Healthy Land & Water
An Online Tool to Help Us Prioritize Conservation Actions in Small Watersheds across Northwest Illinois
Our Objective: To help people work together to restore and maintain the integrity and climate resiliency of Northwest Illinois’ land and waters for the benefit of all people and their environment
Healthy Land & Water has developed the Watershed Prioritization Tool for Northwest Illinois. The intent is to help policy and decision-makers allocate limited resources for land management and protection.
Healthy Land & Water Goals
We acknowledge that many people are engaged in a wide variety of conservation practices. We envision a future where we work collectively with shared expertise and funding to overcome climate challenges. Together, we can improve, conserve and protect the shared soil, water and biological resources that are fundamental to the region’s future economic prosperity, health and wellbeing.
Finding common ground among varied and passionate stakeholders in Northwest Illinois is at the crux of this project. We aim to inspire stakeholders to reach a common vision and involve the broader community to achieve that vision together as a region.
Our Approach
Healthy Land & Water is supported by a volunteer team, led by a Steering Committee, with two working groups. One is focused on urban and developed land. The second is focused on determining priority areas where conservation practices would have the greatest impact on water quality. The Watershed Prioritization Tool for Northwest Illinois is the result of that group's work.
Introducing the Healthy Land & Water Watershed Index Online Tool
Our tool determines priority watersheds in three steps: 1) compare watersheds, 2) visualize connectivity using the Regional Green Infrastructure Network Map (GIN), and 3) plan and implement on-the-ground projects.
The Benefits of the Watershed Prioritization Tool:
- Leverage and allocate limited resources to scale and implement regional solutions that address the challenge of nutrient loss and pollution of surface and groundwater in urban, rural and agricultural areas faster and effectively. Using Comparative Watershed Assessment—a systematic, science-based decision-support approach, we aim to support communication, collaboration and resource-sharing among diverse stakeholders and landowners
- Visualize connectivity using the Regional Green Infrastructure Network Map (GIN)
- Use within-watershed Green Infrastructure Network (GIN) mapping to visualize the degree of landscape fragmentation and identify ready and potential linkages to create large ecological complexes in collaboration with multiple landowners
What Happened When We Applied This Tool To Northwest Illinois HUC-12 Watersheds?
Scroll through the maps below to find out.
- Note: At the very top of this webpage, click the blue buttons to download the Watershed Index Online Tool, the project data we created to view within the application and the User Manual.
- An alternative to using the Watershed Index Online Tool, which requires installation of the EPA's application, is to view the same watershed comparative assessment by downloading the Recovery Potential Screening Tool, which is presented in Microsoft Excel. Click here for the Recovery Potential Screening Tool.
Get Involved
Healthy Land & Water is a project that brings people from different sectors together to create large areas of climate-resilient land where environmental conservation is practiced.
This project is managed by Natural Land Institute and Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation and is implemented in part by Applied Ecological Services (now part of Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC ) and a5 Branding & Digital . The project is funded by McKnight Foundation , Illinois Clean Energy and Land Trust Alliance .
To get involved, click here .
