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Wednesday, July 13, 2022
FREP Annual Picnic 3:00 PM
Location: Carl Hansen Woods,
Cook County Forest Preserve
(part of the Arthur L. Janura Preserve, and the Poplar Creek Trail System)
Sutton Rd/Rte 59, south of Shoe Factory Rd, Cook County, IL 60192
(near Schaumburg/south of I90)
Enter West Side of Rte. 59/ park across from first pavilion MAP
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Meet at 3 for social time, tour, and then we'll share a meal.
Rick McAndless of North Cook County Soil & Water Conservation District is our host and will lead a tour.
The site is within the Forest Preserves of Cook County with a 32-year-old prairie and oak woodland restoration that Rick has been involved with. There is also a Illinois Nature Preserve on the site that is a gravel kame (Shoe Factory Road NP).
Food -- bring a dish to share (appetizer, salad, side, or dessert) and we will provide grilled meats and beverages.
To keep as eco-responsible as possible - we encourage you to bring your own tableware.
Guests welcome.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2022
FREP Noon Network Noon - 1:30 PM
Location: Urban Stream Research Center at Blackwell Forest Preserve,
(north side of Butterfield Rd.) Warrenville
Program: Tour of the Urban Stream Research Center
Presenters: Joe Limpers, Jim Intihar
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The Urban Stream Research Center (USRC) serves as the Forest Preserve District’s facility for aquatic conservation programs and is the only facility of its kind in Illinois. Located where Springbrook Creek enters the West Branch DuPage River in Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville, the building opened in 2012 and was funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is the result of a partnership between DuPage County Stormwater Management and the Forest Preserve District.
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President's Message from Jeff |
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As I write this message, it is a very dark day in the United States, as the U.S. Supreme Court has taken another step backward in restricting the USEPA’s authority to regulate harmful greenhouse gasses from power plants, jeopardizing our communities and planet in favor of profits for big oil and other polluters. It is hard to remain hopeful in the face of such extreme setbacks that have little or no legitimate legal basis. As I understand it, their decision was made based in part on a regulation that was/is not in effect.
The Illinois Environmental Council reminds us that we did pass the landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) in Illinois which is already cutting costs for millions of Illinois consumers and small businesses, creating thousands of equitable, good-paying clean energy jobs, and replacing dirty, expensive coal and gas with clean, cheap renewable energy.
On the topic of what we can do, July has been designated Plastic Free July by some environmental organizations (other than “bioplastics,” plastics are all petroleum based). There are lots of data for the Great Lakes, but less information is available for our Fox River watershed, but I’m certain the plastics pollution situation is fairly similar. Plastic makes its way into our environment in many ways and forms.
Plastic never really goes away, instead is just breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastics. These microplastics have been found in our drinking water, fish, beer, even in people’s blood. Despite our efforts, most plastic is not actually recycled even if we put it in our curbside recycle bin. Plastics are everywhere. Yet we continue to do little about it as a society.
FREP offered a program about this problem in September of 2020 LINK if you want to revisit or if you missed it.
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So, what are simple things we ALL can do to help. Below are some suggestions for a plastic free July (and beyond).
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- Always use a reusable water bottle and encourage others to do so.
- Skip the plastic straw. Don’t accept them when offered.
- Bring reusable cutlery for your picnics and other outings. Use paper plates if you have to, but using regular dishes and washing them is even better.
- Skip the balloons.
- Choose paper, not plastic, though other reusable containers are always the best option. Eliminating those plastic “ziplock” bags can be challenging, but they are a super common single-use plastic we need to replace.
- Remember your reusable cloth bags – the pandemic set us back on using them, but we need to use them at all stores we visit and just turn down their plastic bags.
- Help with cleanups – roadside, river, and otherwise.
- Tell your friends and family! Share your plastic-free tips and tricks.
- Skip the plastic produce bags at the supermarket that they want you to think you have to use. Take a mesh bag and use that instead.
- Support businesses that are eliminating plastic materials in their packaging.
There are more and more of them out there.
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Finally, I hope to see many of you at the FREP annual picnic on Wednesday July 13th. See details in this Downstream. I challenge us to make this a no-waste picnic. Our friends at Seven Generations Ahead host an annual microbrew festival featuring over 80 breweries – and it is a waste-free event. So surely, we can make our picnic no-waste!
Jeff Mengler
FREP President
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FREP Membership - New FY 2022-23 began 7/1/22 |
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Thank you to all who have already responsed to the statements
for 2022-23 membership renewal.
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If you did not receive a statement, membership can be initiated or renewed online and dues paid via PayPal at: FREP Membership Form.
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Fox River Subwatershed News |
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Indian Creek
Watershed-based Planning
Update - June 30, 2022
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The public engagement webpage is waiting for you! Please visit https://engage.cmap.illinois.gov/indian-creek-watershed-based-plan. Take a look around… here you can share your insights and ideas for protecting and improving water and habitat quality in the Indian Creek watershed and adjacent Fox River via maps, a quick poll, a short survey, and a comments forum. Through one interactive map, you can point out areas of concern (such as flooding, erosion, water quality concerns), and through another interactive map, you can add ideas for water quality-related projects, outreach and education activities, monitoring programs, and policy and planning updates.
Please get submittals in by July 22!
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Please get submittals in by July 22!
Your ideas for future actions are a big key piece of watershed-based plans like this one. This is where the lure hits the water, where the bricks hit the ground, where the money gets things going, where the… you get the picture! The water quality-related projects and programs identified in the Indian Creek Watershed-based Plan – collectively termed best management practices (BMPs) – will become eligible for applicable federal grants, including Clean Water Act “Section 319” Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program grants. Inclusion also helps improve ranking for other state and local grants and technical assistance, such as Illinois EPA’s Green Infrastructure Grant Opportunities (GIGO) program and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation’s Natural Areas Grant Program.
In other project news, a draft of the Indian Creek Watershed-based Plan was submitted to Illinois EPA on June 30. The document is available to view and download from the project webpage on the FREP website as well as on CMAP’s project engagement webpage (see links below). CMAP welcomes your comments and questions. Sections remaining to be rounded out include the stream physical conditions and detention basin assessment portions of the watershed resource inventory chapter, and of course the BMP recommendations that are currently being gathered through the public engagement site.
If you would like to be added to the contact list for Indian Creek Watershed-based Planning news and events or have any questions about the project or the public engagement webpage, please contact Holly Hudson at CMAP: hhudson@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8700.
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If you would like more information or learn how to get involved, please contact
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Video of June 8, 2022 FREP Noon Network
Program: Kane County’s Countywide Drainage Mapping Initiative –
Where Does Your Water Go?
Presenter: Rob Linke P.E., CFM Sr. Water Resources Engineer & Wetland
Specialist, Kane County Dept of Environmental & Water Resources
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Video of April 13, 2022 FREP Noon Network
Program: COP26 - What was accomplished? A local perspective
Presenter: Gary Cuneen of Seven Generations Ahead
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Video of our February 9, 2022 program
Legislative Update with Jack Darin, Chapter Director, Sierra Club of Illinois
Eliot Clay, State Programs Director, Illinois Environmental Council
Thank you Jack & Eliot!
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Video of our January 12, 2022 program
Local Government’s Approach to Meeting the Evolving Stormwater Requirements in the State’s NPDES / MS4 Program
Panelists:
Rob Linke, P.E., Kane County Dept of Environmental & Water Resources;
Scott Kuykendall,LEED AP BD+C, McHenry County Water Resources,
Mark Phipps, P.E. City of Aurora Public Works Department
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November 10, 2021 FREP Presentation by Art Malm:
Freeing Our Fox! - a discussion of dams on the Fox River in Illinois
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You work and play on them. You drink from them. But do you really appreciate them? Growing population, development, and invasive species stress your local lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. All life needs water; let’s not take it for granted!
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Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI) July Newsletter
Includes new CRTI Urban Forest Data
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The Conservation Foundation has a new outreach materials resource page on their website:
Please feel free to use any of these materials if they will be useful to you. There are draft blog posts, graphics for social media, and some short video clips, all available to share.
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Community Recycling Information |
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Becky Hoag, Communications Manager
Fox River Ecosystem Partnership
Please email Becky if you have an email to add to our mailing list or content to add to the next monthly Downstream.
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