The highlight of the celebration is the presentation of our annual volunteer awards.

This unique winter cruise is an unparalleled opportunity to experience the beauty of the Chicago River on a frosty winter evening among outstanding river advocates and civic leaders. The Ice Odyssey supports Friends’ award winning efforts including educational programming.

Hundreds of high school and middle school students will gather on the campus of Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) on February 24 for the 27th annual Chicago River Student Congress.

The experts comprise the Implementation Working Group of the Greater Chicago Watershed Alliance which meets to discuss preparatory work needed to advance multi-benefit nature-based solutions projects and also to match projects to upcoming funding opportunities.

We are a proud recipient of a $630,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s National Coastal Resilience Fund to develop an installation-ready engineering and design plan for the river system employing aquatic habitat.

In 2017, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), Friends, the Sierra Club-Illinois Chapter, and other environmental groups agreed to work together to set a limit on the amount of phosphorus the MWRD can release into the river system. Phosphorus comes into MWWRD treatment plants both in the raw sewage and the stormwater runoff. 

Chipmunks can display extreme courage if another animal approaches their territory.

It is with your support that Friends achieved many incredible accomplishments this year which improve and protect the river system for communities, public health, wildlife, and climate resiliency.

Trappy is emblematic of the kinds of things – large and small – that make their way into the river system; and Trappy is plastic, which research shows accounts for upwards of 80 percent of the trash found in the river.

The 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act was in December 2023 and it remains one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation ever passed.