More green help for Chicago area waterways

A new fund will be announced today to help restore the health, vitality and accessibility of the waterways in the Chicago and Calumet region.

The Chi-Cal Rivers Fund is a public-private partnership overseen by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which has made more than 12,100 grants in all 50 states since it was founded in 1984. The new fund’s mission is to improve stormwater management, wildlife habitat and public access to waterways.

The Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal in Lemont. Photo by Lee Hogan.

The waterways covered by the new fund are the Chicago River and its tributaries, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Bubbly Creek, the Cal-Sag Channel, the Calumet River, the Grand Calumet River, the Little Calumet River and Burns Ditch.

Stormwater also is the focus of the Cook County Watershed Management Ordinance, a draft of which the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has been presenting at public hearings throughout the county. Tonight’s hearing will be at a meeting of the Northwest Municipal Conference at the Mount Prospect Village Hall, 50 S. Emerson, Mount Prospect.

The Chi-Cal Rivers Fund has three year’s worth of financial backing from eight funding partners. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation also administers a Great Lakes program called Sustain our Great Lakes.

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A kayaker traverses the Chicago River near Wolf Point Friday morning. | Rich Hein~Sun-Times