The Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council

Corporations have joined conservation organizations in the effort to preserve the region's natural heritage and improve the quality of life for local residents by founding the Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council.

The Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council recognizes that the business community has a profound influence on the ecological health and biological diversity of the Chicago region through its people, land development practices, management practices, political activity and philanthropy. By joining the Corporate Council, businesses are making a commitment to improving our local environment.

For more information about the Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council, contact Melinda Pruett-Jones, executive director, at (312) 580-2156 or at mpruett_jones@chicagowilderness.org.

Corporate Council Members

Applied Ecological Services is a full-service ecological consulting and contracting firm with headquarters in rural Brodhead, Wisconsin, a satellite consulting office in West Dundee, Illinois and a consulting and contracting branch office in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since the 1970's, AES has provided comprehensive ecological consulting and contracting services to municipalities and government agencies, land developers, engineering firms, land planning and landscape architecture firms, the mining industry, forestry, parks and recreation departments, and many other public and private concerns.

BP is one of the world's leading energy companies. Its main activities are the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing, supply and transportation; and manufacturing and marketing of petrochemicals. It is the nation's largest producer of oil and gas. BP also has a growing activity in gas and power, and in solar power generation as it goes Beyond Petroleum. BP's goal is to meet America's growing demand for energy while minimizing harm to the environment.

Camp, Dresser & McKee Inc. is a consulting, engineering, construction, and operations firm delivering exceptional service to public and private clients worldwide.

The Care of Trees is an award-winning company that has been protecting and caring for trees in the Chicago Wilderness region for nearly 60 years. As well as providing total tree care for residential, commercial and municipal clients, our certified arborists work with builders and developers to preserve trees in real estate and conservation developments. We also provide woodland restoration and management services. Our comprehensive SoilCare program uses an all-natural, environmentally friendly approach that promotes healthy trees by enhancing soil biology. From pruning and pest management to tree inventories and tree-sensitive site planning, The Care of Trees' 11 Chicago-area offices are ready to help you protect your trees.

Lasting relationships are the cornerstone of our business at Chicago Press. For 75 years, we've worked to meet Chicago's diverse printing needs while maintaining a quality and consistency that keeps our clients coming back.

While we pride ourselves on our expert craftsmanship and leading-edge technology, it's our friendly, personal service and exceptional attention to detail that sets us apart. Chicago Press was founded in 1927 on a philosophy of total customer care and commitment to the Chicago community. Over the years, as many printing companies moved to the suburbs, Chicago Press steadfastly remained in the city. Through market highs and lows, neighborhood transformations, and industry trends, Chicago Press has thrived, still serving many of its earliest clients.

Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. (CBBEL) is a full-service consulting engineering firm specializing in civil, municipal, traffic, construction, water resources, environmental, and mechanical engineering with offices in Rosemont, St. Charles, and Peoria, Illinois and Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Schereville, Indiana. Started in 1986, the firm has grown to approximately 185 employees by providing consistently high quality services to both public and private sector clients throughout the Midwest. CBBEL is committed to delivering consistently accurate, timely, and cost-effective solutions to a wide range of engineering and environmental challenges.

ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, one of the nation's largest electric utilities with nearly $15 billion in revenues. ComEd serves approximately 3.5 million customers, or 70 percent of the state's population. ComEd and its 8,000 employees are responsible for maintaining more than 75,000 miles of power lines that make up its electric system in Northern Illinois.

Cowhey Gudmundson Leder, Ltd. was established in 1975 to provide a highly personalized professional service to both private and public clients involved in the real estate development industry. From project feasibility studies and land use analysis through storm water management, flood hazard studies, environmental impact studies, earthwork analysis, wetland delineation and mitigation plans, forestry services, natural resource preservation, site planning and engineering, Cowhey Gudmundson Leder, Ltd. offers innovative approaches to what often becomes standard procedure. The firm maintains a strong commitment to providing resourceful, expeditious and highly skilled services which are necessary in the development industry today.

Futurity, Inc. is a Chicago-based environmental planning firm specializing in the utilization of geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies. The company develops, analyzes and manages information to guide land use planning decisions. Services include land cover and land use analysis, open space management strategies, biodiversity mapping, habitat quality assessment, and watershed planning. Futurity recognizes that initiatives to protect and manage natural resources require effective information for success. The company's goal is to provide that information.

GASAI is a national firm of over 300 engineers and scientists providing quality consulting design services in all phases of environmental; civil; transportation; structural; and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering; architectural design; and field services. Since 1961, providing our clients with the highest level of technical expertise has been a priority and a hallmark of our business.

Hey and Associates, Inc. was founded in 1976 in response to the growing need for comprehensive water resource solutions. Today the firm offers its clients creative, practical solutions that support enhancement of land values while conserving and restoring natural resources.

The firm offers particular expertise in solving water resource-related problems, focusing on watershed and stormwater planning and engineering, aquatic ecosystem restoration, and wetland delineation and management. Our multi-disciplinary staff of scientists and engineers allows us to bring a fresh creative view to identify opportunities in water resources and ecological issues. In creating our solutions, we consider our clients' regulatory, design, construction, and long-term management requirements.

We share our clients' concerns that projects adhere to the highest technical standards. Our clients are comfortable that our solutions will be technically accurate, will consider all opportunities and will be cost effective.

Specializing in Land Planning and Landscape Architecture services, Hitchcock Design Group has been Creating Better Places® since 1980. With offices in Naperville and Chicago, the 50 member firm is organized into five distinctive design teams: Recreation, Education, Heathcare, Urban Design and Real Estate Development. Providing excellent client care and innovative, environmentally-conscious design, Hitchcock Design Group continues to lead the Chicagoland area in Land Planning and Landscape Architectural services. With LEED® accredited staff members and participation in local environmental organizations, Hitchcock Design Group is committed to their mission of Creating Better Places®.

HSBC, with nearly $123 billion in managed assets, is a consumer lender that has been serving the needs of the middle-market customer since 1878. We serve customers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada with various loan products, including real estate secured and personal unsecured loans, auto loans, and private label and general purpose credit cards.

JFNew is an experienced ecological services firm that has been providing sound solutions to challenging environmental issues for over 15 years throughout the Midwest. Our Team of over 130 professionals provides the full range of ecological consulting and restoration services and operates one of the largest native plant nurseries in the nation with over 355 available species. Headquartered in Northwest Indiana, with regional offices in Monee, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; Grand Haven and Ann Arbor, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Indianapolis, Indiana, their team can provide comprehensive ecological solutions throughout the Midwest. Typical work includes: watershed and stream enhancement and restoration, watershed planning, environmental engineering and permitting, wetland investigation and design, native plant nursery supply and installation services, Great Lakes shorelands consulting, endangered species consulting, and natural systems for wastewater and stormwater treatment.

Kabbes Engineering, Inc. (KEI) is a water resources and environmental engineering firm. The company specializes in water resource issues and environmental planning. The KEI team has extensive local, state, and regional experience in river and lake restoration and water resource related regulatory and policy issues. They have received awards for their work in stream restoration. KEI is a woman-owned business located in Barrington, IL.

We're dedicated to building quality Homes in desirable locations with the most diverse designs at the best price.

Founded in Bradley, Illinois in June of 2004, Land Resource Management Group [LRMG] set the groundwork for an organization that has grown into a multifaceted natural resources consulting, ecological design and restoration management firm. They have put together a team of recognized professionals in ecology, landscape architecture, water resources, restoration management and business to successfully serve their clients and natural resources in a constructive manner.

LRMG addresses the complex issues of today's Midwestern landscape by clearly identifying and assessing land and water resources, protecting and restoring these resources and providing creative yet practical designs for the interface of natural and developed lands. It is fundamental to their approach that economic growth and prosperity can be accomplished in a state of balance with sound protection, active restoration and the long-term conservation of natural resources.

LaSalle Bank N.A. is headquartered in Chicago and is one of the largest banks in the Midwest and is the second largest in Chicago. LaSalle believes that our success depends on the health of the community in which we live and work. We recognize and embrace our role in creating and maintaining a healthy environment in the community at large. The Bank is committed to a sustainability strategy which focuses on Reducing the Bank's Environmental Footprint, Managing Environmental and Social Risk, Developing Sustainable Products, and Engaging our Stakeholders. We weave social, ethical, and environmental considerations into all of our business decisions and actions. It is the right thing to do, and it is the wise thing to do - as a business, as a member of the community, and as a beneficiary and steward of vital resources.

McGinty Bros., established in 1955, offers fifteen years of experience as a prairie seeding and wetland restoration contractor. Services include drill and hydro seeding, prairie and wetland plantings, prescribed burning, control of invasive species, and stream bank stabilization. The company also specializes in complete tree care.

Midwest Generation is an independent power producer operating seven major power plants and five peaker facilities in Illinois. Headquartered in Chicago, the company is a subsidiary of Edison Mission Energy of Irvine, California, has about 1,200 Illinois employees, and can generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 11 million homes. Its plants are located in Chicago, Waukegan, Joliet, Romeoville, Morris and Pekin. Midwest Generation produces electricity to sell to utilities and other parties in the open, wholesale market. Since acquiring its Illinois facilities in 1999, the company has spent more than $250 million to complete a series of major projects to reduce air emissions from coal-fired electric power generation.

Nicor Gas is one of the nation's largest gas distribution companies. Owned by Nicor, Inc. (NYSE: GAS) a holding company, Nicor Gas has provided safe, reliable and cost-effective natural gas services for over 50 years. The Company serves over two million customers in a service territory that encompasses most of the northern third of Illinois, excluding the city of Chicago.

NiSource Inc. is a Fortune 500 holding company with headquarters in Merrillville, Indiana. Its core operating companies engage in natural gas transmission, storage and distribution, as well as electric generation, transmission and distribution. NiSource's operating companies deliver energy to 3.7 million customers located within the high-demand energy corridor stretching from the Gulf Coast through the Midwest to New England.

Founded in 1889, Northern Trust is one of the world's leading financial institutions. The company's global reach, industry-leading technology and expert staff combine to provide custody, trust, investments and banking services with the highest quality service.

Seyfarth Shaw was founded in Chicago in 1945 by distinguished labor lawyers who were both practical and visionary. The Chicago office remains the firm's largest office and has grown in depth and breadth. Our lawyers practice in virtually all aspects of the law that relate to today’s business operations. The Chicago office has maintained its nationally recognized strength in the areas of labor and employment and employee benefits law, while greatly expanding and strengthening its practices in the areas of corporate and banking, environmental, estate planning, finance, real estate, intellectual property and litigation.

The Chicago office also prides itself on it efforts to immerse the firm into the fabric of the greater Chicago community - providing pro bono legal services, supporting important civic and bar events and helping to raise money for worthy causes.

Tallgrass Restoration is a full-service ecological restoration company. We restore the health, integrity and beauty of our clients' land and water resources within both public and private settings. Our services include controlled burning, invasive species control, native habitat installation, project design and management, and erosion control using bio-engineering materials and native plants.

WRD Environmental is an ecological consulting firm that creates and fosters environmentally responsible urban landscapes. It designs, installs, manages and consults on landscape projects and programs that conserve natural resources, promote sustainability, cultivate biodiversity and restore nature's balance.

From reducing urban heat islands, creating wildlife sanctuaries, and reviving degraded land and shorelines, to complementing green-building initiatives through ecologically driven design, WRD employs the full range of best practices to elevate environmental planning and management. It strives to provide healthy and sustainable environments that are not only attractive but also responsible to current and future generations.

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