Natural Resources News
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Could a green infrastrucutre portfolio standard - similiar to this image of renewable energy portfolio standards around the country - work?
If a renewable energy portfolio standard can increase deployment of renewable energy, can a green infrastructure portfolio standard increase deployment of green infrastructure? CNT, American Rivers, and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative are working with Milwaukee and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to find out.
More than 30 states have adopted a renewable portfolio standard to increase the long-term production of electricity from renewable sources. The standard requires utilities to gradually increase the amount of renewable energy they produce or purchase over the course of twenty years or longer. More than 20 states have enacted a similar standard for energy efficiency improvements. Read more »
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Friday, June 24th, 2011
Lake Zurich village leaders are encouraging residents to take a short survey between now and August about household water usage and local water concerns that will inform the creation of an integrated water resources plan. For a great primer on what’s at stake for all of us who live near the Great Lakes, check out WBEZ’s Front and Center series.
Lake Zurich faces several important water management decisions, from the future source of its water supply to strategies to reduce local flooding. The village is partnering with CNT, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, University of Illinois Extension, and Metropolitan Planning Council to develop an integrated water resources plan that will address every aspect of Lake Zurich’s water, including its water supply, wastewater treatment, and storm water and flooding management.
Residents should visit http://svy.mk/lzwater between now and August 2011.
(Photo by: Robert Fornal, Flickr CC)
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Monday, April 18th, 2011
The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill last week that will give counties and municipalities more flexibility in using green infrastructure to address costly flooding problems for businesses and homeowners. HB 3372 would allow counties to establish systems that encourage the use of green infrastructure—using trees, green roofs, porous pavement and other techniques to filter rainwater—on private and public property. The bill would also allow counties to adopt a schedule of fees—after a referendum— to provide a dedicated revenue source to pay for ongoing stormwater management services and activities. Read more »
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Monday, April 11th, 2011
CNT is pleased to announce we have a new Natural Resources program director, Harriet Festing! Harriet will be leading CNT’s program on water, looking at smart solutions such as asset management, water efficiency and green infrastructure. CNT’s Natural Resources program encompasses community demonstration projects, on-line information and support tools, policy development and outreach. Read more »
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Friday, January 21st, 2011
The new "Green Infrastructure Valuation Guide" shows how green infrastructure practices can produce different combinations of benefits.
A new report released today by CNT and American Rivers quantifies the economic value of green infrastructure’s benefits – the key to helping municipalities adopt this innovative and cost-effective stormwater management approach. “The Value of Green Infrastructure: A Guide to Recognizing Its Economic, Social and Environmental Benefits” is a broad analysis that is the first to place an economic value on the numerous benefits provided by green infrastructure.
The guide fills an information gap that has hampered widespread deployment of green infrastructure—the practice of managing stormwater with natural systems. “The Value of Green Infrastructure” brings together current research on green infrastructure performance and presents methods for calculating related benefits in water management, energy, air quality, climate, and community livability. Read more »
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Thursday, January 6th, 2011
This past September the Illinois EPA kicked off its first Green Infrastructure Grant Program, offering $5 million to pay for worthy stormwater green infrastructure projects. By the December 15, 2010 deadline, IEPA had received 155 applications seeking about $50 million in funding, ten times the amount offered!
The response to the IEPA offer from government entities, non-profit organizations and businesses was overwhelming and puts to rest any notion that there is only limited interest in using sustainable, green infrastructure stormwater practices to address flooding and water quality issues in Illinois. Read more »
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Thursday, November 18th, 2010
CNT and the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Research Station have recently launched Chicago STEW-MAP (Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project), an online database that will identify organizations in the Chicago region that conduct stewardship and map the geographic turf of stewardship groups.
CNT and the Forest Service need stewardship groups’ help in making STEW-MAP as comprehensive and useful as possible. Any group that conserves, manages, cares for, monitors, advocates for, and educates the public about local environments (including water, land, air, waste, toxics, and energy issues) can take the STEW-MAP survey at http://stewmap.cnt.org/. Read more »
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Friday, October 15th, 2010
This past Columbus Day instead of sleeping in, dozens of children and older residents of the Hickory Creek Watershed, a vital subwatershed of the Lower Des Plaines Watershed located in Chicago’s southwestern region, took time to explore the natural environment in their own backyard. As part of the “Educational Adventure in Hickory Creek”, elementary students spent time walking in the creek to find wet treasures and collecting seeds in the prairie behind Lincoln-Way East High School.
At the same time, their parents and other residents learned about and provided their input to the proposed plan for the Hickory Creek Watershed. The event was co-sponsored by the Hickory Creek Watershed Planning Group and the Lincoln-Way High School Environmental Action Club. Read more »
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Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
U.S. House members and city and private green infrastructure leaders called for greater federal support for local green infrastructure efforts in a Congressional hearing on September 30.
The lead sponsor of the proposed Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act, Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-MD), chaired the session and suggested that green infrastructure is more important now than ever, when infrastructure budgets are tight. “These technologies can also realize significant cost savings for municipalities and building owners. In this time of economic uncertainty and tight municipal budgets, it may behoove city planners to look in other directions for ways to deal with impact of solutions to urban stormwater runoff than by solely falling back on traditional, capital intensive infrastructure approaches.” Read more »
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Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott announced $5M in grants for Green Infrastructure projects around the state.
On September 17, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Director Doug Scott announced the Green Infrastructure Grant (or GIG) Program for stormwater management projects. Green infrastructure uses natural systems—rain gardens, bioswales, trees, green rooftops—to manage stormwater, reduce flooding risk, and improve water quality. Scott made the announcement while standing in front of Aurora’s new police headquarters, where several cost-effective green infrastructure practices were installed to take advantage of the natural site drainage.
The IEPA has set aside $5,000,000 through 2011 to fund projects that meet their criteria. The competitive grant program is significant news for municipalities, non-profit organizations, universities, land management agencies, soil and water conservation districts and others that want to apply for state funding for design and construction of green infrastructure projects for stormwater management. Read more »
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