A beautiful ecology lesson on the river
flowers by the river2 by CGAphoto
Jennifer Slosar of The Chi-Town Daily News wrote a great story today about the Ecology of the River canoe trip offered by Friends of the Chicago River.
The descriptions of the flora and fauna she encountered are delightful:
Heading downriver, the group saw signs of wildlife, both striking and subtle. A huge green frog with a bright gold throat peered out placidly from a rocky bank at passersby. Parson pointed out a cotton wood tree whose trunk had been girdled by beavers....
Golden rod, purple cone flower (echinacea), and cup flowers line the banks, adding a decorative touch to a hardy, drought-resistant layer of vegetation. Thick-ridged cotton trees, willow, and silver maple hang over the river. Their falling leaves provide organic matter that supports the river's increasingly diverse aquatic life.
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Quotable
This morning's survey of Chicago River news was fun...
"Ever since the late 1800s, Chicagoans often referred to the Chicago River as a stinky, wet alley."
I've always thought of it as a wet, chocolatey alley.
"Both women had worn skirts."
Re: two ladies who are unhappy about the mosquito bites they received dining outdoors at Japonais, a fashionable sushi spot on the Chicago River at Chicago Avenue.
"The Chicago River has two sides."
'nuff said.
What's crazier than jumping carp? Freakin' bowhunting jumping carp!
As I wrote in my story today, it would be really bad if asian carp got into the Great Lakes. They're an invasive species that feeds on plankton, the tiny stuff at the very bottom of the food chain, threatening native fish populations.
They're also a threat to a non-native lake dweller: the jet-skier.
When silver carp are disturbed, they'll jump several feet out of the water and can smack boaters in the face or knock them off their jet ski. Really. Huge, goofy looking, tasty carp are flying out of the water and breaking people's noses. (Bighead carp, the other invasive species of asian carp coming up the Mississippi river system don't jump, they're just ugly.)
Check it out!
Not crazy enough for you? Need more?!? The Asian invasion has spawned a new sport: Aerial bowfishing!!!
Turn up the volume for this one. Be sure to catch the night bow fishing with glowing arrows at the 1:10 mark. OMG. WTF.
More sticks, sewage and urban backwash: Watch the stewards at work
As I wrote in my story today, cleaning up the river after last Monday's monster thunderstorms was a serious task. The Department of Streets and Sanitation pulled over 21,000 pounds of debris from the river in the three days following the storm, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District barely recovered from massive equipment failures in their efforts that night.
Both groups had boats on the river last week, cleaning up debris at Wolf Point, where the North and South Branches of the river meet. It's a focal point of cleanup work because debris swept into the river tends to collect at the confluence.
These videos of the boats were shot last Wednesday morning, the second day after the storm.
Workers aboard the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District's pontoon boat scoop flotsam from the Chicago River at Wolf Point.
The Department of Streets and Sanitation's new boat, DSS Two, oxegenates the water while it eats up debris.
Fish hotel open for business!
The Michigan Avenue Fish Hotel was floated up river and moored on the south side of the Chicago River between Dearborn and State Streets. A project of the Friends of the Chicago River, it will give fish and other aquatic wildlife homes on a stretch of the river with no natural bank or shade trees.
This is the fourth season the hotel will float on the river. This year marks the addition of a submerged island made from coconut bedding planted with underwater flora, according to Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends. Each year they have adapted the hotel with what they've learned.
Friends will be putting up a website about the hotel soon! Stay tuned to the Chicago River Blog for more details! For now, here's a video and some pictures of my new favorite lodging:
The fish hotel bobs in the wake of passing boats.
Tucked in the corner formed by Dearborn Street and the Riverwalk, the hotel rides waves by sliding up and down on its red moorings.
For a close up view, hop on a water taxi, or take the stairs down to the Riverwalk and grab some ribs. Deelish!
Listen in on the history of Chicago's waterways
The End of the Pipe recounts the history of water in the Chicago area, from the lake to the river and beyond, by the Chicago Matters folks at WBEZ. The story is delightful, and the characters they meet along the way are fantastic:
STARECHESKI: That’s a lot of water flowing into the pipes, which means: even a small rainstorm could totally overload the system.
ambi: beep beep beep
STARECHESKI: But there is one man. One man who stops the system from flooding.
WARNER: One man.
STARECHESKI: One man who lowers the water levels in the river to make room for the rain.
MAZZACCO: You have to understand, we have approximately 80 miles of managed, navigable waterways. And the key word there is managed.
WARNER: And you’re the manager.
MAZZACCO: Yeah, this room. This is the waterways control room.
ambi: phone rings. Click. "Water Reclamation. Dispatcher.
Love it.
Deep-six the big boats and pick up a paddle!
Kayaks on the river, by swanksalot
It seems this is the week for kayaking articles! On her new blog, Unpaved Paradise, my fellow citizen Alyssa Urish tells us why we should hit the river:
“Paddling the Chicago River is a magical adventure,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. “Whether you are downtown where you can see our world-famous city skyline from the water, further north where the variety of wildlife is remarkable, or on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal where the limestone cuts from when the canal was dug more than 100 years are still visible, it is really a worthwhile experience.”
And over at the Trib, Christopher Borrelli recounts his aquatic dining adventure eating sushi and barbeque whilst afloat. The article is accompanied by a list of kayak-friendly dining establishments. The story is fun, but his advice is priceless: "Bring Handi Wipes."
"We were wont to curse the sinless streamlet"
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District stands up for the river, at Kinzie Street this morning.
"That little stream, whose crystal waters had never been parted by anything heavier than a canoe, now buoyed the massive barks of traffic, and became polluted with the sewage of a growing city. And thus the great transition came, and we were wont to curse the sinless streamlet for it. To think that poor, innocent, abused, baby stream should for so many years have had anathemas heaped upon it by every one, without a friend to stand up for it, is too bad, too bad."
Edwin O. Gale, 1902, Reminiscences of Early Chicago and Vicinity
Eastland disaster commemorated
The tugboat Kenosha rescuing survivors of the Eastland disaster. Library of Congress / Wikipedia
In July 1915, 844 were killed when the steamboat Eastland rolled on its side in the Chicago River near LaSalle Street. This past Sunday, the victims of the disaster were honored with a ceremony on the river.
The Chicago Tribune's online coverage is okay, but it lacks pics:
The Eastland Disaster Historical Society began the annual memorial in 2000 to honor those who died and to spread awareness of the tragedy. Every year, society members lay an anniversary wreath near a historical marker at the site of the accident.
ABC 7 has a pic, and as a bonus, they threw in a wonderfully misleading stastistic about the disaster in their online coverage:
Eight hundre [sic] fifty people died in the disaster, with more passenger fatalities than the Titanic.
More passengers did die when the Eastland overturned, but including crew, almost twice as many people – 1517 to be exact – died when the Titanic sank.
Michigan Avenue riverwalk will cost $8.1 million
City of the Big shoulders... by chelseagirl
A clout-heavy company with two generations of ties to the Daley family has been chosen to fill in a "missing link" in Chicago's riverwalk at a cost of $8.1 million, double the city's original estimate.
The contract awarded last month calls for Walsh Construction to build a walkway on landfill beneath the Michigan Avenue bridge so pedestrians can stroll along the Chicago River without running upstairs, crossing the street and going back downstairs.
The walkway under Michigan Avenue at Wacker Drive was previously estimated to cost $4 million, according to the Sun-Times.
For more on the riverwalk, check out the City of Chicago's Chicago Riverwalk page and Wacker Drive Riverwalk Study [pdf].
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