Featured News

The Wetlands Initiative is poised to add an urban wetland restoration to its portfolio, through a new project in partnership with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.

Hennepin & Hopper Lakes will be closed to all fishing in 2012, while the Wetlands Initiative and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) launch another offensive against the invasive common carp at the site.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has designated the Wetlands Initiative's Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin & Hopper Lakes a Wetland of International Importance, in accordance with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Paul Botts, executive director at the Wetlands Initiative, has appeared on two Chicago-area radio shows in November to talk about TWI's work at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

More wetlands in more places for more benefits for more people and wildlife. That's the goal of the Wetlands Initiative's effort to expand its project portfolio during 2012.

The Wetlands Initiative has been part of creating a new 10-year plan for restoration at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, which the National Forest Foundation unveiled in October.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Wetlands Initiative have committed to partner to restore 160 acres of former industrial land to native prairie and wetlands at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, to begin in summer 2012.

Co-founder Al Pyott tells the story of how he and Donald Hey first came to the Hennepin Drainage and Levee District looking for an opportunity to restore wetlands.

On September 10, the Wetlands Initiative opened the first phase of a new boardwalk trail to increase public access at the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin & Hopper Lakes.

When three out every four acres in a watershed are used for farming, there's not a lot of room for large wetland restoration projects. Rather, many smaller projects are needed on private land.