Sign Up for Chicago River Day Today
Join us May 14 for the 30th annual Chicago River Day. The spring litter cleanup and restoration event draws thousands of volunteers every year to work in and along the river system at nearly 70 locations throughout the watershed – from Lake County to the Calumet region and southwest to Summit, Palos and beyond. The three-hour litter cleanup event kicks off at 9 a.m., and runs to 12 noon. Registration is required.
This volunteer-driven event that began in 1992 as Chicago River Rescue Day – reflecting the more dire environmental state of the river 30 years ago – has steadily grown into the Friends’ largest and most popular volunteer event of the year. Since 1992 volunteers have removed an epic 1.9 million pounds of litter and invasive plant material from the river and its banks.
Rescue was dropped from the event’s name in 2004, underscoring the river’s improved health and the increased recognition of this valuable natural asset. The Chicago River system has made a strong comeback due to action and advocacy on its behalf; the results are smarter policy decisions for the implementation of water quality standards, disinfection to protect recreational users, more open public space, and wildlife restoration.
“When Chicago River Day began 30 years ago, fishing, paddling, and accessible open space on the Chicago River system were novel ideas, and swimming was unthinkable,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Fiends of the Chicago River. “Now the Chicago River system is healthier than it has been in 150 years and it is alive with people and wildlife. There is more work to do to address the continued impacts of sewage and stormwater pollution, and the climate crisis, but people are awakening to an understating of the river as a valuable natural resource and are springing into action to improve and protect it.”
While the overall health of the Chicago River system is greatly improving, litter remains a harmful and stubborn problem. For the past 30 years, volunteers have carted off hundreds of nearly 2 million pounds of garbage from the 156-mile Chicago River system, restoring riverbanks and open spaces for a Litter Free Chicago-Calumet river system.
Each year Friends features a river animal as part of Chicago River Day to help connect us to the many different animals that rely on us to care for and protect the river system. To illustrate the interconnectedness of the land and water, this year's featured animal is the Blanding’s Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii).
Thank you to all our 2022 Chicago River Day corporate sponsors including Stream sponsor Exelon; Creek sponsor Mars Wrigley, William Blair; Marsh sponsor HESNI-Healthcare Engineering Society of Northern Illinois, REI, Schulze & Burch Biscuit Co., Waste Management, The Cynthia Weglarz Rountree Fund; Spring sponsors Sally Fletcher, McDermott Will & Emery, Wendella Tours & Cruises, Wolf Point Towers-Hines; Tributary sponsors Bubbly Dynamics, Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., City Experiences, Essanay Studio and Lighting Company, Inc., and SWCA Environmental Consultants. We continue to add sponsors every day.
Time for New Ways to Revel on the Riverfront
for St. Patrick’s Day
As reported by WTTW Chicago online, staff from Friends of the Chicago River as well as officers from the Forest Preserves of Cook County and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources conservation police will have an eye on the Upper North Branch of the Chicago River today for any illegal dyeing of the river which has occurred the past two years on the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day.
Any dyeing or discoloration of the Upper North Branch should be reported immediately to the Hazardous Waste Dump Hotline of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for investigation – (800) 332-3867 or (800) 332-DUMP.
Friends of the Chicago River would like to see the downtown tradition of dyeing the river green evolve into something that embraces the vastly improved health of the river system and all of people and wildlife who enjoy and rely on it—imagine fish, beavers or otters swimming through that dyed-green water and you might think a new celebration is the right idea.
A good next step is making sure that the culprits who dyed the Upper North Branch in 2020 and 2021 learn that their idea of fun is ecologically harmful and against the law. Then maybe we can have a contest to develop new ways to revel in St. Patrick’s Day on the riverfront making sure they are healthy and safe for everyone
Photo: Green dye in the Upper North Branch of the Chicago River
Welcome to the Board Brad Pollock
Friends of the Chicago River is pleased to welcome Brad Pollock, area vice president of WM (Waste Management), to Friends' Board of Directors. Brad is an expert in zero-waste system strategies to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
From 2012 through 2017, Brad oversaw WM’s operations of the WM Phoenix Open which was recognized as the largest zero-waste sporting event in the world. An alumnus of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Pollock also holds a master’s degree from Bellevue University in Nebraska.
"Serving on the board of Friends of the Chicago River is a wonderful opportunity for me to contribute to the good work that WM and Friends achieve together for the improvement and protection of the river system,” Pollock said. “Zero-waste strategies are one example of how, as a community, we can greatly improve the health of the river system. At WM, we help our customers look at their supply chain choices resulting in the reduction of waste, increased recycling opportunities, and improved environmental impact. The WM Phoenix Open, which I was proud to help lead for several years, illustrates how smart supply chain choices leads to the largest zero-waste event in the world.”
WM was named to Barron’s Top 100 Most Sustainable Companies List in 2021 and is a longtime sponsor of Chicago River Day and the Big Fish Ball.
Study Shows Advocating for the River System
is Paying Off
Decades of work to reduce sewage and stormwater pollution in the Chicago River system is directly linked to the dramatic increase of fish species – especially native species – according to a study by our partners at the Shedd Aquarium. However, more work needs to be done to sustain and accelerate health improvements from threats posed by rising chloride (salt) levels and the climate crisis.
In a WTTW Chicago story this week about the study, Friends’ Executive Margaret Frisbie said the dramatic turnaround in the health of the river system is due to years of advocacy for the implementation of water quality standards, disinfection to protect recreational users, more open space, and wildlife habitat restoration. She also notes a shift in the organizational mindset of public agencies, such as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, to focus on the broader health of the region’s waterways and ecosystems. The WWTW story notes that investments in wastewater treatment and infrastructure make a difference: “MWRD’s Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP, aka, Deep Tunnel), commissioned in the 1970s, is one such investment. As massive reservoirs like Majewski, Thornton, and McCook phase one have come online, MWRD has been able to capture and store stormwater and sewage that would otherwise have overflowed, untreated, from sewers into waterways during major rainstorms and snowmelts.”
To build resiliency and eliminate all sewer overflows into the river, TARP must be augmented by a nature-based green infrastructure system and the continued input of road salt into the Chicago River system is a risk to health improvement gains according to the Shedd’s study. As WWTW’s story reports, “Spread liberally on streets, sidewalks and parking lots, salt eventually is washed away into sewers and carried to treatment plants, which are powerless against it. It is a threat to “Any plant, fish or other aquatic species that didn’t evolve in the presence of salt suffers….”
Graphic: Shedd Aquarium
Become a Volunteer Wildlife Monitor; Upcoming Trainings in March
Friends of the Chicago River is seeking volunteer wildlife monitors at restored habitats for three river-dependent species: bats, osprey, and turtles. The data collected by volunteer monitors is crucial to evaluating the success of these species at the restored habitats. Training is required but no experience is needed. The in-person trainings are conducted by Friends’ Ecology Outreach Manager Mark Hauser and include all necessary information and expectations for interested volunteers to monitor these animals and their habitats. Groups and families are encouraged and children under 18 must monitor with an adult. We request volunteers commit to at least one habitat location and monitor it at least twice per month during the breeding season (May to August). Habitats are located to the north in Glencoe, Winnetka, Northfield, and Morton Grove; and to the south in Lemont, Midlothian, Riverdale, Thornton and Chicago Heights.
Upcoming trainings for volunteer wildlife monitors are in-person and will be from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24 at Urban Rivers, 1550 North Kingsbury St., in Chicago, and from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 26 at the Ford Environmental Center at Big Marsh Park, 11555 South Stony Island Ave., in Chicago. Please register for only one session. Both sessions cover the same content. To register, please contact Mark Hauser at mhauser@chicagoriver.org.
Inside, Out & About Examines How to Depave Chicago
Listen to our new episode of Inside, Out & About featuring Mary Pat McGuire, associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and director of Water Lab. In an informative discussion with Friends’ Executive Margaret Frisbie, McGuire talks about the relationship between water and pavement, and the vital need to rethink our overreliance on impervious paved surfaces. McGuire details how we can Depave Chicago to transform the ground surfaces of the city into more ecologically and socially just environments. More episodes of Inside, Out & About are available on our website.
Learn More About the Women’s L Project
The Women’s L Project, which symbolically renames L stops in honor of amazing Chicago women, was profiled this week in the Chicago Tribune. The project named the Brown Line’s Francisco Station near the North Branch of the river for Friends’ Executive Director Margaret Frisbie. Look for the founder of the project, Janet Volk, and Friend’s Margaret Frisbie to be profiled together next week by CBS 2 Chicago. A poster featuring every L stop named for a notable Chicago woman is available for purchase on their website.
Remarkable World of Birding at Whistler Woods
Our partners at Friends of the Forest Preserves offers a new video featuring the remarkable world of birding at Whistler Woods in south suburban Riverdale. The video also profiles some of the dedicated people who are shaping the growing birding community in Cook County. Please visit the Friends of the Forest Preserves website for upcoming birding opportunities.
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