The lakefront stretch from East 45th-51st St, Morgan Shoal, is being redeveloped by the City of Chicago with significant new parkland built out into what is now lake. Project information can be found here. The full Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) can be found here.
Public comments are open and are a great chance to remind the city to consider migrating birds in their design! The current design does have oaks and hickories, which is great, but is lacking the structure that birds need:
- layered habitat
- diversity of woody species and bloom times
- dense vegetation to hide in
Comments can be submitted using:
1. Comment form: https://forms.osi.apps.mil/r/xYZUr1yx9G
2. Crowdsource mapping tool: https://usace-lrc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/reporter/index.html?appid=c6778ad2d85c4b5699413055e46d05f4
3. Or by email here.
Writing your own comments is best. If you can’t, here are some you can copy and paste into option 3, the email:
Chicago’s lakefront is an outstanding stopover for over 200 species of migratory birds. Any improvements along the shore can have habitat for them. The oaks and hickories planned are a very good start. Additionally, migrating birds require:
- layered habitat
- diversity of woody species and bloom times
- dense vegetation to hide in.
Please include at least a contiguous half acre of dense, layered, diverse habitat for migratory birds in your plans.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
[your name and address]