Green Infrastructure in the Chicago Southland
Wednesday, March 31, 2011
Deanna Glosser, Ph.D.Environmental Planning Solutions, Inc.
217-629-8949, [email protected]
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 [email protected]