On September 28, Friends' education manager, Mark Hauser, served as a key expert on the Chicago Tribune's second Chicago River Wildlife Cruise. This time they traveled down the South Branch to Bubbly Creek spotting a multitude of birds and other creatures including black crowned and great blue herons.

 Thirteen years after Friends first called for sewage treatment plant effluent disinfection in our report, Waterways for Our Future, yesterday the ceremonial shovels hit the ground.

A massive riverbank restoration project at Horner Park was under attack by neighbors who were concerned that the plan removed too many trees. The US Army Corps of Engineers revised the high quality ecosystem restoration plan to address the objections.

The Chicago River has been improving for years but there are still complex problems that must be dealt with. Find out more about it as Chicago Now explores the Chicago River with Friends' executive director, Margaret Frisbie.