Friends is dedicated to restoring wildlife habitat along the Chicago-Calumet River system, especially for species at risk from habitat loss. Explore some of our most innovative efforts below. Learn more about Chicago River ecology and wildlife.

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Friends' Fish Hotel: Our first in-stream habitat project
Catfish nesting cavities 
Bat communal nursery colonies
Osprey nesting platforms
Turtle nesting habitat restoration
The Jetty at Chicago Riverwalk
In-stream Planting
Becoming a Wildlife Monitoring Volunteer

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Catfish nesting cavities (Installed 2014-2015)

To address fish habitat quality within the Chicago River system, Friends partnered with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on a two-year effort to create and install 400 nesting cavities for channel catfish. This native sport fish is a hardy species but habitat degradation caused populations to decline. As a part of the project, Friends released 277,000 juvenile catfish into the river. The nesting cavities will not only benefit “channel cats,” but also a host of other aquatic life including bass, sunfishes, and macroinvertebrates. Check out a video about the project.

Bat communal nursery colonies (Installed 2014-2018)

Working with scientists from the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Friends identified bats as wildlife in the river system whose reproductive success was limited by a lack of safe nursery habitat. To help protect mother bats and their young, Friends installed large 4’ x 4’ x 4’ maternity structures that can shelter thousands of bats at a time. By the end of 2018, six of these nursery colonies were installed, giving these important insect‑eating animals more of the habitat they need to thrive.

Osprey nesting platforms (Installed 2014-2018)

Osprey populations plummeted across the country in the 1950s and 1960s due to the use of toxic pesticides. Decades after many countries banned chemicals like DDT, many osprey populations have recovered significantly, but they remain listed as state threatened in Illinois. In the Chicago region, the osprey breeding success has been limited by a lack of good nesting habitat.

To help, Friends began installing osprey nesting platforms in 2015. Each platform sits atop an 80‑foot pole, giving the birds the height and clear views they need to avoid predators and successfully raise their young. Ospreys rely almost 100 percent on fish for their food, so they depend on healthy waterways.

Three more platforms were installed in 2016, and the fifth was installed in early 2018. The effort paid off: in spring 2020, the first breeding pair using one of these platforms successfully raised two chicks at Beaubien Woods.

See a video of the osprey nesting platform being raised. 

Turtle nesting habitat restoration (2014-2023)

Working with scientists from the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Friends identified turtles as water-dependent animals already present in the system whose reproductive success could benefit from help.

A lack of available habitat means that many aquatic turtles are limited to nesting in particular areas. Predators quickly learn to find these, leaving turtle eggs and young hatchlings particularly vulnerable.

Friends created new turtle nesting habitat by removing the dense layer of invasive and light-blocking shrubs and trees on the site that prevented effective nesting at six forest preserves sites. Working with ecological restoration contractors, Friends cleared total of 162 acres of nesting habitat from 2015-2020. This project also improves the river’s edge by reducing invasive species and increasing stormwater retention. This habitat restoration will help many native turtle species, including painted, snapping, and Eastern spiny softshell, as they seek nesting grounds.

In 2016, Friends collaborated with biologists from the Forest Preserves of Cook County and USDA Wildlife Services to collect health data and attach transmitters to 22 turtles at two of the project sites. The tagged turtles were tracked throughout 2017 and 2018 to see how they used newly restored habitat. Most immediately began using the cleared areas along the North Branch of the Chicago River and Thorn Creek.

The Jetty at Chicago Riverwalk (2015-2016)

Since 2005, the Chicago Riverwalk has emerged as a major cultural attraction downtown. In 2015, a rare opportunity emerged to add habitat to the highly engineered Main Stem, so Friends partnered with the City of Chicago to install fish habitat along a new Riverwalk section known as “The Jetty.”

The Jetty stretches along the south bank of the river between Wells Street and Franklin Street. The Jetty features underwater structures and floating gardens that provide habitat for fish. One such structure is a series of fish “lunkers” - enclosed spaces that create shelter for smaller fish. Other underwater feature include surfaces that support algae, plants, and invertebrates that form the base of the aquatic food web. This project was completed in fall 2016. Read more about the unveiling of the Riverwalk's final phase.

In-stream Planting (2017-ongoing)

Friends’ planting project complements our other in-stream work such as the 2014-15 installation of 400 nesting cavities and release of 277,000 channel catfish into the river.

In 2017, Friends began reintroducing native emergent plants along the shoreline of the North Shore Channel to restore healthy shoreline habitat and improve water quality. The project expanded to the Little Calumet River at Kickapoo Woods in 2021.  Lizard’s tail (Saururus cernuus) and water willow (Justicia americana) are the main two plant species used for this effort because their root systems spread through rhizomes (underground stems) that quickly grow to build a sturdy underground web that reduces shoreline erosion and provides below and above ground habitat for many organisms.

The project is continuing to grow on a larger scale through the River Shallows project, a large-scale evaluation assessing the entire river system to identify new places for plant installation.

You can help this ongoing habitat effort by volunteering to install plants through our Paddle and Plant events or on in-stream planting days from the shore.

Friends is grateful to the many partners like the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Shedd Aquarium and other local community groups whose support has strengthened our practical knowledge and volunteer capacity over the years.