Natural Solutions Tool Expansion Strengthens Resiliency and Equity Across Lake County

Frriends of the Chicago River and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) has expanded our award-winning Natural Solutions Tool into all of Lake County, thanks to generous support from the Daybreak Fund. Launched in March 2023 as part of the Greater Chicago Watershed Alliance, this innovative tool uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to help decision-makers, planners, and community leaders identify where nature-based solutions can have the greatest impact.

Designed to address environmental injustice and degradation, the Natural Solutions Tool provides a visual, data-driven way to assess and prioritize areas for restoration, conservation, and equitable investment in natural infrastructure. By incorporating more than 100 customizable data layers, users can analyze complex environmental challenges—such as flooding, urban heat, or inequitable access to green space—and develop strategies that strengthen both community and ecological health.

When the Tool first launched, it included most of Cook County but only partial coverage of Lake County. With the new funding, the Tool now fully encompasses Lake County—including key environmental justice investment communities. The expanded Tool also includes a new analysis topic for agricultural land protection using data provided by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

The expanded Tool was unveiled Tuesday at the College of Lake County’s Waukegan campus, where local agencies, nonprofits, and community advocates gathered for a live demonstration and collaborative discussion. Attendees shared ideas for how the tool could support conservation advocacy, project implementation, and storytelling with data. Friends also introduced the Natural Solutions Tool Curriculum, which helps educators teach map-reading, environmental justice, and climate science using real-world data.

“Lake County has always been a strategic focus of Friends’ work, since it is the headwaters of the Chicago-Calumet River System where thoughtful investments in nature-based stormwater infrastructure are critically important to protecting and improving river health and resiliency,” said Margaret Frisbie, Executive Director of Friends of the Chicago River. “The expanded Natural Solutions Tool provides a new vision and strategy for those investments and connects them to other co-benefits that our watershed communities and wildlife need for strategic planning, advocacy, protection, and restoration.”

Since its launch, Friends has trained more than 700 individuals from over 100 organizations to use the Tool, helping to support over $10 million in successful grant applications, demonstrating its growing influence in shaping data-informed, equitable environmental investments.