|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||
|
|
The Nature Conservancy in the Great Lakes Region Great Lakes Contact Us How We Work Places We Protect Press Releases Resources Volunteer Ways of Giving |
|
|
|
||||
Great Lakes Conservation
|
|
Illinois - Chicago Wilderness
Amid skyscrapers, urban highways and industry, more than 250,000 acres of natural lands are protected throughout the Chicago Wilderness, a land that stretches from southeastern Wisconsin through northeastern Illinois and into northwestern Indiana. These lands and inland waters, which hug Lake Michigan, harbor a high concentration of globally significant natural communities, including tallgrass prairie, wetlands and wildflower-filled oak savannas.
In the mid-1990s, the Conservancy and other like-minded groups came together in an unprecedented effort to preserve and protect these places. Known as the Chicago Wilderness consortium, it now includes more than 170 member organizations.
The group drafted an ambitious Biodiversity Recovery Plan that calls on government officials to work hand-in-hand with business leaders, farmers and the millions of people who live in and around this wilderness. The plan lays out not only a vision for the plants, animals and ecosystems that thrive here, but also for the people who enjoy these natural gems. Chicago Wilderness encompasses the best of the Conservancy’s belief that more can be accomplished by working together than alone.
