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IL Coastal Management Program |
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Monthly Newsletter - Month Year |
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In this issue: Featured News, Emerging Resources, Emerging Research, Upcoming Events, Share Your Voice, and Great Lakes News.
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New video highlights Shedd Aquarium's work on the Wild Mile project on the Chicago River |
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Check out the innovative ways the Shedd Aquarium in partnership with Urban Rivers is bringing back wildlife after pollution damaged the ecosystem along the Chicago River.
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Learn more about Chicago's rivers through two new, interactive Story Maps!
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Metropolitan Planning Council
Explore Our Great Rivers
"If highways divided Chicago, the rivers unite us" - Explore Our Great Rivers is an interactive map that captures community-led projects along Chicago’s riverfronts.
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Openlands
African American Heritage Water Trail
The Heritage Water Trail memorializes the remarkable stories of African Americans who settled along the Little Calumet River: freedom seekers who traveled the Underground Railroad, trailblazers who defied discrimination, learned to fly, and became Tuskegee Airmen, and pioneers in the struggle for civil rights and environmental justice.
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CMAP Community Data Snapshots updated with new census data
This week, CMAP updated its Community Data Snapshots with new data from the 2020 census. These data-rich snapshots — one for each of the region's 284 municipalities, 77 Chicago neighborhoods, and seven counties — summarize demographics, housing, employment, transportation habits, and other key details. They help local leaders and the public track progress and make informed decisions in their communities. The new census data has been incorporated into the General Population Characteristics table, which includes information on total population, total households, average household size, and percent population change since 2010 and 2000.
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Design guide for Green Stormwater Infrastructure best practices
The Delta Institute and Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc. recently published a guidance toolkit on green infrastructure BMPs for managers, planners, and decision makers.
The toolkit contains guidance for four classes of BMPs:
- Bio-retention practices such as bioswales, rain gardens, and stormwater planters
- Naturalized detention practices such as wet/dry bottom detention ponds etc
- Bio-filtration practices such as spreaders, filter strips, and vegetated swales
- Other urban practices such as box tree filters, green roofs, and permeable pavements
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EPA Report Shows Disproportionate Impacts of Climate Change on Socially Vulnerable Populations |
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A new EPA analysis shows that the most severe harms from climate change fall disproportionately upon underserved communities who are least able to prepare for, and recover from, heat waves, poor air quality, flooding, and other impacts.
Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States: A Focus on Six Impact Sectors is one of the most advanced environmental justice studies to date that looks at how projected climate change impacts may be distributed across the American public.
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In-Person Event |
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Ford Calumet Environmental Center Opening & Birds, Bikes, and Beats at Big Marsh Park |
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This weekend will be the grand opening of the Ford Calumet Environmental Center AND the 4th annual celebration of Birds, Bikes, and Beats at Big Marsh Park.
This free event is hosted by the Chicago Park District and Friends of Big Marsh Park. Enjoy bird walks, nature hikes, bicycle tours, BMX lessons and competitions, food trucks, music and more! The Active Transportation Alliance and Epstein will be participating at the event and tabling to engage more people about the Lake Calumet Trail project.
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September 18 | 11 am - 4 pm |
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Webinar |
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MPC 2021 Annual Event: Better//Together |
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Join Metropolitan Planning Council (again!) for their virtual 2021 Annual Event, focused on the bold changes that are needed for the Chicago region to rebuild better, together. The event will spotlight innovators that guide transformative, equitable, community-centered recovery.
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Webinar |
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Vision for a Lake Calumet Trail Virtual Open House |
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Learn about the vision to build a multi-use trail over Lake Calumet to better connect local neighborhoods by foot and bike to Big Marsh Park, the Pullman National Monument and State Historic Site, and many other destinations on the south side of Chicago. Join the virtual open house for an overview of the feasibility study, hear from elected officials, and learn about other nearby initiatives from Friends of Big Marsh, Pullman National Monument, and CMAP.
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Public Comment |
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FEMA Seeks Public Feedback on Community Rating System |
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FEMA is currently seeking public comment on the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System until Sept 22.
The agency is evaluating the Community Rating System’s potential to ongoing support of, state, local, tribal and territorial community goals and needs around floodplain management. These efforts aim to help FEMA ensure that the program includes necessary, properly tailored and up-to-date requirements that effectively achieve the goals of:
- Reducing and avoiding flood damage to property.
- Supporting the insurance aspects of the National Flood Insurance Program.
- Encouraging a comprehensive approach to floodplain management.
FEMA will host a series of virtual public meetings to explain the process and how to provide information for public comment. Anyone interested may register online via Zoom. Visit FEMA.gov
for more information. Follow the instructions in the Federal Register for submitting comments and contact the Regulations.gov Help Desk if you have technical issues.
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Award |
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2021 Lakie Awards - Call for Nominations! |
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Later this year, the Teach Me About the Great Lakes podcast will host the First Annual Lakie Awards. The goal of The Lakies (tentative motto: “Possibly not the least prestigious Great Lakes-related award ceremony") is not to be Official Arbiters of Quality, but to be a fun, informal celebration of amazing/inspiring Great Lakes-related research, outreach, and communication in the inimitable Teach Me About the Great Lakes style.
Nomination categories include:
- Great Lakes Science Communication of the Year
- Great Lakes Outreach Program of the Year
- Great Lakes News Event of the Year
- Great Lakes Research of the Year
- Coolest Thing You Learned Listening to Teach Me About the Great Lakes in 2021
- Science Podcast of the Year (non-Teach Me About the Great Lakes edition)
- Great Lakes Animal of the Year
- Great Lakes non-Animal of the Year
- Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year
- Great Lakes Donut of the Year
The nomination process is easy (just enter the name/title and provide a link) and self-nominations are encouraged. They'd love to get a broad swath of great work across the serious and less-serious categories to celebrate.
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What's going on in the Great Lakes this month? Click to read more!
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Science
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Chicago Rivers gets real time monitoring for bacteria levels
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Management
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Plans for boat launch repairs in Highland Park move forward
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Wildlife
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Monty and Rose bid Chicago farewell, leave Montrose Beach for winter in the south
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History
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A Look at the Pullman National Monument Ahead of its Labor Day Weekend Opening
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Wildlife
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Surprise & good sign of a tiger muskie spotted in the Chicago River by the Riverwalk
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History
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speak at Pullman National Monument
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Share Your Announcement! |
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Have an event, funding opportunity, or job posting that you'd like us to share? Send us an email and we'll include it in our newsletter next month.
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