The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, together with collaborating members of the Kishwaukee River Ecosystem Partnership (KREP), is conducting watershed planning processes in three subwatersheds of the Kishwaukee River basin. CMAP is coordinating the overall project, conducting most of the analysis, and preparing plan documents with additional oversight from the Natural Land Institute. "Local leads" are responsible for maintaining contact with stakeholders and organizing monthly meetings. Follow the links for the subwatersheds to find out more about each of the planning processes:
The planning process is funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency through the Clean Water Act Section 319 program, which is oriented toward improving water quality in streams and lakes impaired by non-point source pollution. In addition, the Illinois EPA has asked CMAP to pilot a new approach to watershed planning developed by a diverse collection of stakeholders called the Basinwide Management Advisory Group (B-MAG). This group prepared a framework that CMAP is applying in the three Kishwaukee watershed projects. While it requires a few elements that are not obligatory in watershed plans (e.g., consideration of land use and future water quality declines), its novel and most important aspect is that Illinois EPA is expected to make all financing and regulatory decisions consistent with the plan. For more details on how this might work, please see a CMAP staff memorandum to the Environment and Natural Resources Working Committee. Staff provides regular updates to this committee on the Kishwaukee watershed planning projects and posts materials on its web page.
For additional details on this project, contact Tim Loftus (312-386-8666) or Jesse Elam (312-386-8688).