Chicagoland Natural Areas Inventory

Chicagoland Natural Areas Inventory
Name	Chicagoland Natural Areas Inventory
Formation	1970s
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Region served	Northeastern Illinois, Northwestern Indiana, Southeastern Wisconsin

Chicagoland Natural Areas Inventory

The Chicagoland Natural Areas Inventory is a regional conservation initiative that documents, evaluates, and promotes protection of remnant prairie, wetland, and forest habitats across the Chicago metropolitan area. It compiles inventories, maps, and assessments used by land trusts, municipal agencies, and academic institutions to guide land-use decisions in the greater Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, Lake County, Illinois, Will County, Illinois, Kane County, Illinois, McHenry County, Illinois, Kendall County, Illinois, Grundy County, Illinois, Porter County, Indiana, and Lake County, Indiana regions.

Overview

The Inventory provides systematic surveys, site descriptions, and conservation rankings that inform planning by entities such as the Chicago Park District, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, The Nature Conservancy, Openlands, and university programs at University of Illinois Chicago and Northwestern University. Its databases support environmental review processes under laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act by supplying occurrence records used by agencies including the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The project integrates cartographic products compatible with datasets from the United States Geological Survey, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and regional United States Census Bureau mapping.

History and Development

Originating in the early 1970s as part of a response to rapid suburbanization following infrastructure projects like the Interstate 90 (Pennsylvania–New York) corridor expansions and metropolitan planning by the Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois), the Inventory built on precedents set by programs such as the Natural Areas Inventory (Pennsylvania) and statewide efforts by the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Commission. Early collaborators included scientists from Field Museum of Natural History, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Over successive decades the Inventory evolved through partnerships with municipal governments in Evanston, Illinois, Oak Park, Illinois, and Aurora, Illinois and conservation initiatives supported by foundations like the McCormick Foundation and the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust.

Methodology and Criteria

Survey methods draw on techniques from ecological fieldwork traditions at institutions such as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and standards promulgated by the Society for Ecological Restoration. Field crews use stratified sampling, floristic inventories, and faunal surveys including protocols developed by the Illinois Natural History Survey and data standards compatible with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio). Criteria for significance incorporate elements from the National Heritage Program and consider metrics like remnant quality, rarity of plant and animal species (including listings under the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act), size, ecological integrity, and landscape context relative to features such as the Des Plaines River, Chicago River, and Lake Michigan shoreline.

Notable Sites and Highlights

Inventoried sites include remnant tallgrass prairie at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, sedge meadows and calcareous fens near the Kankakee River State Park, and ancient oak savanna remnants in preserves managed by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Coastal wetlands along Calumet River and restored habitats within the Chicago Portage National Historic Site are documented alongside urban refuge areas such as the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary and Lincoln Park remnant pockets. The Inventory has recorded occurrences of notable taxa including the Henslow's sparrow, Karner blue butterfly, Blanding's turtle, and rare plants found in the Indiana Dunes National Park and Volo Bog State Natural Area.

Conservation and Management

Data produced by the Inventory underpins land acquisition and stewardship decisions made by organizations including the Land Conservancy of McHenry County and the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve program, and informs restoration techniques practiced at sites managed by the Forest Preserves of Cook County and municipal parks departments in Naperville, Illinois and Joliet, Illinois. Management prescriptions often reference restoration science literature from the Society for Ecological Restoration and integrate actions such as prescribed fire regimes, invasive species control informed by inventories by the Illinois Invasive Species Council, and hydrologic restoration coordinated with regional agencies like the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Partnerships and Community Involvement

The Inventory operates through a networked partnership model with academic partners at DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago, nonprofit organizations including the Shorewood-Troy Township, county conservation districts, and citizen science programs like Chicago Wilderness and the Audubon Society of Chicago. Volunteer training, guided hikes, and data-gathering events align with broader initiatives such as the Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity Recovery Plan and community-based restoration projects supported by the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and local chapters of the Sierra Club.

Impact and Legacy

By providing a scientifically defensible record of remnant habitats, the Inventory has influenced land-use decisions for major regional projects reviewed by agencies such as the Illinois Tollway, Metra, and municipal planning departments in Chicago Heights, Illinois and Hammond, Indiana. Its legacy includes enhanced protection for parcels incorporated into the National Register of Historic Places landscape listings, strengthened conservation easement practice with partners like the Land Trust Alliance, and a data legacy utilized by researchers at institutions such as the Illinois Natural History Survey and the Field Museum of Natural History for long-term monitoring of Midwestern biodiversity trends.

Category:Environment of Illinois Category:Environment of Indiana Category:Conservation in the United States