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Resources
EPA Grants
The general site for EPA funding that includes the application process, grant opportunities, available training, and rules and policies.
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Water Quality Management Grant Program
Grants are available to determine the nature, extent, and causes of point and nonpoint source water pollution; develop water quality management plans; develop technical and administrative guidance tools for water pollution control; develop preliminary designs for best management practices (BMPs) to address water quality problems; implement administrative water pollution controls; and educate the public about the impact and importance of water pollution control.
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Green Infrastructure: Cost-effective solutions to flooding
This website offers estimated costs of various green infrastructure projects. These estimates include upfront costs and ongoing maintenance costs.
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Green Stormwater Infrastructure Impact on Property Values
This report shows Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) adds value to homes. The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) worked with SB Friedman Development Advisors to model the impact of GSI installations, such as rain gardens, pervious pavement, swales, and planters, on property sales data in two cities and found statistically significant higher sales prices of homes near GSI.
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Green Values Strategy Guide: Linking Green Infrastructure Benefits to Community Priorities
This guide highlights the quantifiable ways that green stormwater infrastructure can provide broad benefits to communities. These benefits are classified into health, economic, climate, and transportation groups.
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Civic Innovation Fund
The Civic Innovation Hub (CIH) organizes residents and local governments of the Calumet Region in the south suburbs of Chicago with the purpose of achieving community-led results on critical social, economic, and environmental infrastructure. With a focus on resilient stormwater management, CIH provides educational curriculum, data analysis and tools, community advocacy and knowledge-building resources, and networking opportunities
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Chicago Green Alley Handbook
This handbook explains Chicago's interest in sustainable alley design, illustrate the techniques the City will use, and provide sample layouts of how these elements have been combined in pilot applications. In addition, information and resources are provided for property owners interested in implementing their own environmental practices.
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Green Site Design: Strategies for Storm Water Management
Overview of many types of best management practices in urban areas such as green roofs, green streets and parking, permeable paving, bioretention and biofiltration, and constructed stormwater wetlands.
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Quantifying the Benefits of Urban Forest Systems
The purpose of this literature review is to highlight the limited research performed, document areas of need for quantifying the benefits of urban trees for stormwater management, and provide a basis for providing credits for trees in stormwater designs
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Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities (RISC)
Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities (RISC) is a cluster of public and private sector professionals focused on climate resiliency via delivery and finance of market-based green stormwater infrastructure across the Great Lakes region
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City of Evansville Stormwater Management Page
This site holds stormwater public service announcements and various related resources for the city.
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What is a CSO?
An instructional video on combined sewer systems and overflows
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Minnesota Stormwater Seminar and Research Spotlight Series
The Minnesota Stormwater Seminar Series provides an opportunity to learn about the most recent research, discoveries and case studies around urban stormwater management specifically for an audience of stormwater practitioners and professionals.
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DuPage County Youtube Page
This Youtube channel provides information on a robust watershed management, flood operations, and water quality programs for a better DuPage Co.
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DuPage County Website Brochures
An array of brochures created and used by DuPage County pertaining to stormwater management and water quality.
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Green Infrastructure Guides and Nonpoint Source Resource
This site compiles resources and information regarding nonpoint sources and other urban runoff issues. It includes the Bioretention Design Handbook and the Green Streets Handbook.
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How’s My Waterway?
How's my waterway was designed to provide the general public with information about the condition of their local waters based on data that states, federal, tribal, local agencies and others have provided to EPA.
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Greater Egypt Outreach Materials
This site includes a number of resources to engage the public including a Water Resources Survey, activity books, brochures, and story maps. The story maps present GIS data and report findings in a tangible, aesthetic way.
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Green Infrastructure Wizard
GIWiz offers you access to a repository of EPA-sourced Green Infrastructure tools and resources designed to support and promote sustainable water management and community planning decisions. The tools and resources available through GIWiz will help you analyze problems, understand management options, calculate design parameters, analyze costs and benefits, evaluate tradeoffs, engage stakeholders, and/or develop education and outreach campaigns.
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Illinois Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management
The purpose of the IAFSM is to encourage effective and innovative approaches to managing the Illinois’ floodplain and stormwater management systems. Their site provides
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National Municipal Stormwater Alliance
NMSA has developed a nation-wide platform for MS4s to plug into to get updates on national policies impacting local governments, access to peer-to-peer information exchange opportunities, learn about new products and tools in the stormwater sector, and simply put – to be a part of the dynamic world of the stormwater sector.
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International Stormwater BMP Database
The International Stormwater Best Management Practices Database (BMPDB) is a repository of BMP field studies and related web tools, performance summaries, and monitoring guidance
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Green Infrastructure Baseline Inventory
To test the feasibility of collecting and managing this type of data in our region, the Metropolitan Planning Council, in coordination with the Calumet Stormwater Collaborative, developed the Green Infrastructure Baseline Inventory. This free, publicly accessible dataset, collected in 2020 as a pilot, documents existing green infrastructure installations in the Calumet region of Illinois.
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Evaluation of Turf-Grass and Prairie-Vegetated Rain Gardens in a Clay and Sand Soil
This report documents the methods used in and the results from a study to determine if soil type or vegetative species, or both, in a rain garden have an effect on the rate of infiltration of stormwater runoff.
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Design Guidelines for Stormwater Bioretention Facilities
This manual provides design guidelines and a numerical model (RECARGA) that can be used for creating bioretention facilities for small-scale stormwater management that promotes infiltration of storm water in order to reduce its volume, improve its quality and increase groundwater recharge.
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Chicago Waterways Restoration Framework Plan
This website details the plan to restore Chicago's waterways to sustain an improved level of diversity and abundance of aquatic organisms along the river corridor. These waterways have experienced stream channel relocation, channelization, removal of riparian plant communities, total reversal of basin flow, reduction in ground water inflow, combined sewer overflows, erratic inflows of effluent from industry, and other degradation.
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Illinois State Water Plan Task Force
State Water Plan information including meeting details, contacts, and plan progress
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USEPA Introduction to Watershed Planning
This Handbook is intended to help communities; watershed organizations; and state, local, tribal and federal environmental agencies develop and implement watershed plans to meet water quality standards and protect water resources. It will be particularly useful to persons working with impaired or threatened waters.
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Bureau of Design and Environment Manual
The Bureau of Design and Environment (BDE) Manual has been prepared to provide uniform practices for the Department and consultant personnel preparing Phase I studies and reports and contract plans for Department projects. The BDE Manual presents most of the information normally required in the development of a typical roadway project.
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Bureau of Local Roads and Streets (BLRS) Drainage Design
Chapter 38 presents drainage design criteria specifically for local agency projects. For information on design procedures, the designer should reference the IDOT Drainage Manual. In addition, the Illinois Drainage Code (42 ILCS) provides the laws relative to rights of drainage, as well as those regarding the construction, maintenance, and repair of drains, ditches, and levees.
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Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts
This third edition is the first major rewrite of HDS 5 since 1985, updating all previous information and adding new information on software solutions, aquatic organism passage, culvert assessment, and culvert repair and rehabilitation. The result is a comprehensive culvert design publication.
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The Cross-Vane, W-Weir and J-Hook Vane Structures…Their Description, Design and Application for Stream Stabilization and River Restoration
The descriptions, design specifications, placement locations, spacing and various applications of Cross-Vane, W-Weir and J-Hook Vane structures are presented in this report
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Performance-Based Plant Selection: Developing a Bioretention Plant Selection Tool
This article outlines the ongoing process of creating a plant selection tool specifically for bioretention purposes. So far, this has included a survey and literature review. The next phase of this project is currently in the works.
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Natural Solutions Tool Greater Chicago, A Watershed Approach
Using mapped data to identify the best locations for green infrastructure expansion and improvement, the tool allows users to visualize and collect data at many scales, and reveals potential solutions to address complex environmental challenges.
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The Urban Flooding Baseline Project
The Calumet Region, like much of Cook County, experiences flooding because of multiple factors. Explore this tool to see data about where it floods, why it floods, and who is most impacted by flooding.
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Small Streams Maintenance Program
Use this application to report a waterway blockage and request removal of debris from a small creek or waterway in Cook County, IL.
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Stormwater Inundation Mapping Application (SWIMA)
SWIMA is a tool developed by the MWRD that provides general flood risk information for Cook County. The application allows users to view the 100-yr inundation areas and the modeled water surface elevations that were originally developed as part of the MWRD's Detailed Watershed Planning (DWP) program as well as the regulatory floodplain/floodway information from FEMA Flood Insurance Study.
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Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) Geohub
Using this data you can learn how MWRD is working to protect the health and safety of the public in its service area, protect the quality of the water supply source (Lake Michigan), improve the quality of water in watercourses in its service area, protect businesses and homes from flood damages, and manage water as a vital resource for its service area.
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Fathom Global Flood Map
Consultation firm to help customers find a 10 meter resolution for the entire US and some parts of the globe to create resilience and fight water perils.
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Illinois Flood Maps
Various GIS data available here for flood-related inquiries.
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Coordinated Needs Management Strategy (CNMS) Viewer
Provides data on the progress of stream studies in the US.
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National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) Viewer
Updated Flood Data for the country based on FIRM and LOMR data
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DuPage Co Open GIS Portal
GIS data portal for DuPage County
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Precipitation Frequency Study for Illinois
This report provides new, updated precipitation frequencies for 10 regions in Illinois for event durations ranging from 5 minutes to 10 days and for recurrence intervals ranging from 2 months to 500 years. New, updated time-distribution characteristics of rainfall events, known as “Huff curves,” are also provided.
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Stormwater & Mosquito Control Project
This site discusses the importance of mosquito control through the use of green infrastructure. It details all the progress the project has made since 2016 including, awards, papers, and a new video that helps explain the project.
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Landscape Architects Take on Embodied Carbon
This article explains carbon-limiting strategies and tools that landscape architects and other designers can take into account when designing. These strategies were shared by Stephanie Carlisle, a senior researcher for the Carbon Leadership Forum.
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Landscape Architecture Strategies Reduce Biodiversity Loss
This article discusses the research done by Dr. Sohyun Park that finds many strategies to reduce biodiversity loss which includes designing for biodiversity, transforming grey infrastructure to green, and building strong community coalitions on biodiversity.
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Landscape Architecture Strategies Reduce Impacts of Dangerous Extreme Heat
This article discusses the findings from research done by Dr. Daniella Hirschfeld that supports landscape architects' vision for climate resilience to limit warming temperatures in urban areas.
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The Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange
This website is the hub for a network of GSI professionals across North America that houses a GI library, program information, and publications.
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Soil Geography
This website is a hub for maps and databases for soils throughout the United States.
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Chicago Wilderness Alliance: Green Vision Initiatives
This website provides a framework for seven goals with the vision of guiding, tracking, and implementing regional progress.
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Barriers and Gateways to Green Infrastructure
This report conveys results from a survey conducted by the Clean Water American Alliance to gauge green infrastructure barriers encountered by people and organizations, as well as responses from those entities for potential methods to overcome the barriers.
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Cuándo y Cómo Muestrear los Suelos
This guide provides information on how and when to test soil and how to understand the results.
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When and How to Take a Soil Test
This guide provides information on how and when to test soil and how to understand the results.
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2022 Illinois State Water Plan
This report addresses a list of identified critical issues and recommends actions to address them.
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Soil Testing
This website provides detailed information explaining the importance of testing soil, how to perform the tests, and what to do with the results.
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Geologic Road Map of Illinois: Surface Deposits and Landscapes
This statewide map depicts surface deposits and landforms left by the Wisconsin, Illinois, and pre-Illinois glaciation episodes and in areas unaffected by glaciers.
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Getting to Green: Paying for Green Infrastructure Financing Options and Resources for Local Decision-Makers
This guide provides guidance for decision-makers on how to fund Green Stormwater Infrastructure.
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Surficial Geologic Mapping for Green Infrastructure Siting and Suitability
This paper contains abstracts from presentations by geological map authors, program managers, and professionals at the 2019 Geologic Mapping Forum in Minneapolis.
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Illinois Water Well (ILWATER) Interactive Map
This interactive map shows the official record of all wells drilled in Illinois since the late 1800s.
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Green Infrastructure Maintenance
This YouTube video series covers practices for successful Green Infrastructure maintenance.
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National Green Infrastructure Certification Program Body of Knowledge
This library of resources developed by the NGICP includes materials applicable to the construction and implementation of Green Infrastructure.
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Elements of a Green Infrastructure Maintenance Business Plan
This report discusses a stakeholder-driven process for determining Green Infrastructure maintenance plans.
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Green City, Clean Waters: Green Infrastructure Maintenance Manual
This guide, developed for the city of Philadelphia, provides standard procedures for successfully maintaining Green Stormwater Infrastructure.
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Increasing Funding and Financing Options for Sustainable Stormwater Infrastructure
This guide examines a variety of funding options for water infrastructure and for Green Stormwater Infrastructure investment, from federal and state programs to local government support.
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A Guide to Assessing Green Infrastructure Costs and Benefits for Flood Reduction
This guide presents a process for communities to follow to assess the costs and benefits of Green Stormwater Infrastructure.
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Green Infrastructure Municipal Resources and Funding Opportunities
This document lists a variety of municipal resources and funding opportunities for green infrastructure.
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CADD images for individual best management practices
This website is a hub for CADD files and images for best management practices of bioretention, infiltration, ponds, sand filters, and swales.
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Model Stormwater Management Ordinance
This document provides model language for communities looking to modify ordinances for stormwater management.
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A Design Guide for Green Stormwater Infrastructure Best Management Practices: Scalable Solutions to Local Challenges
This tool helps users understand implementation opportunities for green infrastructure, how to determine which practices to utilize, and how to make cost-effective, informed decisions.
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Watershed Management Ordinance Technical Information
This website is a hub for watershed management ordinance technical information within the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago area.
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Watershed Management Ordinance and Infiltration/Inflow Control Program
This website contains information related to Cook County's Watershed Management Ordinance and Infiltration/Inflow Control Program.
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Performance and Whole Life Costs of Best Management Practices and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
This tool allows users to explore performance and costs of Green Stormwater Infrastructure.
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U.S. EPA National Stormwater Calculator: Cost Module & Mobile Web App
This presentation explains the cost estimation module for the US EPA National Stormwater Calculator.
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Green Infrastructure Co-Benefits Valuation Tool
This tool provides a framework to support analysis of the costs and benefits associated with various green infrastructure practices.
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Community-enabled Lifecycle Analysis of Stormwater Infrastructure Costs (CLASIC) Tool
This tool uses a lifecycle cost framework to support stormwater infrastructure decisions on extent and combinations of green, hybrid green-gray and gray infrastructure practices.
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National Stormwater Calculator
This tool estimates a specific site's annual rainfall and frequency of runoff to provide guidance for green infrastructure design.
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Available Stormwater Models and Selecting a Model
This website is a hub of available stormwater models with information on choosing the model most appropriate for a specific Green Stormwater Infrastructure project.
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GIP-SWMM: A new Green Infrastructure Placement Tool coupled with SWMM
This paper discusses the development of a tool for identifying green infrastructure placement paired with SWMM.
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Sewer Atlas
This website provides guidelines for purchasing sewer atlas information from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
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Guide to Flood Susceptibility and Stormwater Planning
This guide presents methods for utilizing data to assess flooding issues, inform about green infrastructure, and inform land use decisions.
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Tipping Point Planner
This tool allows users to connect data to local decision-making processes.
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Green Infrastructure Spatial Planning Model
This tool provides a method to facilitate spatial planning at a citywide scale with additional assessments to be performed at smaller scales.
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Integrated Hydrological Modelling Software
This tool allows users to analyze water processes with a framework for integrated modeling.
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Storm Water Management Model (SWMM)
This tool lets users explore planning, analysis, and design related to stormwater runoff, combined and sanitary sewers, and other drainage systems.
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EnviroScape®
These environmental education models encourage learning at all ages about local water resources and pollution prevention.
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How to Use an Amoozemeter for Soil Ksat
This video explains how to use an Amoozemeter to measure saturated hydraulic conductivity in soils (Ksat).
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Water Table Maps
This tool is a hub for water table data for any specific site in Illinois.
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Illinois Groundwater Resources
This interactive map and tool shows Illinois aquifer systems and wells that extract groundwater from them.
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Regional Flood Susceptibility Index
This map shows urban flood susceptibility in the greater Chicago region.
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RiskFactor
This tool allows users to input a specific location to determine risk projections related to flood, fire, and heat.
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Topographic Wetness Index
This tool and interactive map allows users identify stormwater runoff patterns, areas of increased soil moisture, and potential areas of ponding.
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Topographic Wetness Index: A GIS Approach to Identifying Areas At Risk of Urban Flooding
This presentation provides an overview and demonstration of the Topographic Wetness Index.
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USGS EROS Archive – Aerial Photography – Aerial Photo Mosaics
This website houses USGS historic aerial imagery.
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ArcHydro Modeling Outputs, 2017
This website contains ArcHydro modeling data from five pilot communities in the Chicago metropolitan area from a 2017 study geared toward developing a local stormwater planning approach.
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Arc Hydro: GIS for water resources
This website provides an overview of ArcHydro tools, capabilities, and uses, as well as links to resources and webinars.
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Community Data Snapshots
This website provides data from the 2022 Community Data Snapshot in the Chicago metropolitan area. This snapshot includes data on demographics, housing, land use, employment, transportation, revenue, and water.
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Community Survey Tool
This tool provides a framework for conducting community surveys, including e-learning resources and questionnaire templates.
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Illinois Flood Maps
This website contains flood insurance rate maps, studies, and other digital products for every county in Illinois.
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Vulnerability Assessments
This website contains trainings, publications, tools, and other resources related to coastal vulnerability assessment and climate change adaptation.
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How are UTM coordinates measured on USGS topographic maps?
This website explains how Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates are measured on USGS topographic maps.
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Illinois County GIS Resources
This website provides links to GIS resources and websites by county in Illinois.
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Member Regional Councils
This website provides a list of regional councils in Illinois.
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Soils
This website provides the required forms, manuals, and guides needed to comply with Illinois Department of Transportation policies related to soil testing and reporting.
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Evaluation of engineered soils for bioretention areas containing dredged Illinois River sand, compost, biosolids, and pyrolyzed biosolids
This academic paper evaluates the feasibility of enhancing dredged soils for use in bioslopes, bioswales, and rain gardens. The paper also compares the properties of these engineered soils to different types of biosolids to evaluate their suitability.
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Soils
This website focuses on the role of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in partnering with private landowners across the United States to conserve and improve soil, offering technical assistance for soil conservation practices, providing information on soil health and science, and facilitating assistance for farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners through their local NRCS field offices.
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Soil Quality Indicator Sheets
This guide is a set of informational documents designed for conservationists and soil scientists, providing guidance on assessing soil health through physical, chemical, and biological indicators.
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Soil Basics
This website provides an introduction to soil basics, including how soils form, different types of soil, and their properties and functions.
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Soil
This website provides various articles and resources on soil basics and the significance of soil health. It also includes steps on how homeowners can collect and test their own soil samples.
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Aerial Photography
This website is a hub for the USDA Geospatial Enterprise Operations, including customer services, data management and provisioning, data inspection, enhancement, and delivery, and technology coordination and project execution.
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Cook County Viewer
This website is a hub for a wide range of Cook County maps.
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Topographic map symbols
This resource explains how to read topographic maps and symbols.
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How to read Illinois topographic maps
This publication explains how to read Illinois topographic maps.
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Topographic Maps
This website is a hub for national topographic maps.
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Land Use Inventory
This website and interactive map provides land use data for the greater Chicago area.
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High-Resolution Land Cover, NE Illinois and NW Indiana, 2010
This website is a hub for high-resolution land cover covering a 10-county study area of northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana.
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High-Resolution Land Cover, Cook County, 2010
This website is a hub for high-resolution land cover in Cook County, Illinois.
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Land Cover Data for Illinois
This website is a hub of land cover data across Illinois.
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National Land Cover Database (NLCD)
This website identifies federal agencies that coordinate and generate national land cover data and lists a selection of accessible products.
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Topographic Lidar Surveys
This website provides information on applications of topographic lidar surveys and associated mapping tools and resources.
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Quadrangle Maps
This tool displays quadrangle maps available for Illinois.
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ISGS Map Series Information
This website provides summaries and applications of different mapping tools, as well as information on how to purchase or download these tools.
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Illinois Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
This website provides geospatial datasets and mapping applications for Illinois.
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Great Lakes Mapping Coalition
This website contains mapping tools, publications, and other resources from the Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition.
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National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program
This website provides comprehensive resources for mapping, modeling, and other geologic data.
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Retrofitting urban land through integrative, subsoils-based planning of green stormwater infrastructure: a research framework
This academic paper provides a framework for designing more impactful green stormwater infrastructure by integrating native subsoil performance and surface retrofitting into planning efforts.
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Widespread loss of intermediate soil horizons in urban landscapes
This academic paper provides an analysis of soil changes from pre-urban conditions in eleven cities and details the causes of these changes.
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Illinois Suite of Maps
This website is a hub for Illinois soils maps developed by NRCS.
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Soil Education
This website is a hub for soil-related educational resources for students.
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The Education Store: 4-H Soils and Water Conservation
This online store offers youth education resources and instructor guides on soil and water science. Guides are available for 3 different levels, encompassing grades 3-12.
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Step-by-Step Guide to Integrating Community Input into Green Infrastructure Projects
This guide outlines steps to effectively engage community members in the implementation of a green infrastructure project and incorporate community feedback into the project.
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RainReady
This website provides resources and guidelines on urban flooding, green infrastructure, and flood risk assessment. It also details current "Rain Ready" projects in Chicago and provides standards and guidance for new projects.
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Digital Coast Trainings
This website contains training resources on over 150 different topics and case studies, including water quality, climate change mitigation, coastal resilience, green infrastructure, sustainable and equitable planning, and more.
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Integrating Green Infrastructure
This paper discusses the benefits of a green infrastructure implementation plan in Chicago and outlines a policy framework for achieving these goals.
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Community & Economic Development
This website provides numerous programs, resources, and contacts for community and economic development. Strategies on this website include local government education, community planning, workforce development, and sustainable community building.
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Landscape Drainage for Homeowners
This blog discusses the underlying causes of poor drainage around homes and in yards, and introduces solutions to reduce or prevent flooding and erosion.
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Urban Forest Systems and Green Stormwater Infrastructure
This guide discusses the impacts of trees on urban stormwater management and outlines various strategies for effective urban forest management.
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Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design
This book shares detailed approaches to more naturalistic planting and landscape maintenance for gardeners and homeowners.
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Investigating the Stormwater: Quantity and Quality Impacts of Urban Trees
This webinar details how urban trees impact stormwater quality and outlines best management practices for urban forestry.
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A Beginner’s Guide to the Naturalistic Garden
This article discusses tips and tricks for maintaining a more naturalistic landscape at home.
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Talking Headways Podcast: What We Can Do To Depave Cities
This podcast discusses methods for reducing stormwater runoff in cities, how to incorporate more natural rainwater harvesting systems in urban design, and how to retrofit existing systems for better stormwater management.
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SoilWeb Apps
These interactive maps display nationwide soil surveys and regional trends in soil types and properties.
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Unlock the Secrets in the Soil
This YouTube channel contains short informational videos on the basics of soil health, case studies, and conversations with different professionals.
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NRCS National Soil Survey Center
This YouTube channel contains webinars, informational videos, and tutorials on different soil case studies and analysis tools.
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Green Values Stormwater Management Calculator
This calculator allows users to choose properties and evaluate what BMPs meet the volume capacity capture goal.
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Tackling Barriers to Green Infrastructure: An Audit of Municipal Codes and Ordinances
This book presents a variety of barriers to green infrastructure implementation from outdated municipal codes and provides guidelines to overcome them.
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Urban Street Design Guide: Stormwater Management
This website is a hub for urban street stormwater management infrastructure practices.
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Urban Street Design Guide: Pervious Pavement
This website details general guidelines for siting and installing permeable pavement along urban corridors.
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Urban Street Design Guide: Bioswales
This website details general guidelines for siting and installing bioswales along urban corridors.
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The Southern Lake Michigan Rain Garden Manual
This manual details the full process of installing a rain garden.
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A Closer Look at Rain Gardens
This blog provides an explanation of rain gardens, how they work, and where to site them.
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The Green Edge: How Commercial Property Investment in Green Infrastructure Creates Value
This report explains how value is built through the investment in green infrastructure on commercial properties.
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Report for the Urban Flooding Awareness Act
This report for the Urban Flooding Awareness Act details urban flooding in Illinois and technologies that can mitigate the effects.
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Overcoming Barriers to Green Infrastructure
This website explains common barriers to the implementation and success of green infrastructure projects.
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Green Infrastructure Partnership Opportunity Program
This website provides information on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago's Green Infrastructure Partnership Opportunity Program.
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Illinois Green Infrastructure Grant Program for Stormwater Management
This website provides information on the Illinois Green Infrastructure Grant Opportunities reimbursement program.
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Green Infrastructure Funding Opportunities
This website provides up-to-date funding opportunities for green infrastructure projects.
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Design Process
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StormStore
This website connects users to resources needed for stormwater credit trading.
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Design Process
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Exceeding Intent: A Precedent Library of Exemplary Green Stormwater Infrastructure Projects
This library of case studies showcases a variety of exemplary built green stormwater infrastructure projects.
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Design Process
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Low Impact Development Toolkit
This toolkit presents built examples and guidelines to low impact design strategies for stormwater management.
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Design Process
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Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit
This website is a hub for green infrastructure modeling tools.
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Design Process
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Green Infrastructure Modeling Tools
This website explains what green infrastructure modeling is, why it's important, how to choose a model, and sizing and cost spreadsheets. A list of models is also provided.
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Design Process
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Illinois Urban Manual
This website is a BMP technical reference hub for those involved in construction site soil erosion and sediment control.
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Design Process
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EPA Stormwater Requirements
This website explains general information on federal storm water requirements through the NPDES program.
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Design Process
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NPDES Stormwater Program
This website provides information on and access to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) programs.
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Design Process
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Minnesota Stormwater Manual
This website provides information on a wide variety of stormwater topics including control practices, regulations, and models.
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Design Process
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Rainscaping Education Program
This program provides training and resources on rainscaping practices that can be installed in residential settings or small-scale public spaces projects.
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Design Process
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Vacant to Vibrant
This book offers practical insights from a pilot project in 3 cities that created green infrastrcture networks.
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Design Process
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Building the Red Oak Rain Garden
This webinar discusses the design and installation of a large, built rain garden on a university campus.
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Design Process
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Bluethumb Guide to Raingardens
This book provides information on siting, sizing, building, and maintaining rain gardens, a list of rain garden plants, and several planting plans.
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Design Process
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Diversity, Equity, and Green Infrastructure
This webinar discusses the results of a study exploring the relations between diversity, equity, and green infrastructure and stormwater management.
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Design Process
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Stormwater@Home
This series of short videos introduces the viewer to stormwater and various practices that can be installed to manage it.
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Design Process
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Illinois State Water Survey
This website is the hub of research, data, publications, and news from the Illinois State Water Survey.
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Design Process
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Iowa Stormwater Education Partnership
This website is a hub for information and resources involving Green Stormwater Infrastructure produced by the Iowa Stormwater Education Partnership.
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Design Process
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Landscape Design with Natives
This webinar provides guidance on designing native plant landscapes with an introduction to a selection of perennials, shrubs, and trees.
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Design Process
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IISG Brochures
This brochure series provides easy-to-follow guides to native plant design and installation for a wide variety of site conditions.
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Design Process
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Planting in a Post-Wild World
This book explores the design and implementation of plant communities to mimic naturally occurring processes and to create a resilient landscape.
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Design Process
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Illinois Native Plant Nurseries
This website provides names, addresses, and contact information for native plant nurseries across Illinois and nearby states.
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Design Process
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Woody Invasives of the Great Lakes Collaborative
This website is a hub for information and resources related to woody invasive plants and alternatives to replace them in landscape trades.
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Design Process
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Midwest Invasive Plant Network
This website is a hub for information, resources, and upcoming events involving midwestern invasive species.
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Design Process
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Management of Invasive Plants and Pests of Illinois
This guide provides identification profiles of invasive plants and pests, the ways to control them, and how to minimize their spread.
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Design Process
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Jumping Worms: A New Invader in Illinois Webinar
This webinar discusses invasive Jumping Worms, the problems they pose to natural and built landscapes, and ways to minimize their spread.
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Design Process
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Landscape Invasives and Native Alternatives
This webinar presents native alternatives to invasive plants commonly used in the landscaping trades.
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Design Process
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Pruning Deciduous Shrubs
This webinar presents a series of pruning practices to ensure healthy and maintained shrubs in the garden.
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Design Process
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Tips for Cleaning up the Garden in Fall
This podcast provides an end-of-season garden maintenance task list to prepare for winter months.
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Design Process
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Identification and Control of Woody Invasive Plants
This webinar explains how to identify common woody invasive plants in Illinois and what you can do to control them.
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Design Process
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Is this a Weed? Garden Invaders, Welcome Guests and Photo-bombers
This blog explains the difference between weeds to pull and weeds that can stay, as well as general guidelines to best rid gardens of unwanted weeds.
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Design Process
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The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden
This book provides a large selection of planting designs and explains design practices that minimize maintenance inputs.
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Design Process
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Soils, Climate, and Carbon
This webinar discusses why Midwest soils contain large amounts of organic matter and changes that have occurred over the last 150 years.
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Design Process
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Illinois State Geological Society
This website is a hub for Illinois State Geological Survey research, data, publications, maps, and experts.
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Design Process
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USDA Web Soil Survey
This website provides access to soil data produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey for local use planning.
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Design Process
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Shade Gardens: Native Plants and Ecological Benefits
This webinar explains the ecological benefits of planting natives underneath trees and explores shade-tolerant plant options.
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Design Process
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Planting for Pollinators
This webinar explores what native plants to use to attract a variety of pollinators to a garden.
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Design Process
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New Perennial Garden Theory
This webinar provides guidance on designing, installing, and maintaining native plant landscapes.
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Design Process
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Planting: A New Perspective
This book explains the planting design process of a renowned designer and includes species profiles of dozens of selected plant species.
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Design Process
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Design in the Terrain of Water
This collection of essays provides insight to and global examples of water-centric design at site, neighborhood, and regional scales.
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Design Process
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Valuing the public benefits of green roofs
This paper discusses a choice experiment survey to estimate the public benefits for a proposed green roof program.
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Design Process
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A novel computational green infrastructure design framework for hydrologic and human benefits
This paper describes a novel computational green infrastructure (GI) design framework that integrates stormwater management requirements with criteria for human wellbeing.
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Design Process
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Cost/benefit assessment of green infrastructure: Spatial scale effects on uncertainty and sensitivity
This paper provides a quantitative and comparative analysis of GI benefits, including nutrient uptake from stormwater and air pollutant deposition. Economic costs and benefits of GI are assessed using two metrics, benefit-cost ratios and nutrient removal costs, at three scales: household, subwatershed, and watershed.
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Design Process
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Green Infrastructure, Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and Human Health: A Review.
This review explores the published evidence regarding the relationships between green infrastructure and human health.
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Design Process
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Cities as hydro-geologic terrain: Design research to transform urban surfaces
This paper argues to insert hydro-terrain thinking to the paved surfaces of cities, instantiating the concept of “rain terrain” that links hydrologic performance across scales, from the raindrop to the region.
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Design Process
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A qualitative assessment tool for ecologically based stormwater systems
This paper discusses a qualitative ecological health assessment that was developed for ecologically designed stormwater systems. The aim was to enhance post-implementation monitoring and maintenance.
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Design Process
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Modeling Field-Scale Bioretention Cells with Heterogeneous Infiltration Media
This paper investigates the ability of a one-dimensional model to simulate water movement through a heterogeneous bioretention cell.
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Design Process
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Development of a Bioretention Cell Model and Evaluation of Input Specificity on Model Accuracy.
This paper describes work to determine the level of input specificity in hydraulic parameters needed to accurately estimate water movement through a bioretention cell.
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Design Process
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Soils Lab
This website features research that evaluates how human activities can enhance or compromise soil services to human societies.
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Design Process
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Monitoring and Documenting the Performance of Stormwater Best Management Practices
This paper discusses a project that conducted real-time monitoring on a bioswale and two patches of permeable concrete and selected 15 rain gardens for infiltration testing and three of those for additional synthetic drawdown testing and documented the results.
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Design Process
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Laboratory analysis on the surface runoff pollution reduction performance of permeable pavements
This paper reveals how different factors influence the ability of permeable pavement layers to remove pollutants and to provide quantitative understanding of these influences.
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Design Process
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The role of reliability in characterizing green stormwater infrastructure in urban areas
This dissertation addresses how uncertainty in environmental and anthropogenic factors affects green infrastructure performance at modular, systemic, and policy levels. It offers a new perspective on green infrastructure performance, using an interdisciplinary, risk-based approach to analyze how it can be better integrated into the urban landscape.
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Design Process
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Predicting rain garden performance under back-to-back rainfall conditions using stochastic life-cycle analysis
This paper evaluates clayey native soil rain garden performance using stochastic life-cycle analysis framework. It uses the concept of ‘fragility’ to describe the probability of failure, and evaluates it using a Monte Carlo-based approach.
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Design Process
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A game theory analysis of green infrastructure stormwater management policies
This paper uses a cooperative game theory framework to investigate the potential impacts of different policy strategies used to incentivize green infrastructure installation
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Design Process
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Reliability-Based Approach to Investigating Long-Term Clogging in Green Stormwater Infrastructure
This paper proposes a probabilistic method to determine optimal maintenance timeframes to mitigate the impact of clogging for rain gardens under short duration storms.
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Design Process
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Integrating Green Infrastructure Into Stormwater Policy: Reliability, Watershed Management, and Environmental Psychology as Holistic Tools for Success
This paper addresses how uncertainty in environmental and anthropogenic factors affect green infrastructure performance and integration.
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Design Process
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Rain Garden Performance as a Function of Native Soil Parameters
This paper uses fragility curves to describe spatial variability of rain garden performance based on installation in various native soils.
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Design Process
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Willingness-to-Volunteer and Stability of Preferences between Cities: Estimating the Benefits of Stormwater Management
This paper uses a choice experiment survey in two major U.S. cities – Chicago, Illinois and Portland, Oregon – to estimate the benefits of stormwater management improvement in terms of stated willingness to pay money and willingness to volunteer time.
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Design Process
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Building an Equitable and Just Green Infrastructure Strategy in the North Central Region
This white paper discusses five key recommendations for communities seeking to implement GI programs that incorporate equity.
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Design Process
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No Items Found
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