Strong participation in the 2020 Census is crucial to Friends and our environmental partners who rely on accurate census data to help enforce protections of our watershed for people, plants and wildlife.

A largemouth bass, tagged by aquatic biologists in the Chicago River near Goose in October 2019, traveled 30 miles upstream in the North Branch of the
Chicago River and reached the Skokie River.

Friends of the Chicago River is pleased to welcome Elizabeth O'Brien, a partner in the Real Estate Practice Group at Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC to Friends' Board of Directors.

Friends' online educational series - Chicago River Talks - is available on our YouTube Channel.

Last week Friends was thrilled to discover an osprey adding material to the nesting platform we installed at Beaubien Woods in early 2018. Reports a few days later by Forest Preserve District staff revealed there was a male and a female together there which was confirmed again yesterday by Friends' staff.

Days of rain have resulted in tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage and stormwater runoff pouring into the Chicago River system through the sewers and overland as well as releases into the lake at Wilmette and downtown Chicago.

Friends and our Water Quality Task Force partners at Environmental Law & Policy Center, Openlands, and Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter are seeking photographs of algal blooms on the river to support our efforts to reduce nutrient pollution.

We're especially looking for photos from the 2018 and 2019 paddling seasons, but any photos will help.

Friends of the Chicago River is thrilled to announce that we have been selected for the 2019 John Muir Conservation Habitat Restoration Award for Nonprofits from the John Muir Association.

Friends' success in transforming the health of the Chicago River system was front and center in the news in the last few weeks.

Public relations professional Tim Touhy joins Friends of the Chicago River as director of communications.