New Beginnings

  Download our 2007–2008 Annual Report

It has been said that the only constant in nature is change. As we write this in early fall, it is most apparent in the change of seasons and the vibrant scenes we see outside. But change is also happening behind the scenes within the Chicago Wilderness alliance.

At the outset of Chicago Wilderness we knew there was a lot at stake in how we defined ourselves and how we crafted our identity. Our name reflected a great metropolis linked to a vision of rare nature. Our logo — the nodding wild onion, an abundant prairie plant of the Chicago lake plain whose Pottawatomie name inspired the eventual name of the City itself — reinforced the place and vision. In words we laid out what we stood for and what we wanted to accomplish. In our youthful ambition we aspired to take our messages and mission equally to all conceivable audiences. In the spirit of Daniel Burnham, “We made no little plans.”

The litany of our accomplishments has been recited in many places and need not be recapped here. Our identity served us well in coalition building those first 12 years. But we have matured as an organization and better appreciate the alliance’s role in the regional conservation effort and how to harness our collective passion to be most effective. We know the strengths and limitations of the collaborative approach we have chosen. We better understand ourselves.

At the same time our model is undergoing necessary change as a result of shifts in the organization’s funding base. As federal governmental support has assumed a lesser role, we have been actively cultivating new sources of funding and new partnerships. In doing so, we have to be absolutely clear about who we are, what we intend to do, and what value we bring to the region as a result of our collaborative effort. Communication, always important, has taken on a new urgency. A re-tooling was in order.

To this end, we began to distill our wide-ranging activities and priorities into a few primary initiatives that are reflected in the following pages: green infrastructure, restoration and management, climate change, and connecting children with nature. Our tools for communication have been re-vamped so that now, with an economy of words, you can communicate to others our identity and common values. Although the nodding wild onion had sentimental or spiritual value it did not mean much beyond the choir. So we have refined the Chicago Wilderness identity in the hope it will resonate with the larger population of our region. You’ll see our new identity reflected in this report, in our new web site, and in all things Chicago Wilderness going forward.

Some might view the refinement of the Chicago Wilderness brand as cosmetics. We suggest it is an absolutely essential step in creating the most effective organization to deal with the current challenges and opportunities facing us: climate change, poor land health, the disconnection between people and nature, and poorly planned development that fails to integrate the green with the gray infrastructure.

Better understanding our strengths and matching these to the opportunities has driven these efforts. The underlying goal remains the same: finding that harmony between people and land that Aldo Leopold defined as conservation.

Sincerely,

John D. Rogner
Field Supervisor,
US Fish and Wildlife Service & Chair,Chicago Wilderness

Melinda Pruett-Jones
Executive Director
Chicago Wilderness