Green Infrastructure in the Chicago Southland

Wednesday, March 31, 2011

Deanna Glosser, Ph.D.Environmental Planning Solutions, Inc.

217-629-8949, Deanna_Glosser@comcast.net

The Chicago Wilderness Sustainable Watershed Action Team

What is the Sustainable Watershed Action Team (SWAT)?

SWAT provides technical assistance to local governments.

The focus is on sustainability, the protection of natural resources, green infrastructure.

Provides assistance to strengthen planning infrastructure – comp plans & ordinances.

Provides design guidance. How & why was SWAT created?

Chicago Wilderness

Key Elements of SWAT Provides customized, hands-on

expertise for a project at the request of a local government.

Engages a private consultant with the specific experience needed – successful economically & environmentally.

Provides peer-to-peer assistance. All participants work partially pro-

bono. Engages community leaders &

appropriate stakeholders.

•Coordinates with Collaborators to select projects•Identifies appropriate experts•Assembles project materials

•Keeps abreast of potential projects – advises the Director•Works to encourage participation & project success

SWAT Collaborators

SWATExperts

•Advise on project selection & project execution

•Work partially pro-bono •Peer-to-peer experts selected

How SWAT Works

SWAT Experts

• Applied Ecological Services – Brodhead, Wisc. & West Dundee, IL

• JF New, Crete, IL• Conservation Design Forum,

Elmhurst• JJR, Madison, Wisc.• Cowhey Gudmundson Leder

SWAT Collaborators• Campaign for Sensible Growth• The Conservation Foundation• IDNR’s C2000 program• McHenry County Conservation

District &Foundation • Metropolitan Planning Commission• NIPC/CMAP• Openlands Project• Soil & Water Conservation Districts

(Kane, Lake, McHenry)• USFWS

Comprehensive Plan–Village of Union

Village of Union, McHenry County --Population less than 1,000 -Has no planning staff-Was at the developing fringe-North Branch of the Kishwaukee River is a sensitive natural resource-Flooding & water quality problems

•Leveraged Village $ with SWAT assistance to develop a comp plan.

•SWAT focused on stormwater management, conservation design, restoration, and use of native landscaping. State-of-the-art objectives were included in the final plan.

•Union approved their plan and the companion SWAT document in November 2005.

Performance Standards–Aurora

Aurora’s Countryside Vision

Immediate need for annexation agreement language to ensure that final developments would fulfill the vision.

SWAT developed language for stormwater management, use of native landscaping, and general review of the preliminary plats.

Successful Effort – Trim Creek

Trim Creek, in Will & Kankakee Counties, is a tributary of the Kankakee River.

SWAT assisted in developing the watershed plan by conducting the environmental assessments and making recommendations for restoration & protection.

Green Infrastructure

Individual Building Lot Scale

Neighborhood Scale Municipal or County Scale

Regional or Watershed Scale

Regional ScaleChicagoWildernessGreen InfrastructureVision

SWAT is workingat this scale inMcHenry Co.

0 20 4010 Miles

Chicago Wilderness

Green Infrastructure Vision µ

Watershed Boundaries6-digit (basin) and 8-digit (subbasin) Hydrologic Units

State and County BoundariesWisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan

March 2004, J. Welch, RRPA_FINAL_Chicago

Green infrastructure is defined as the interconnected network of land and water that supports biodiversity and provides habitat for diverse communities of native flora and fauna at the regional scale. It includes large complexes of remnant woodlands, savannas, prairies, wetlands, lakes, stream corridors and the related natural communities that have been identified in the Biodiversity Recovery Plan. Green infrastructure

may also include areas adjacent to and connecting these remnant natural communities that provide both buffers and opportunities for ecosystem restoration.

L a k e M i c h i g a n

Will

Cook

La Salle

Rock

Lake

Kane

Lake

Jasper

Livingston

De Kalb

La Porte

Porter

Kankakee

Mchenry

Berrien

Lee

Jefferson

Iroquois

Dane

Pulaski

Walworth

Grundy

Waukesha

Ogle

Racine

Starke

Newton

Boone

Kendall

White

Du Page

Cass

Kenosha

Winnebago

Fulton

St Joseph

Marshall

Milwaukee

Ford

Dodge

Woodford

Marshall

Washington Ozaukee

Muskegon

Van Buren

Bureau

Putnam

Mclean

Ottawa

Allegan

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Chicago Wilderness member organizations are undertaking an effort to identify and prioritize sites for biodiversity protection and recovery along the Lake Michigan nearshore. This work will be proposed as an addendum to the Biodiversity Recovery Plan and is scheduled to be considered for adoption in 2004. Results should be integrated with a future version of the Green Infrastructure Vision.

The City of Chicago and invited Chicago Wilderness member organizations undertook an effort to identify sites for biodiversity protection and recovery in the City. This work was completed in 2004. Appropriate regionally-significant biodiversity conservation sites identified by the City have been integrated into the Green Infrastructure Vision.

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DATA SOURCES:

Existing Public Open Space in Illinois: Cook County Forest Preserves from Forest Preserve District of CookCounty's Forest Preserve District Boundaries, April 2001; DuPage County Forest Preserves from Forest Preserve District of DuPage County's 2003 Forest Preserve District Boundaries, February 2003; Lake County Forest Preserves from Lake County Forest Preserve District, 2003; McHenry County Forest Preserves from McHenryCounty Conservation District, digitized by NIPC staff from McHenry County Highway Map, September 2002; Kane County Forest Preserves from Kane County Forest Preserve District Boundaries, May 2002; Will CountyForest Preserves from Forest Preserve District of Will County's 2003 PINS_20031120, November 2003; Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie from Midewin Prairie Explorer 1999 CD-ROM with additional edits reflecting changes between CD release date and April 2001; Illinois State Parks and Illinois State Conservation Areas from Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Geographic Information System CD-ROM, Volume II, May 1996

Existing Public Open Space in Indiana: Nature Preserves from Indiana Department of Natural Resources'Nature Preserves digitized from 1:24,000 quad maps; Managed Areas from Indiana Department of Natural Resources' Draft GAP Analysis and from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Great Lakes Commission's 1998-2001 Northern Indiana Inland Sensitivity Atlas, Managed Areas Coverage, Northern Indiana Mapping Area, Final, Version 1, August 2001

Existing Public Open Space in Wisconsin: Conservation Easements from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 1995 Wetland Management District Conservation Easements - Region 3 Map, April 2001; Kettle Moraine State Forest - Southern Unit from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Manged Areas from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5's 2001-2002 Rock River Managed Areas, Inland Sensitivity Atlas, Version 1, September 2002; Public Lands for Walworth County from Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's 1990 Public Lands, Walworth County

County Boundaries, State Boundaries and Lake Michigan: ESRI's 2000 Data & Maps Media Kit CD-ROM,CD3, 2001

Streams and Open Water: U.S. Geological Survey's National Hydrography Dataset

6-digit and 8-digit Hydrologic Units: U.S. Geological Survey's 1994 1:250,000-scale Hydrologic Units, VectorDigital Data, 1994

Recommended Resource Protection Areas

Existing Public Open Space

County Boundaries

State Boundaries

Streams and Rivers

Lake Michigan

Open Water

Municipal Scale

Village of Campton HillsGreen Infrastructure Map

•Comprehensive Plan is now underway.•Green Infrastructure is the focus of the plan.•All other plan elements will be consistent with protecting GI.•CMAP has selected Campton Hills for an LTA grant so are assisting – leveraging dollars.

Site ScaleApplicable to both new projects and

retrofits

Crystal Lake is requiring infiltration BMPS in their most sensitive sub-watersheds.

Bannockburn requires rain gardens.

Municipal Projects-Permeable Pavement

Kane County Government Building

Bioswales

Natural Landscaping-Crate & Barrel Corporate Campus,Northbrook, IL

For More Information

CMAP website maintains information from SWAT workshops & project results:

http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/sustainable-watershed-action-team

If interested in a SWAT project, contact Deanna Glosser at Deanna_Glosser@comcast.net