Conscious Choice: I Can't Believe This is in Chicago!

May 2000

I Can't Believe This is in Chicago!

by Nancy Clum

It’s a statement that brings a knowing smile to the faces of employees, members, volunteers, and partners of the Friends of the Chicago River. A neophyte, I discovered the Chicago River only six months ago, after living in the city for three years. Determined to find respite from too many people and endless concrete, one fall day I followed a path away from the parking lot at Whelan Pool and was amazed to find myself walking by a peaceful wooded stream. I have since found a multitude of such places, and I have also found that the surest way to discover them is to follow the river. Every year hundreds of Chicagoans are making the same discovery thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the Chicago River and their partners.

The Chicago River has not always evoked such fond thoughts. Almost a century of sewage and industrial disposal culminated in contamination of the city’s drinking water supply in 1885, when a severe rainstorm carried sewage from the river into Lake Michigan beyond the water intake pipes. More than 90,000 people died in the cholera and typhoid outbreaks that followed. To guard against future tragedies, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was constructed in 1900, reversing the flow of the lower Chicago River (south from its junction with Lake Michigan) away from the lake. In subsequent decades, treatment facilities were constructed to prevent waste from entering the river, but they could not keep pace with the growing population, and so pollution continued. It wasn’t until after the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1977, providing an infusion of funds to upgrade treatment plants, that water quality began to improve significantly.

With this checkered past, it was not really surprising that Rob Cassidy, local editor and freelance writer, described the river in his 1979 article in Chicago magazine as "friendless." David Jones, a founding member of Friends of the Chicago River, remembers reading the article. "I thought, I would be a friend of the river," and he called Cassidy up to tell him so. At least fifteen other people also called Cassidy, all pledging their support of the river. Thus began the Friends of the Chicago River, meeting first in Cassidy’s kitchen and later in the employee cafeteria of the IBM building.

At first the meetings were all the same; the group would gather and people would talk about personal experiences with the river and discuss its importance to them. One of their first significant actions as a group came when a heliport was proposed by Merchandise Mart in the open space next to the river at Wolf Point. The group did their homework and found not only that the space was not large enough for scheduled flights, but also that when the apparel center was built the ordinance stated that developers would provide, as mitigation, a landscaped trail next to the river. In response to efforts of the Friends and other local groups, the application for the heliport was subsequently withdrawn, and a walkway was constructed. "We realized that we could get organized, that we could bring public pressure to bear," says Jones, "and that we could do this again."

The fledgling organization was taken under the wing of the Open Lands Project in 1981, a group that was philosophically similar in its approach to natural areas. Open Lands provided the Friends with space, telephones and even staff, freeing them to pursue their agenda with minimal financial outlay and logistical headaches. Since the Friends became an independent organization in 1988, they have acquired ten full-time staff members, about 1,500 members, and another couple thousand followers that request their newsletter. The river now has many friends and is steadily gaining more.

The strength of the organization lies in building the relationship between people and the river through community projects. Although the projects themselves are finite, "The process is iterative," explains David Ramsay, watershed programs coordinator at the Friends. In other words, projects lead to public awareness, which in turn leads to planning efforts, permitting changes, a willingness to support expenditures and report problems, and ultimately, to more projects. As a result, both the communities and the river benefit.

An excellent example of the synergy between human and ecological communities is the Northcenter Neighbors Riverbank Project, located between Berteau and Montrose on the east bank of the river. Five years ago, according to Pete Leki, a river neighbor, the riverbank was dominated by non-native plant species that shaded out the undergrowth, leaving the ground bare and muddy. With few plants to stabilize the soil, banks eroded and trees toppled. Because the riverbanks were steep, tangled, and inaccessible, they were used as a dumping ground and frequented only by kids and unsavory characters. "It was seedy, scary, and hidden," recalls Leki.

As Pete Leki began looking into planting native vegetation to stabilize the riverbank, another neighbor, Bill McBride, was beginning to clear the land by his house to make the river more accessible. When Bill and Pete eventually met, the two became the driving force behind what has grown into an 80-member community group. Organized around workdays, the group has been both industrious and creative. Some of the trees and branches removed to allow more light and encourage plant growth have been used to terrace the banks to hold soil and reduce runoff. Others have been used to make steps down to the river or have been woven into informal fences to line the half-mile trail, simultaneously providing and controlling access to the river. The planting of native vegetation has also improved wildlife habitat.

The success of the project extends far beyond improvements to the river itself. Waters Elementary School, whose students helped plant native vegetation along the river, has developed an environmental education program to provide hands-on learning to classes. Every three months the neighbors gather for a potluck. There’s a solstice party. "We even have a choir," laughs McBride. When you walk the path by the river, a stone’s throw from the nearest houses, the feeling of community is tangible.

People who don’t live in the neighborhood still benefit from it. Over time, much of the river has been channelized (i.e., dredged and straightened) for the purposes of navigation or flood control. When the soil from these modifications is dumped along the sides of the river, the resulting banks, or spoils, are extremely steep, making access to the river difficult. "This is one of the few places along the river where you can safely put in a canoe," explains McBride. On any given weekend in warm weather, as many as thirty people may use the informal launching area.

Of course, not everyone is in favor of opening the river. Some neighbors complain about nonresidents taking up parking space. Others insist that it invites vandalism and crime to the area, but as Leki points out, "Now anyone up to no good must do it in full view of the community," and McBride claims that calls to the police have steadily gone down over the years. Parking may also become less of an issue as the city follows through on plans for public canoe launches at places such as Foster Dam and Clark Park. Despite these concerns, Leki says, it is rare to find people who are against improving the river.

Northcenter is still a work in progress. Community members, organized by street, continue to meet on an annual basis to discuss future plans. The group recently joined the Neighbor Space Program run by the Planning Department of the City of Chicago. This program allows local community groups to manage local properties and provides the liability insurance to cover their activities. Northcenter now holds a five-year lease on the property from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, legitimizing the informal organization as a voice for the community and deepening their commitment to the river.

Throughout the process the group has relied on the Friends for advice, encouragement, and fiscal administration of funds necessary to complete the work. But as the Friends are quick to point out, they rarely labor alone. Instead, partnerships rule the day. In the case of Northcenter, the National Park Service and the North Branch Prairie Project provided scientific and technical advice and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District provided work crews to cut trees and haul refuse. Partnerships such as these make the most of individual expertise and resources while distributing costs and labor. And as Leki points out, "Restoring the ecology of the riverbank is easy. The challenge is how humans fit in, and how to get them to work together."

Private homeowners aren’t the only ones to benefit from working with the river. Residents of Lathrop Homes, a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) development on the east bank north and south of Diversey, recently completed the Jimmy Thomas Nature Trail, named for a former Lathrop resident. The trail was constructed with the help of the Green Corps, a cooperative program among the City of Chicago’s Department of Environment, DePaul University, and the Friends of the Chicago River. The program provides nine-month landscaping internships for unemployed and underemployed minorities, with the Friends providing training in riverbank stabilization and restoration. As a result, Lathrop got a nature trail and Green Corps participants got hands-on experience that may help them land a job in the booming environmental field.

The nature trail is just the beginning. The CHA has received a grant that will extend the nature trail and create a bike path and a park. In addition, the Friends and the Department of the Environment have contracted with The Wetlands Initiative to construct a wetland out of a turning basin. Turning basins were once important to allow boat traffic to change direction in the relatively narrow river. Although the Chicago is still a "working" river, industrial traffic is a fraction of what it once was and is now primarily concentrated farther downstream. As a result of disuse and erosion upstream, the basin has largely silted in. When the bottom is stirred up, contaminants contained in the sediment can enter the water. Construction of a wetland stabilizes the sediments and therefore keeps the river cleaner.

Like Northcenter, changes at Lathrop will also end up benefiting the general public, in this case by becoming part of the Chicago River Trail. David Jones sees the river as a necklace of water across the city, strung with parks, preserves, and projects such as Northcenter and Lathrop. The trail is a means both to bring people to the river and to bring the people of the neighborhoods together. "The people of Chicago have invested billions of dollars in river cleanup through projects like the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan," says Jones, and while cleaner water is a reward in itself, he envisions a more tangible reward: use of the river, not just for its traditional purposes (navigation, flood control, and waste assimilation), but as a natural, recreational, and aesthetic resource. And the easiest way to use this resource, is to walk along its banks.

Given the complex mix of parkland, forest preserves, residential, and commercial land uses along the river, the vision of a continuous path following the river through the city may seem overly optimistic. But this kind of thing has been done before; just look at our cherished lakefront. And the administrative mechanism needed to make it happen is already in place.

During the 1990s the Friends and the city succeeded in creating a set of guidelines for developments along the river. According to these guidelines, new developments must respect a thirty-foot right-of-way along the river. Within that right-of-way is to be included a landscaped, eight-foot-wide, hard-surface path that joins up with any neighboring paths. Thus, with each new development, a new section of trail is completed.

The plan isn’t foolproof. The guidelines are just that, and they do not apply to existing buildings, many of which extend to the river’s edge. But the level of cooperation has been impressive. The planning commission, which writes the ordinances regulating development, has been consistent and conscientious in applying the guidelines. To Jones’s knowledge, since the guidelines came into existence, no developer has been exempted from the thirty-foot setback. Nor are they fighting it.

For example, Centrum Properties, Inc., which has purchased and is redeveloping the Montgomery Ward buildings north and south of Chicago Avenue, has voluntarily chosen to comply with the guidelines. This is no small concession for a twenty-seven-acre, three million-square-foot property with three-quarters of a mile of riverfront. In addition to complying with the guidelines for any new development, existing buildings will be modified by removing the outside wall to create a large, open arcade to accommodate the path. The company also plans to build a boathouse for storage, rental, and launching of canoes and kayaks that will be open to the public.

Not every story is a success story, of course. The Friends and the residents of Pilsen, at 16th and Canal Street, lobbied hard for community open space by the river. But in the end the city decided that the space by the river must be kept for industrial use. However, the consultants identified some new sites that the residents hadn’t considered and, admits Len Dominguez of Chicago Public Schools, "these sites are actually closer to where the families and the kids are." An unexpected benefit of their efforts has been the ability to neutralize local politics and create a coalition of supporters that represents the community. Dominguez also praises the executive director of the Friends, Laurene von Klan, for pushing the acquisition of real estate for community use, rather than waiting until the land is purchased to develop it. For now, however, this section of the trail will have to wait.

But the trail is slowly becoming a reality. When the shopping center was constructed on the east bank of the river north of Fullerton, its mandated section of isolated trail seemed pitiful and slightly ridiculous. But when the bridge at Damen Street was constructed, it also included a setback from the river. Now with work underway at Lathrop and the Department of Transportation’s intent to modify the overpass at Diversey, another 1.5 miles will have been added to the Chicago River Trail.

Like any organization, the Friends have their detractors. There are complaints that they take too much credit for cooperative efforts, that they are not sufficiently quantitative or scientific in their work, or that they spend too little time on larger environmental issues that impact the region. But no one suggests that they are not committed, effective, and highly visible.

Along the 156-mile river, the list of accomplishments, projects, and plans is growing. A detention basin in North Chicago to filter water before it enters the river. An environmentally friendly golf course in Wilmette. A prairie restoration in Bannockburn. A wetlands restoration at Gompers Park. A riverbank trail at Horner Park in Ravenswood. Redevelopment of industrial space at Goose Island. And while the Friends can’t take full credit, their contributions are acknowledged in the awards that cover the walls of their reception area; at least one for every year of independent operation.

There is no sign that the momentum is slowing. On the drawing board is an "adopt-a-beach" program, similar to the phenomenally successful adopt-a-highway programs that have been responsible for cleaning up the nation’s highways, one state at a time.

The Friends reach out to individuals as well as communities. "People don’t care about something if they don’t know about it," explains Cathy Hudzik, stewardship coordinator for the Friends. Their biggest public event is River Rescue Day, which this year takes place on Saturday, May 13. From 9:00 am to noon, participants help clean up the river. Afterward there is a free picnic in River Park at Foster and Francisco Streets with music, games, canoe rides, booths, and free T-shirts for participants. Last year more than 1,500 people showed up to help clean thirty different sites along the river.

But even better, is to get people on the river. Enter Urban Canoe Adventures, fondly know as UCan. Now in its sixth year, UCan offers guided trips on the river for groups and the general public. The Friends train guides in paddling, safety, history, and ecology of the river, so people with no prior paddling experience can learn about and enjoy the river firsthand. Last year UCan trained twenty-five guides and took more than six hundred people down the river. This year they have forty guides and will be out almost every weekend.

Many of the guides are students recruited through the Chicago River Schools Network, a program created by the Friends to train teachers to incorporate environmental issues into their curriculum. The youth component is important, explains Hudzik, "because it builds leadership for the future stewardship of the river." The youths receive a stipend for their efforts, but they also get the satisfaction of introducing first-time canoeists to the river. And the response is always the same: "I can’t believe this is in Chicago." Once on the river, the city is transformed — it recedes, and for stretches, completely disappears.

Get Involved, or Just Get Outside!

River Rescue Day: Saturday, May 13. Help clean up the river and then join the party at River Park. Registering ahead of time (312-939-0490, extension 25) will help guarantee that all participants get a free T-shirt. Wear something you don’t mind getting dirty and/or wet.

Northcenter Workday: Saturday, May 6, 9:00 am to noon. Volunteers are needed for planting and trail maintenance. Call Pete Leki (773-463-8960).

Lathrop Homes Workday: Date TBA. Volunteers are needed for planting and trail maintenance. Call David Jones (312-939-0490 extension 14).

Prairie Wolf Slough Workday: Second Saturday of each month. Volunteers are needed for wetland and prairie restoration. Call Al Pilgrim (847-328-0145).

Canoe Trips and Canoe Days: Most weekends from May 27 through October 14. Canoe days offer short, round-trip rides. Canoe trips last from several hours to all day. Fees help cover canoe rentals and training of guides. All outings guided. First canoe trip of the season: Saturday, May 27, on the North Branch of the river. First canoe weekend is Saturday and Sunday, June 17 and 18 (Father’s Day) at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Reservations are required for both outings. For a full schedule, contact Friends of the Chicago River.

Paddling Lessons: Beginner’s paddling lessons are available from certified instructors at Canoe Days with advanced registration. Contact Friends of the Chicago River.

Walking Tours: Every Saturday from 10:00 am to noon, May through August. Trained docents explain city history and river ecology along the downtown branch of the river. Free. Contact Friends of the Chicago River.

Cruises: Every Thursday night during June, July, and August. Eat, drink, and be merry on the river. Contact Friends of the Chicago River.

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