltaic System has been up and running now for 3 weeks and we are very excited. It will be on
the web everyday in the next 1-2 weeks so be watching. If you have any questions about this project or one
you would like contact Steven on the web page.
PROGRAMS
We are now booking Programs for February and June of 2010 so please do not wait till the last minute.
TOURS
Tours are available by appointment. $10 for anyone over 12 years old. They are becoming a hit.
Eagle Release
A young Eagle was found, June 27th, on the ground at the John Deere Golf Corse Wooded Area. The Eagle was found about 60 feet from the nest. It was unable to fly and could only walk around. The head of maintenance, Dustin Peterson, watched the eagle for three or four days. The eagle was getting weaker from lack of food. Dustin contacted a good friend, both to HOO Haven and to Dustin. Stan Boussin the Photographer. He suggested that Dustin call Hoo Haven. This is how we received the Eagle at HOO. One of our Transport team, Ken Andersen, pick up the eagle and bring it to HOO for us. We diagnosed the eagle to be in bad need of hydration and nourishment. We accomplished this and were able to transfer it to one of our eagle flight and exercise pens. After beefing up the eagle and knowing it could fly very well, we set the release date for August 10th, and made the arrangements for it's release. The release went very well and the eagle with thanks to all who helped it along the way on it path to recovery is doing fine, flying around the sky in East Moline, Illinois. Thanks again to all who helped.
WANT TO HELP "HOO" HAVEN.. GO TO "HELP US" AND THERE YOU CAN EITHER MAKE A DONATION OR PURCHASE ONE OF OUR ITEMS ON ZAZZLE.COM.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND USE YOUR ITEMS PROUDLY. TOGETHER WE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS.
PICK UPS AND VOLUNTEERS
"Hoo" Haven does very few pick ups any more let us explain.
Between the number of mammals and birds we do, treatments, feeding, cleaning and running "Hoo" Haven fit in-between, before and after our full time jobs and all of our volunteers full time jobs. It is not feasible.
We do have volunteers to the west who pick up birds of prey and animals for Hoo and transport them. They are called Transport Volunteers We would be glad to teach individuals how to do this if anyone is interested.
At "Hoo" there are all different kinds of volunteers because we are solely run by volunteers and supported by the generous donations of the People, Who Believe In What We Are Doing.
Please do not punish an animal or bird and do nothing because we do not pick up. We will walk you thru it and you will feel good at the end. No one person or facility can do it all. If we all work together we can make Rockford and all Mother Earth a better place to live for all future generations. It is not everyone else's job, it is everyone's job to help.
It truly saddens me when individuals get angry on the phone.
Thank you
Karen, RN,WLR
Director
