Aquatic Plants Grow Resiliency

In late Ocotber, a multidisciplinary team of Friends’ staff supported by expert volunteer canoe guides paddled the North Shore Channel to collect data about the thousands of native aquatic plants Friends has installed in the channel since 2017. Their purpose was to document the progress and impact of our years-long effort to improve aquatic habitat and inform our innovative River Shallows Project. The Shallows Project will expand natural native plantings to the full 156-mile river system. Grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation National Coastal Resilience Fund is allowing Friends to develop an installation-ready engineering and design plan to drive the use of native plants to restore, increase, and strengthen natural infrastructure in the river system to minimize climate change and storm-related impacts. The shallows refers to the river’s edge where the natural banks slope into the water, which is an important habitat zone for many species.

River Shallows Project

Launching from the Dammrich Rowing Center in Skokie, six teams of two headed north to collect key data about the numerous lizard’s tail and water willow plant colonies installed in a two-mile stretch of the channel over the past seven years. The data included the height, density, species, and GPS location of each plant group, as well as other observations identified by team members. The group also conducted water quality tests for temperature, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen levels. Macroinvertebrates were also sampled to see if there was more diversity of organisms living in the plants verses adjacent unplanted areas. The data revealed the overwhelming majority of plantings are expanding naturally with many doing exceptionally well. One cluster of lizard’s tail has grown to approximately 60 feet long, 12 feet wide, and four and a half feet tall.  

These plants protect the river against the impacts of severe weather, fluctuating water levels, and flooding by stabilizing shoreline against erosion and slowing the flow of the water into the river. They also restore critical natural habitat required for fish, frogs, turtles, birds, mammals, macroinvertebrates, and other species to thrive.

By late fall 2025, the $630,000 River Shallows Project will have produced a complete plan to determine where plantings will be most feasible and have the greatest impact. Then we can apply for next-phase funding to implement plantings throughout the river system.

Since 2017, Friends has installed more than 15,000 plants in the North Shore Channel and the Little Calumet River. Friends also established a volunteer Paddle and Plant program through a grant from the Chi-Cal Rivers Fund and have since joined forces with the Shedd Aquarium to expand the program’s reach.