If you live in Lake County, Chicagoland, the Midwest or the eastern U.S. and Canada, tick bites are a low-level but persistent consideration when spending time outdoors.

You don’t have to hike among dense vegetation to find them. Or for them to find you. Checking yourself, your family and pets for ticks regularly is important, especially from spring to fall.

Let’s do what we can to dampen the risks by talking ticks.

Guests:

Kathryn McCabe, wildlife ecologist, Lake County Forest Preserves

Selected Links and Sources:

“About Permethrin-Treated Clothing and Gear,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

“Common Ticks: Prevention & Control,” Illinois Department of Public Health

Every Acre Strong

“Guide to different tick species and the diseases they carry,” Mayo Clinic

“Lyme Disease,” CDC

“Lyme disease in dogs,” American Veterinary Medical Association

Preservation Foundation of the Lake County Forest Preserves

“Preventing Ticks on Pets,” CDC

“Tick Bite: What to Do,” CDC

Tick Info

“Tick Lifecycles,” CDC

“Tick Talk (Tick Awareness Month),” Mildmay Veterinary Clinic

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If you like what the forest preserves do for you, please consider donating to the Preservation Foundation’s Every Acre Strong campaign. Your gift will help provide a perpetual, dependable funding source and ensure every acre of habitat we restore remains ecologically healthy. Learn more and give at LCFPD.org/donate.

Have questions or comments? Send them to [email protected].

This episode of Words of the Woods was written, hosted and produced by Brett Peto, environmental communications specialist at the Lake County Forest Preserves. Featuring research and expertise from Kathryn McCabe. Script editing by Gary Glowacki, Jeanna Martinucci, Kathryn McCabe, Kim Mikus, Rebekah Snyder, Matt Ueltzen and Pati Vitt. Music and sound effects from Storyblocks. Audio editing and mixing by Brett Peto. Episode cover art © KPixMining.

Words of the Woods is a production of the Lake County Forest Preserves in Libertyville, Illinois.