Category: Program Updates

Planting trees is one of the simplest nature-based solutions to climate change and is a tangible way for individuals to make a positive impact on the environment. However, planting a tree is easier said than done, and effectively planting in a way that ensures the long-term health of the tree requires more knowledge and skill than simply digging a hole. Trees provide so many benefits to people and the environment, from increasing property values and beautifying neighborhoods, to absorbing rainwater and decreasing the urban heat island effect. Programs in Chicago provide new trees and replace trees lost on city blocks to residents with the condition that residents put in the time and work to maintain the tree once it’s planted. We want to help you become an active steward of Chicago’s urban forest, which is why we’ve created this guide to help you find trees in Chicago through one of the programs offered to residents.

Chicago 311

Chicago residents looking to plant a tree in their neighborhood can contact Chicago’s 3-1-1 service. The process is simple, and residents can simply call 3-1-1 or submit a request online with their address. Once the request is approved, the Bureau of Forestry will plant a tree along the public right-of-way in your neighborhood. There may be significant time between an inspected and approved request and actual tree planting. Make sure you keep the tree watered, as it is critical for the survival of the tree. 

We recommend that you water a newly planted tree once you see leaves in the spring and until the leaves fall off in the fall, and give the tree 10-15 gallons of water per week. After three years, once the tree is established, you can discontinue watering unless there is a drought. Watch a full video tutorial on how to water a new tree with Openlands Forestry Program Manager Katie Fleming.

Learn more about how to contact 3-1-1.

Openlands TreePlanters Grants

Openlands TreePlanters Grants provide new trees to communities in the City of Chicago and the near south suburbs. The grants encourage resilience through planting trees and creating a network of neighbors to care for the trees. The TreePlanters Grant program was designed  to facilitate conversations about trees between neighbors and to create a community of tree advocacy in Chicago’s neighborhoods. 

Communities are asked to organize themselves, find sufficient places to plant 10 – 40 trees, meet their neighbors, reach out and invite their elected officials, and create a successful event all in the name of learning more about the benefits of trees and the proper way to plant and maintain new trees.

Openlands provides the education, organization, supplies, expertise, and quality control. On planting day, the Openlands Forestry Crew and certified TreeKeepers provide tools, trees, mulch and training for volunteers. In return, we ask that you help gather your neighbors, commit to work the full event (four hours), and keep caring for the trees for the next few years while they get established.

Learn more about the Openlands TreePlanters Grants.

Chicago Region Trees Initiative Program

As part of the Plant Trees for Communities Initiative with the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI), of which Openlands is a founding member, individuals are invited to plant at least one tree in every local community in the seven-county Chicago region and in each of the 50 Chicago wards (approx. 340 trees) in 2021. The Openlands Forestry team has partnered with CRTI’s program through the TreePlanters Grant. 

Each tree kit from CRTI comes with instructions on how to plant, mulch, and water your tree, along with a tree tag and tree owner’s manual. This program is a great option for anyone with tree planting experience who feels confident about their ability to manage the entire tree planting process, from planting to watering and mulching over a span of three years. Contact Lydia Scott at lscott@mortonarb.org with the Morton Arboretum to find out how to get your free tree.

Learn more about the Plant Trees for Communities program.

Purchase a Tree at the Openlands Native Tree and Plant Sale

The Openlands Native Tree and Plant Sale offers a wide variety of native trees for purchase that are not available at most big-box stores and nurseries. The Native Tree and Plant Sale is an excellent place to find more specific varieties of native trees that might not be available through one of the public tree planting programs.

Shop the sale.

Public vs. Private Planting Rules

If you are planting a tree on your own, it is essential that you only plant on your private property. In order to plant a tree in a City parkway such as through the 3-1-1 and TreePlanters Grant program, organizations must possess the necessary credentials to dig in the public right of way. 

Individuals can plant anywhere in their yard, as long as the tree is at least one foot away from the sidewalk. To understand the best way to plant a tree, watch this video of Tom Ebeling, Openlands Community Arborist, who takes you through the step-by-step process and speaks to best practices. 

At Openlands, we emphasize the importance of taking care of our urban forest and planting trees for the health of communities and the planet, and our Forestry team has planted more than 6,500 trees across the Chicago region since 2013. Thank you for taking action as a steward of our urban forest to increase the tree canopy in your neighborhood!

By Openlands

Before the buttons that fasten our coats and dress shirts were made from plastic, buttons were made from the shells of freshwater mussels here in the Midwest. And while most people don’t give buttons a second thought, the tiny ornament is responsible for setting in motion the decimation of freshwater mussels in Illinois and surrounding states, threatening species that are crucial for maintaining water quality and ecosystem diversity in waterways. Currently, 72% of the roughly 300 species of freshwater mussels in the United States are extinct or in danger of extinction, which is why Openlands has teamed up with the Shedd Aquarium on a long-term mussel monitoring project at Hoffman Farm. The farm is one of five sites Openlands is currently working to protect in support of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge and is the inherited family farm of Elena Spiegelhoff, which Spiegelhoff donated to preserve the natural beauty of the area. Hoffman Farm has been preserved through a partnership between The Land Conservancy of McHenry County and Openlands. The farm spans 153 acres and sits just north or Glacial Park within Hackmatack Wildlife Refuge. Nippersink Creek, where the long-term monitoring project takes place, runs through Hoffman farm. The project seeks to understand whether reproduction and equally important, survival of all ages, is occurring within North Branch Nippersink Creek.

Beginning in the late 1800’s, the banks of the Mississippi River became a destination for clammers, as the waters were teeming with mussels whose shells were used to make pearl buttons. From the banks of the Mississippi and waterways in Illinois and Iowa, a multi-million dollar industry was born. Button factories lined the Mississippi River, and entire communities thrived on the emerging industry. However, harvesting was fully unregulated, and when one stream bed was emptied, clammers simply moved on to the next. In 1913 the harvests from the Illinois River yielded almost 600 tons of shells. Historically, Chicago had a rich and diverse population of mussels: The Des Plaines River and Lake Michigan tributaries had roughly 34 species, while the Fox River had 31 and the Kankakee River and basin had 40 species. In 2012, the Illinois Natural History Survey reported 19 species of mussel in the Des Plaines River basin and the Lake Michigan tributaries in Illinois. Of these 19, only 9 were found live. 

Freshwater mussels are crucial for filtering water and maintaining stream biodiversity. Mussels are also an indicator species of pollutants in waterways. Most mussels are like a brita filter for streams, which can be demonstrated by filling two aquariums with cloudy, dirty water. After 24 hours, the aquarium’s water with mussels is almost entirely clear. Of course, there are exceptions, and the invasive Zebra Mussel in the Great Lakes is so overpopulated that they make the water too clear, which has increased toxic algae blooms and deprived other species of food.

Photo courtesy of the Delaware Estuary Water Clarity Project

Healthy waterways are essential to the resilience of our region, which is why Openlands has been involved in monitoring mussel populations throughout the Chicago region. Openlands worked with partners to produce A Field Guide to the Freshwater Mussels of Chicago Wilderness in 2008, in order to encourage the monitoring of mussels in Chicago waterways. Now, Openlands is partnered with the Shedd Aquarium at Hoffman Farm in a long-term monitoring project. Shedd Aquarium staff set up nine monitoring sites in North Branch Nippersink Creek at Hoffman Farm in 2019. Based on the diversity of species they found at each site, they chose one area for long-term monitoring. Over a three-day period, all the live mussels in the area were caught, brought on shore to be measured, had their rings counted (similar to tree, mussels have rings that show their age), genetically sampled, then pit tagged before being put back in in the water. Pit tagging is similar to microchipping a pet and allows each mussel to be located and identified from year to year.

The main purpose of the long-term monitoring project is to monitor the survival over time of mussels in the system, including how individuals are surviving and whether reproduction is occurring. Mussels have a long lifespan that extends on average 60 years. However, while older mussels may still be abundant in streams, the young mussels may not be able to survive, resulting in a loss of the population over time.

Mussel larvae are called glochidia, which attach to fish in their early years to survive before becoming juveniles who can survive on their own. Younger mussels can be extremely sensitive to pollution. For example, fat mucket glochidia are sensitive to chloride levels and ellipse glochidia are sensitive to ammonia. So even if older mussels are surviving, younger mussels might not be able to survive because of pollutants from runoff, nearby industry, or a loss of fish hosts for glochidia.

Currently, 12 different mussel species are tagged at the long-term monitoring site at Hoffman Farm. While the button industry may have been the initial antagonist of freshwater mussel loss, our modern polluting practices, like salting winter roads and using waterways as dumping sites for industries, have exacerbated the problem and posed new threats to this endangered taxa. 

Through the work at Hoffman Farm, we hope to understand the survival of our local freshwater mussels and identify whether populations are holding their own at Hackmatack. The health and biodiversity of our waterways depends on the survival of these tiny powerhouses.