In a changing climate, our ability to adapt and survive is determined by the health of our land and waters on which all life depends.  When our environment is under distress, the likelihood of natural disasters and zoonotic diseases, such as the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) challenging our way of life increases - and it did!  The COVID-19 health pandemic created a path of destruction and economic disruption across the globe. 

Stay at home orders were enacted to mitigate the spread of the virus; forcing businesses, schools, community recreation centers, bars, restaurants, and places of worship to close.  While families and communities experienced the adverse effects of COVID-19 firsthand, nature welcomed the arrival of spring.

It has been said that out of chaos comes opportunity.  As uncertainty, fear, and illness spread across the region, the gifts of the natural world sustained us and nurtured our resiliency through this forced hiatus. With our lives out of balance, nature beckoned us to take notice and make changes; maybe not the ones we wanted, but the ones we so desperately needed.

Fortunately, we live in the Chicago Wilderness region which is home to a spectacular concentration of rare ecosystems - many of which have national and global significance for conservation and provide for the safe refuge of a diverse array of species, including people, plants, and animals. This vibrant region, with a richness of breathtakingly beautiful landscapes where people and nature thrive together from city neighborhoods to farming communities, adds to our health and economic vitality.

For more than two decades, voters have overwhelmingly supported ballot measures to preserve open space, protect wildlife habitat, and restore natural areas, parks, and regional trails for current and future generations.  Ensuring the health, resiliency, and biodiversity of our ecosystems requires steadfast stewardship of our natural areas to reverse the degradation of woodlands, grassland prairies, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and streams.  It is our job to help them regain their ecological functionality – in other words, to improve their productivity and capacity to sustain life.

Due to our excellent advocacy efforts and support for public lands, outdoor activity was deemed a necessity for maintaining our physical and mental health - a nature prescription of sorts.  Thankfully, we were there to provide essential services to our communities. 

Across the region, conservation areas, forest preserves, parks, trails, and backyards remained open to answer our basic human instinct to survive amidst the chaos – the call of the wild summoning us to go, be healthy and get outdoors.  Conservation areas experienced increased site use and activity by more than 70% according to Google mobility analytics. 

We adapted during the outbreak and seized the opportunity to strategically strengthen our value to the community not only by staying open but through innovative digital e-learning program alternatives such as McHenry County Conservation District's Tom Talks, Virtual Field Study, Wonders of the Wild, and Chicago Wilderness' Conservation Cafés.  These environmental educational programs expanded our reach and efforts to connect children and adults to the natural world, supported student learning in local schools which were forced to hold classes on-line, and enhanced on-site visitor experiences.

We are in the business of improving and even saving lives and hopefully this pandemic will awaken humanity to take action on climate change and social justice. There has never been a more urgent need to support increased investments in ecological restoration and green infrastructure projects which have never been more imperative to our health than they are now. Our collective goals and action plans to preserve and protect nature can only happen if people of all backgrounds and races have an equal opportunity to experience and access the outdoors, parks and open spaces safely and without barriers. Together, we can restore our region and support an aspirational green vision for the future that recognizes everyone and eliminates systematic injustices. Our lives depend on it.

Thank you for your support of the Alliance as we actively listen and learn from our members to be leaders in this space.

Yours in Conservation,

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4www.chicagowilderness.org