Invest in the Future of Our Region

Friends of the Chicago River and The Trust for Public Land led the development of the Natural Solutions Tool, a project that grew out of the Greater Chicago Watershed Alliance. Friends established the Watershed Alliance in 2020 to collectively improve public and environmental health and resiliency against the climate crisis through the application of nature based solutions.  

The open access Natural Solutions Tool was custom built after a yearlong multi-stakeholder process and it contains an extraordinary amount of data local all in one place. It encompasses:

• 1,300 square miles
• 176 municipalities
• 42 subwatersheds

The five modeling objectives include health, equity, biodiversity, protection, and connectivity to benefit people, wildlife, and wild systems.

Our intent is to keep the Natural Solution Tool free, accurate, up to date, easily accessed, and broadly available to drive the use of natural systems and defend against environmental injustice and degradation.

Your support will help us do that and:

• Activate regional investment in nature based green infrastructure
• Reveal cross jurisdictional opportunities
• Inform decision making
• Protect land, water, and biodiversity
• Support advocacy
• Substantiate investments
• Prioritize projects based on local data
• Strengthen strategic planning
• Understand our climate future