Environment
Fake Riverbanks Turn a Chicago Canal ‘Wild’
Chicago’s manmade North Branch Canal is polluted and lacks natural habitat. Enter 80 coconut-fiber “islands” that host wildlife and filter the water.
If you can bypass the cheese display at the Goose Island Whole Foods in Chicago, there’s a strange sight out the building’s back doors. In the river below float 80 coconut-fiber beds, replete with native grasses, shrubs, and even river birch trees. Most days, you’ll also see Nick Wesley, co-founder of the nonprofit Urban Rivers, inspecting the beds from a kayak pulled up alongside.
The plants he’s tending are the beginnings of the Wild Mile. The initiative, led by Urban Rivers, aims to transform the steel-walled North Branch Canal of the Chicago River into a lush wildlife haven. Work began in June 2017 and will continue through 2020, when the area is planned to have forests, wetlands, and public walkways and kayak access points.