Conservation Foundation tackles suburban river health at a regional, backyard level – Shaw Local

The Conservation Foundation has led influential efforts to improve Northeast Illinois waterways through education, diverse programs and ecosystem restoration, and has seen improvements as a result.

The foundation has more than 5,000 members and 500 volunteers who carry out its mission to “preserve and restore open space and natural areas, protect rivers and watersheds, and promote the stewardship of our environment in northeastern Illinois,” according to the website. The group is concentrating more of its work in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties.

It has a history of undertaking projects involving several suburban waterways such as the Fox River, DuPage River, Salt Creek, and now even has some connection to work on the Chicago River. The organization currently has a Fox River Initiative that aims to remove the waterway from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Impaired Waters list.

“The Fox River is currently classified as a river with issues, and so that’s one thing we’re working on,” said Jessica Mino, Kane and Kendall program director for the foundation. “Many improvements have been made over the decades and it is a beautiful river to enjoy.”

“We want to prevent chemicals from getting into our waterways through the things we put on our lawns, and that’s like fertilizers and herbicides and things like that.”

— Jessica Mino, Kane and Kendall Program Director for The Conservation Foundation

A major problem the foundation is now focusing on in the rivers is the high chloride content of other toxic chemicals.

“A big focus for us is on winter chlorides or chlorides in general, but especially on winter practices, and then on nutrients, so phosphorus and nitrogen, these are nationwide issues that people are trying to grapple with,” said Jennifer Hammer, vice president of the foundation’s Land and Water Program. “We’re kind of looking at the sources of the sources coming from wastewater treatment plants.”

In response to the high chloride levels facing waterways, Hammer has worked to get both the Salt Smart Collaborative and Winter Chloride Watchers programs up and running to identify and combat these problems.

Hammer is co-coordinator of Salt Smart Collaborative, an organization that serves as an educational outlet aimed at reducing the amount of salt that organizations and individuals use.

“We’re developing a lot of educational materials for residents and really gathering information from other sources,” Hammer said. “The chlorine levels are dropping in the areas where we have been working on this the longest.”

Winter Chloride Watchers is a program that monitors the amount of chloride in Northeastern Illinois waterways. The program runs from November to May.

“It’s a really fun project where you go through an hour-long training on the impact of chlorides and pick up key kits and choose a location,” Hammer said.

Participants can choose their own testing locations where they monitor chloride levels. Information on how to register can be found at theconservationfoundation.org/rivers-streams/winter-chloride-watchers/.

The foundation also focuses largely on the environment in which their streams are located and educating individuals on things they can do to better help the environment, even from the comfort of their own home.

“We have a program called Conservation@Home,” Mino said. “It’s a great way for people to get started because it doesn’t necessarily have to go anywhere; it basically means that wherever we are, we can all make an impact. It provides a checklist of sorts with some ideas to get you started in your backyard system.”

Conservation@Home is a free program that encourages individuals to make small, environmentally friendly changes. They can even receive free visits from the foundation’s members to get advice on things that can be done to improve their backyards or other environmental projects, which in turn will benefit the health of the waterways.

“We want to prevent chemicals from getting into our waterways from the things we put on our lawns, and that’s like fertilizers and herbicides and things like that,” Mino said. “It’s like you’re aware of that, but Conservation@Home gives some tips that people can do at home. Wherever you are, you can do something to support our waterways.”

More information about the foundation and its various programs can be found at https://theconservationfoundation.org/.

Their headquarters are located at 10S404 Knoch Knolls Road in Naperville.