(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

The grant was awarded through the America the Beautiful Challenge. The program, now in its second year, is funded in part by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completed restoration project was held on Oct. 23, 2023. (Nicole Cardos / WTTW News)

A major effort to restore nearly 200 acres of wetland habitat at Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve on the Chicago’s Southeast Side is now complete after more than three years.

Native bergamot seed heads. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest / Courtney Celley)

A new report highlights several supply-and-demand conundrums and makes recommendations for how to increase native seed production.

A restoration pioneer celebrates 30 years of working in the forest preserves. Elizabeth Brackett has the story. Read an article.

Riverbank Restoration

We share what you had to say about a controversial plan that would cut down 14 acres of trees along the Chicago River near Horner Park in Ald. Deborah Mell's ward to save the river's west bank from erosion in tonight’s viewer feedback.

North Side residents are battling a plan to clear-cut 14 acres of trees along the Chicago River from Irving Park Road to Montrose Avenue. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Chicago Park District say the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration plan will restore the riverbank by Horner Park. But opponents want the native old-growth trees left alone for the $6.5 million project.

Sen. Dick Durbin says the U.S. House of Representatives' bill to cut funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by 80 percent would severely impact programs created to address ecological problems facing the Great Lakes. Programs to keep Asian carp out of the lakes would be slashed, among others. Elizabeth Brackett has the details. Read a fact sheet.