Description:

Katie Kucera, ecologist with The Wetlands Initiative, will give attendees an overview of TWI’s large-scale wetland restoration projects in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana. TWI’s mission focuses on restoring landscapes—including wetlands—to improve water quality, climate, biodiversity, and human well-being. At the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, TWI has restored 3,000+ acres of wetland and upland habitat along a corridor of the Illinois River, benefiting birds, plants, and outdoor enthusiasts. In the bistate Calumet region, through collaborative partnerships with a range of conservation peers, agencies, and local community groups, TWI is having success restoring degraded/remnant urban wetland areas to healthy hemi-marsh. This on-the-ground work is benefiting a range of wetland-dependent birds that had been nearly extirpated from this area, and also returning quality natural areas for the Calumet’s underserved communities to visit and enjoy.