Acquiring Illinois Land for Proposed Refuge

WHO: The Friends of the Kankakee

WHERE: Cedar Lake, IN

WHEN:

The Friends of the Kankakee are preparing for the day when the Grand Kankakee Marsh National Wildlife Refuge – proposed by the federal government in 1996 - becomes a reality.

Since the non profit, membership group formed in 2000, Friends of the Kankakee has been buying up clusters of land - 155 acres so far – in the biologically sensitive footprint of the Refuge in the Kankakee River watershed in Illinois. 

The proposed Refuge consists of 20,000 acres straddling the river in Indiana and 8,000 acres in Iroquois and Kankakee Counties in Illinois. Only a small portion of the land has been acquired so far.  But Friends of the Kankakee is already working with other environmental organizations such as The Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited to connect the land that they already own to the proposed Refuge, providing for the restoration of a healthy, fully functioning natural system.

More than 100 years ago, the Kankakee River was a formidable water source - it snaked nearly 240 miles between northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois - flowing through the Grand Kankakee Marsh.  At the time, the Marsh measured 5,300 square miles and was considered one of the largest marsh wetlands in the United States.  It was a famous hunting spot for waterfowl that attracted the likes of Teddy Roosevelt.

Today, only one percent of the original Marsh remains. Much of the wetlands have been drained and fragmented to convert the land for corn and soybean production. Yet the Kankakee River wetlands remain a significant breeding area for waterfowl, and its basin supports 100 percent of the eastern population of Greater Sandhill Cranes during migration.

With the Chicago metropolitan region predicted to double in size over the next three decades, bringing increased urban sprawl, the Kankakee Watershed will likely experience continued habitat loss and resulting declines in wildlife populations unless it’s restored and protected. 

The Friends of the Kankakee stands ready to donate their property to that important purpose the moment the Grand Kankakee Marsh National Wildlife Refuge gets the green light.

If the group, and its partner organizations, has their way – the Refuge will revitalize the health of the marsh and the wildlife it sustains.  It will also become a destination that allows Chicago’s urban dwellers to take a one hour drive to make a connection with the natural beauty of the Centuries past.

Wetland plants growing where there was bare sand

Photo Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 

VIEW ALL FEATURED PROJECTS