has taught all of us during his two decadesplus with the Wetlands Initiative is that ecological restoration is never actually “finished”. Indeed we all learn that when talking about TWI’s work with Gary present it’s best to avoid even using that word… the point he’s making is much more than semantics.
Ongoing change is inherent to nature on Earth, with wetlands being a particularly dynamic example. Species adapt, natural communities evolve or move, and broader factors like changing weather patterns can force accelerated change. To think we’d turned a place into its perfect final snapshot would be foolish, would represent believing that we’d conquered nature rather than brought a piece of it back to healthy functioning.
In a different way this point is about where TWI does its work. We design and prove wetland restoration within modern human-built landscapes. Whether we own the property or someone else does, things outside of those boundaries have direct impact on what we’ve restored within it. So for our handiwork to last it can never be “finished” in the sense of frozen in place: our design must have built-in flexibility and adaptability, and we or someone else must always be ready to manage the place.
This is also about how TWI carries out its mission. We pursue restoration not only for its own sake— though we do love the results for what they are— but for the benefit and enjoyment of human communities. As people and neighborhoods and communities evolve so must our work, and we must directly engage with the people most affected by what we propose to do.
All of that applies these days to the organization itself. In this annual report you’ll learn about a lot of change underway at the Wetlands Initiative – the where, the how, and the who.
Our work is spreading to new places: new Smart Wetlands on farms, new ground added to the Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, tearing down more fences in the Calumet Region, launching a firstever watershed restoration at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. We have new collaborators in new places. Late in 2023 we recruited an entire new slate of officers, two of them among the newest members of our board of directors. New staff members joined us in both existing and new positions.
TWI has never been and isn’t becoming a policymaking organization. During 2023 though the US Supreme Court, ruling in Sackett v EPA, declared state legislatures to be the ideal place for deciding how most wetlands can be developed. Since that general topic is for us literally “the name on the door”, we joined a coalition working towards Illinois’ first-ever statewide wetlands law.
Another way we’ve changed is in spreading the word about wetlands and about the possibilities of restoration. In that spirit we engaged our first ever artist-in-residence, Lindsay Olson, whose original artworks inspired by TWI’s work have provided the framework and visual identity for this report.
We’re fortunate to work with Lindsay and learn from her perspective as an artist and storyteller, and I know you’ll enjoy hearing about our many project updates through the lens of her intricate and imaginative works.
More change is coming including more impact in more places – it’s actually challenging these days to write an annual report that isn’t outdated when it reaches the printer. That growth and success can happen only because of you, the people and organizations who work with us and support us. Thank you, and stay tuned!
Charlie Pick Chair, Board of Directors
Paul Botts President & Executive Director
NLY A FEW MONTHS PASS BETWEEN each thrilling new Calumet story.
TWI’s work in the bistate Calumet region continues to blossom, and the last year was no different: the first sighting of a nesting Sandhill Crane family at a restored wetland in Gary, IN; breaking ground at long wish-listed sites; new collaborations creating fresh energy and alignment. TWI’s robust slate of projects in Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana showcase the use of innovative restoration techniques that can be replicated by peers in our region and beyond.
Lindsay used Dr. Gary Sullivan’s hemi-marsh designs as her entry point into learning about TWI’s array of restoration projects. She was so invigorated by the Calumet projects that she created not one but three textile pieces inspired by them.
On the Indiana side, TWI’s suite of projects is making significant headway on the 2,000-acre floodplain corridor of the West Branch of the Little Calumet River. TWI is a leading member of the Little Calumet River Conservation Collaborative through which these and future projects are accomplished. At the Chase Street and Marshalltown Marsh Complexes, input from the surrounding communities is being prioritized to ensure that public access at both sites is tailored to local needs. And excitingly, both site designs will also feature stream re-meanderings –a first for Northwest Indiana.
Years of invasive management at these sites is also now paying off, setting up for continued native plant introduction. American lotus (Nelumbo lutea), sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), and marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) adorn Lindsay’s Calumet I piece, showcasing native species that are abundant in TWI’s restored wetlands.
The light stitching around the edge of Calumet Region I represents the platforms of vegetation created by muskrats that form the characteristic contours of hemi-marsh.
Progress continues at other West Branch sites, including Highland Rookery and MLK-South, where TWI installed water control structures in 2023. These structures allow the manipulation of water levels to mimic the natural, dynamic water fluctuations needed for hemi-marsh habitats to develop. In Olson’s second Calumet piece, blue stitching on the inner-most part of the collar represents these fluctuating water levels.
TWI also reached an exciting milestone in 2023 at Indian Ridge Marsh North, the earliest of TWI’s ventures in the Calumet region which began in 2016 in partnership with Chicago Park District and Audubon Great Lakes. After an initial test phase of shoreline modification proved successful in 2021, an expanded phase is now complete with the goal of reestablishing natural habitat gradients to increase climate resilience. This technique is one that can be repeated as a nature-based solution to increasingly severe flood and drought cycles.
At Square Marsh, a 184-acre site at the north end of historic Lake Calumet, TWI is partnering with The Nature Conservancy of Illinois and the Illinois International Port District to execute a phased, multi-year restoration plan. After initial soil sampling, TWI’s restoration field crew begun tackling what could only be described as a “wall” of invasive buckthorn along the site’s perimeter.
In another gesture to the region’s human-driven past, black and brown lines representing levees stand between each hemi-marsh.
Across all of these projects, the human aspect is a guiding force for TWI. Expanding public access, centering community engagement, and prioritizing the needs of local environmental justice communities is imperative to the ongoing success of conservation work in this region.
Stitched linesinvarying shades at the bottomedgeof this piece represent a beaverdamthatLindsay encounteredduring one ofherwetlandoutings.
Lindsay embroidered the names of American Indian tribes to recognize that these are the homelands of the Potawatomi and dozens of other Native tribes. Nearly half a million tribe members make their home in the Upper Midwest.
As in Lindsay’s Refuge piece, machine-made flowers conjure the use of heavy machinery for the earth-moving and landscape recontouring that is fundamental to bringing back remnant wetlands.
A thick black line juts through the hemi-marsh representations, symbolizing the transportation corridor dividing the region.
IDEWIN NATIONAL TALLGRASS
Prairie is the largest protected open space in the Chicago Region, boasting globally-rare habitats, a herd of American bison, and plentiful birding opportunities. TWI has been involved at Midewin for the last 25 years, and we hit a major milestone in 2023 with the culmination of a seven-year, nearly 2,000-acre restoration project. This ambitious undertaking on the west side of Midewin has dramatically expanded the site’s restored native wetland and prairie areas and connective healthy habitats.
Lindsay was struck by this vastness upon her first visit to Midewin, choosing to represent seven of the myriad habitat types in her piece. She also selected a number of plant species to stitch around the collar, correlating each with the habitat in which it is commonly found. The mosaic of habitats and plants come together to represent the landscape of Midewin, transitioning between oak savanna to sedge meadow to dolomite prairie.
TWI’s on-the-ground team at Midewin, the selfproclaimed “Prairie Dawgs”, work year-round to remove herbaceous and woody invasives, manage prescribed burns, and plant native seeds and plugs. Projects of this scale require complex management, taking into account the long-term diversity and resiliency of Midewin’s native habitats. The completion of this project leaves a lasting mark on Midewin’s landscape, and it provides a model for large-scale prairie restorations to follow in its suit.
It didn’t take long to set our sights on the next big thing: the Grant Creek area on Midewin’s east side. Designated as a Priority Watershed, Grant Creek shares a mile-long border with the Prairie’s existing bison pasture grassland complex. In late 2023 TWI together with partner Openlands was awarded a historic $1.5 million America the Beautiful Challenge grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to kick off the transformation of this new area. The first of its kind awarded solely in Illinois, this funding will spur on an exciting new phase of rebirth at Midewin.
This large-scale restoration was a close partnership between TWI, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Forest Foundation with matching funds provided by Grand Victoria and Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley foundations.
Along the outer perimeter Lindsay adorned the collar with a braided, pale blue bias tape to honor author Robin Wall Kimmerer’s recurring theme on the importance of humans healing the damage we’ve done to the natural world.
Colorful rectangles radiating outwards from the center of the collar represent the bunkers that remain as mementos to the Prairie’s former life as the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant.
The pale blue stitching behind the wetland contours suggests the connection that each Smart Wetland has to the farm upon which it is constructed.
Lindsay’s Smart Wetland piece juxtaposes yellow monocultures of corn and soy with her representation of a deep blue constructed wetland centered in the piece.
Blue aroundstitching the neckline mimics the ebb and flow of water levels in a wetland.
ECADES AGO THE PRAIRIE STATE WAS drained of its rich habitats to make way for cropland. Drainage tile systems were installed to dry out the earth, readying it for production. Fertilizer applied to farm fields seeps into the local waterways, eventually making its way downstream where it pools together as toxic “dead zones”. Many on-farm practices exist to reduce this runoff of excess nutrients – each requiring varying degrees of upkeep, land lost to production, and limited lifetimes.
TWI seeks to provide an answer to this serious environmental problem by partnering with farmers across central Illinois to construct wetlands on working agricultural lands to reduce nutrient pollution. “Smart Wetlands” are precisely sited and small in acreage, making them one of the most cost-effective on-farm option available. They are also long-lasting and a sustainable ecosystem for nitrogen removal; with little intervention from landowners a constructed wetland can exist forever.
TWI collaborates with agriculture partners across the state and meets farmers and landowners in their communities. In 2023, TWI secured new support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Conservation Partners Program to formalize partnerships with Ducks Unlimited, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Program, and the IDOA Bureau of Land and Water Resources. This expanded, statewide reach will introduce the Smart Wetlands concept to more farmers in more watersheds.
Creative field events are helping to spread the word. Last August, Feather Prairie Farm near Dwight, IL hosted a “Wildly Beneficial” field day to showcase their 2-acre constructed wetland - a successful example of TWI connecting with interested farmers through current Smart Wetlands owners. After touring the wetland, attendees heard from experts on upland birds, waterfowl, and wetland management, and enjoyed a hunting dog demonstration.
While the Smart Wetland concept was originally designed to address agricultural nutrient runoff on a farm field, an exciting new end goal has surfaced utilizing the expertise TWI has developed in landowner outreach strategies and ag-sector partnerships. TWI is exploring the use of larger treatment wetlands to improve public drinking water quality – and investigating an innovative funding model involving the Illinois EPA Water Pollution Control Loan Program. This would be a first for Illinois, and TWI is working to build relationships with interested municipalities and influence state funding practices to bring the idea to life.
At the inlet of a treatment wetland, only certain wetland species can tolerate the high nutrient load. As water flows through it becomes cleaner, supporting a greater variety of plant species toward the outlet of each Smart Wetland. Lindsay’s stitched flowers placed in a triangular shape depict this species diversity transition.
SMART WETLANDS REMOVE UP TO 85% OF THE NITRATE FROM TILE DRAINAGE.
ESTLED ALONG THE ILLINOIS RIVER
Valley sits the Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, TWI’s flagship restoration story. The Refuge spans nearly 3,200 acres in Putnam County, IL and over the last 20-plus years TWI has worked to transform the historically agricultural land into one of the premier natural areas in the state.
In 2023, the team at the Refuge underwent an important transition. Longtime Refuge Site Manager Rick Seibert began his transition to retirement after caring for the land, waters, and wildlife surrounding Hennepin and Hopper Lakes for more than two decades. Rick’s love for the place runs deep, having resided in a home abutting the Refuge and overseen its creation from early on. In his place, we were thrilled to welcome Justin Seibert who brings with him deep experience in natural resource management and a lifelong appreciation of Dixon’s treasures, having grown up there as his own father stewarded the land.
Meanwhile, Violet Meadow, the final major segment of the Refuge to undergo intensive restoration, is now abundant with healthy prairie, wetland, and woodland areas. The crew of technicians completed the new Violet Meadow trail system last winter, including the installation of a new observation deck overlooking the north end of Hopper Lake. This lookout is a scenic spot to enjoy the waterfowl and migrating birds that find respite in the lake ecosystems by the tens of thousands each year. Now open to the public, TWI will host a public event in 2025 to celebrate the new health and beauty of this stunning tract.
In late 2023, a rare opportunity to add to the Refuge’s acreage came about in the form of a 40 acre key addition to the Sandy Hollow tract. This newly acquired land presents exciting opportunities for the Refuge on several fronts. In the coming years, this parcel will add to the Refuge’s globally-rare sand prairie and filter groundwater leading from this upland area into the Dore Seep Nature Preserve. Importantly, this new acquisition also sharply increases the Refuge’s visibility along state highway Route 26.
In support of this key staff transition, Restoration Program Director Dr. Gary Sullivan led the creation of a comprehensive Refuge Management Plan to guide the site’s activities in the coming years.
Thecollarisrimmedwith thecoloredsquaressymbolizing monocultureswhich once dominated thelandscape.
Lindsay almost exclusively works by hand, but made an exception in this piece. She sewed the flowers using a machine, referencing the heavy machinery used to remove drainage tiles in the early years of the Refuge’s transformation.
A pollinator bioblitz inspired this piece and its featured fauna.
Details throughout Lindsay’s Refuge textile pay homage to the site’s cropland history.
Financial Statements
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
Restricted Net Assets
$12,021,467 $13,019,424
2023 Institutional Funders
$250,000 and above
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Chi-Cal Rivers Fund
$25,000 to $99,999
Lake County Park and Recreation Board
National Forest Foundation
NiSource Charitable Foundation
$10,000 to $24,999
Bell’s Brewery
Clif Bar Family Foundation
Full Circle Foundation
Openlands
The Meeko Fund
$5,000 to $9,999
American Endowment Foundation
American Farmland Trust
Chicago Community Trust
Ecolab Foundation
MRB Foundation, Inc.
National Philanthropic Trust
Oberweiler Foundation
Span
The Vaccinium Giving Fund
$1,000 to $4,999
BDT & Company, LLC
Bridgeport Coffee Company
Bright Funds Foundation
Broadcom
The DuPage Community Foundation
Harrah’s Joliet Casino & Hotel
Illinois Wetlands Restoration
The John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Northwater Consulting
Polymer Science, Inc.
Productive Edge
Starved Rock Country
Community Foundation
Up to $999
Abbott Laboratories
Adobe Inc.
AmazonSmile
AT&T
Bank of America Matching Gifts
Beam Suntory
Benevity Donors
Caterpillar Foundation
Chevron Corporation
CyberGrants
Discover Financial Services
EarthShare
Eco Brands, LLC
Ecolab Community Co
Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
Givinga Foundation
Goods That Matter
ICF International
Intel
Kimberly-Clarke
Laguna Creek HS Environmental Club
LaSalle Public Library Board
Lenovo
LinkedIn
Macy’s
Microsoft
Mile High United Way
Mississippi River Network
2023 River Givers
Natural Sourcing LLC
Network for Good
NVIDIA
Robert R. McCormick Foundation
Springfield Plastics, Inc.
Terracon Foundation
The Charles and Emily Breitenbach
Charitable Fund
The Hershey Company
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
The Trade Desk
U.S. Bank
UnitedHealth Group
We the People
Midewin “Prairie Champions”
(both employee volunteers and corporate grants)
Ecolab Foundation
Harrah’s Joliet Casino & Hotel
Continuing Multi-Year Grants
Received Prior to 2023
Abra Prentice Foundation
Audubon Great Lakes
Bell’s Brewery
Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
DuPage Birding Club
Dr. Scholl Foundation
Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
Grand Victoria Foundation
Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Mississippi State University
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Chi-Cal Rivers Fund
National Forest Foundation
Thermo Fisher Scientific
U.S. Department of Agriculture, North Central Region – Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish Habitat Partnership
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Neotropical Migratory Bird
Conservation Act
Walder Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation
This past year, NIPSCO (Northern Indiana Public Service Company), a natural gas and electric utility, and their parent company, NiSource, stepped up their support of TWI’s wetland restoration work along the West Branch of the Little Calumet River in Lake County, Indiana. NIPSCO rights-of-way run through the entire West Branch floodplain corridor, and the company has long been an active partner with TWI and other nonprofit and municipal partners in the Little Calumet River Conservation Collaborative. The Collaborative, of which TWI is a founding member, has been leading transformation of wetland habitat and engaging local communities in the effort along the West Branch since 2018.
With the start of the Collaborative’s new community-centered planning and design project on the Chase Street Complex within the West Branch, led by TWI, NIPSCO and NiSource are now getting involved in a much bigger way. In late 2023, the NiSource Charitable Foundation awarded TWI a major grant that was dedicated to the Chase Street project and helped leverage an even larger federal award. Meanwhile, NIPSCO and NiSource employees have volunteered multiple times to help improve West Branch parcels, and TWI staff shared the project at an employee “lunch-and-learn” in early 2024. And importantly, NIPSCO is coordinating their efforts to improve biodiversity on rights-of-way, benefiting the longterm West Branch restoration goals.
Thank you to NIPSCO and NiSource for providing the spark for more wetland restoration!
2023 Individual Donors
$250,000 and above
Anonymous
IGRB Foundation
$100,000 to $249,999
The Negaunee Foundation
$25,000 to $99,999
Anonymous
John and Emily Alexander
Mr. and Mrs. William Dooley
Bob Fisher
Goulder Family Foundation
Charlie and Jackie Pick
$10,000 to $24,999
John and Lani Angle
Bruce and Patty Becker
Anne Gardner
Byron Goulding
Reinhardt and Shirley Jahn Foundation
Mary Preisler
David S. Skopin and Natalee Braun
The Buchanan Family Foundation
Clark Wagner
Michael and Judy Zeddies
$5,000 to $9,999
Anonymous
Cindy and Fred Acker
John and Pama Baylor
Stephen P. Bent and Anne Searle Bent
Christopher B. Burke
David and Kris Cloud
George and Alexandra Covington
James Colvin Davies
Wendy Freyer and Greg Beihl
The Gardner Family Foundation
Ted Haffner
Linda M. Kurtz
Rick Ladenburger
Diane Pascal
Elizabeth Pyott
Hinda and Sven
Caroline R. Repenning
Tom and Anne Rodhouse
Doris D. Roskin
Steve and Ann Ryan
Sheffield Foundation
Laura and Dave Urban
Suzanne and Carl Yudell
$2,500 to $4,999
Thomas and Sarah Conrad
Michael Eggebrecht
Paula and Brust Fenster
Dean and Jennifer Fischer
Chris Kerns
Heidi Kiesler
Debra Kurtz
Paul and Eileen LeFort
Michael and Kathy Paleczny Charitable Fund
Jeffrey and Deborah Ross
Patricia and Richard Schnadig
Judith Stockdale and Jonathan Boyer
The Lawlor Foundation
Donn Trautman
Jim and Karen Truettner
Truettner Family Foundation
Mr. and Mrs.
David L. Westerman
Wozencraft Charitable Fund
$1,000 to $2,499
Anonymous
Robert C. Albert Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation
Ira and Roberta Asher
Beverly and Richard Berger
Paul Botts and Heather McCowen
Katherine Bourland
Mary and Chip Brennan
Bob and Chie Curley
Charles Delmar Foundation
Jeffrey L. DennisH.C.D. Foundation
Marc Deshaies
Jane and Chuck Dowding
Sally and Jim Downey
Laura Ferrell and Grant Riedesel
Tom Gardner
Bruce Gottschall
Allen and Carolyn Grosboll
Hall Family Fund
The Corwith Fund, Jonathan and Nancy Hamill
Hamill Family Foundation
Hall Healy
Robert D. Hevey Jr. and Constance M. Filling
David Hultgren and Christy Schisler
Dale and Davida Kalina
Joshua Krabbe
The Loewenthal Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation
Dina Lunken
Phil and Deanne McCarney
Deborah Walens and John McCrosky
Elisabeth C. Meeker
Daniel Michalopoulos
Joanne Miller
Mrs. Kenneth Nebenzahl
Siobhan C. Percey
Sheila Pyott
Cheryl Reader
Mark Richman
Rebeccah Sanders and James Cullen
David Steimer
Bill Stremmel
John and Tobey Taylor
The Allyn Foundation, Inc.
Scott Thiesen
Randy Tornquist
M. Jay Trees
The New York Community Trust, Cela-Trowbridge Family Fund
David and Arlene Vining
Joyce Wandel
Dan Wilson
Jerry and Jody Zamirowski
$500 to $999
Anonymous (6)
William Brand
Brian William Byrd
Mary Campbell
Kyle Connors
Deborah L. Ebersole
Joel Eckhaus and Donna Doughten
Philip Enquist and Joanna Karatzas
Mark Fishman
Kelle and Jack Frymire
Jan Gerenstein
L. M. Gilliam
Jim Hampson
Cameron Harmon
Todd Hilson
Harley and Teresa Hutchins
Terry and Barb Judd
Samuel and Phyllis Kazdan
Michael L. Kelly
Jennifer and Jason Knievel
Tadpole Buddy
Tom and Maggie Lovaas
Kyle M. Loveland
Mr. and Mrs. David K. Mabie
Mark Maffei, Ph.D.
Geoffrey Margrave
Janis Martin
Nancy Maze
Anne McIntyre
Kyle Moss
Matthew and Julie Mueller
Fred Niemeyer
Dr. and Mrs. John Plante
Andrea Raisfeld Locations
Linda Sanders
Brandon Sanders
Dennis Sherman
Chinmay Soman
Dale Stubbart
Jim and Terry Taylor
Joshua Van Hine
Phillip J. Voth
Jeffrey Wilkens
Stanley Yates
$250 to $499
Anonymous (2)
Dr. Kenneth Anderson, DDS and Dr. Rosemary
Santoro, DDS
Telly and Susan Arvanitis
Carla Axt-Pilon
Ross and Katie Baker
Randy and Lorraine Barba
Steven Becker
Jess Beyler
Richard Bingham
Ed Bowlby and Mary Sue Brancato
Arthur Briggs
Liz and David Chandler
Mr. and Mrs.
John A. Clemetsen
Robin DeLaPeña
Philip Engelhart
Samuel Ennett
James L. Foorman
Taylor O’Brien and Patrick Freeman
Michael Hammerman
Tom and Susan Hammerman
Merlin Heidemanns
Jerry and Connie Heinrich
Mr. and Mrs. Brian F. Hickey
Robb Hoehlein
Jim Hollensteiner
Tom and Tsch Hunter
John and Carol Jansson
Ann Kaizerman
Mary L. Kelly
Rick Kinnebrew and Martha Meyer
Faith T. Kopplin
David and Vera Miller
Marcy Loomis
Leah Mayers
Meyer & Raena
Hammerman Foundation
Suellen Burns and Weston Morris
Luigi H. Mumford
Anne Murphy Watson
Nancy Nazarian
Sonia and Phil Newmark
Michael and Marlene Novak
Blake Obuchowski
Arthur and Susan Pearson
Jim Pirie and Linda Fells
Marianne Pyott
Michael and Cheryl Quine
Thomas Richie
Harry Richter
Michael Rosen
Susan Rucker
Casey and David Rush
Cynthia Sesolak
Lynne Shindoll
Rodney Spangler
Cathy and Thomas Taylor
Dawn Troost
William and Cassie Wagner
Robert and Patricia Wheeler
Patricia A. White
David and Sandra Whitmore
$100 to $249
Anonymous (9)
Mary Jo Adams
John P. Allen and Nancy Lucas
Jedd Anderson
Carol Dunne Baranko
For Rocky
Jill Bartelt
Deborah Batten
J. Benal and S.M. Egan
Mary Anne Benden
Ann Bliss-Pilcher
Jennifer Flexman
Drs. David Freedman and Audrey Stillerman
Bruce Friedman
Glenn Gabanski
Urs Geiser
Thomas V. Gillingham
Elizabeth A. Glowa
Kay and John T. Golitz
David and Martha Bloom
Sylvia Boris
Alan Botts
Al and Jeannie Brown
Nathaniel Brown
Freddi and Charlie Brown
Susan and Ed Chandler
Laura Clough
Madelon Clymo
James Cohen
Alexandra S. Colin
Kathleen Comerford
Roberta and Phil Conboy
Kim Edward Cook
Terry Cook
Liesel Copeland
The Cousineau Family
Dewey and Nancy Crawford
Jan Dejnozka
David Dong
Thomas E. Dore, Ph.D.
Linda Dutcher
Frank Dwyer
Emily Earhart
Marcia S. and W. Dow Edgerton
The Eisel Family
Margaret Enos
Andrew Fedorowski
Peter H. Fenner
Sharon E. Finzer
Katherine Gordon & Jose Rodriguez Copeland
Matt Greenberger
Katie Gross
Charles and Lynne Gunn
Robert Gurley
Maureen Hart
Sean Hayden
Thomas W. Hayes
Junia Gratiot Hedberg
Pete and Jean Henderson
Richard and Cheryl Hiipakka
Natalie Holden
Alexis Holroyde
Lyle and Sally Honnold
Celia Hunt
Jose Ibarra
Daniel Jackman and Jonathan Seletyn
Edward Johnstone
Amy and Anthony Jones
Colin Kalsbeek
Ernie Kaminski, MD
Julie Kaufman and Beth Wright
Thomas and Robin King
Robert and Marletta Knowles
Alma Koppedraijer
Ken Kostel and Anne-Marie Runfola
Andrea Kudzmas
Richard and Peggy Lami
Richard Lanyon and Marsha Richman
Jean S. Lawton
Ronald H. Leopold
Arthur L. Levine
Douglas Levison
Jian Liang
Pamela Lindberg
Gail J. and Robert B. Loveman
Zain Mackey and Ken Grooms
Lawrence and Sylvia Margolies
John and Diane Marlin
Clara Martin
Scott Martin
Tony Mautino
Laurel and Henry Maze
John and Cindy McKee
David and Kerry Meagher
Wild Flower Honey
Don Merten
William and Sara Meyer
Sarah J. Miller
JoAnn Monge
Nancy E. Mores
Nonie Morris
Joe and Carol Mullen
David M. Murdoch
Charles Neveu
Janis W. Notz
Lucio Nunez
Martha Pascal
Nathan Pate
Cindy and Dave Peterson
Craig Peterson DVM
Joan and Kurt Peterson
Virginia Plaster
Jane Pleli
Steven and Laura Polkoff
Shyam Raghavan
2023 Individual Donors (continued)
Mr. and Mrs.
Jeffrey R. Ramsay
Doug and June Reimer
Janice Reinersman
Randall and Susan Richter
Judith Robins
John W. Robinson, Jr.
Nancy K. Robinson
Melba Rodriguez
Edward and Karen Rogan
Dana and Susan Rose
E. Scott Royce
Barbara and Edward Safiran
Hannah Safiran
Jonathan Sarmini
Joy Schochet
James Schommer
Nancy Schroeder
Bill Schult
Bob and Linda Scott
Ronald Scott
Michael Sentman
Thomas C. Sheffield, Jr.
Gary Shirley
William and Eleanor Shunas
Madeline Sias
Kimberly Snell
Joanne Kalnitz
Saskia Spanhoff
Ivy Stokes
Doug Stotz
Deb Sutton
Anna Tyson
Mark Wehmhoefer
The Wertz Family
Glen R. Wherfel
Nick Wilder
Brian Wohlberg
Nanette Wollack
Catherine and Richard Wytmar
Anthony J. Zoia
Up to $99
Anonymous (12)
Adrian Aitken
Suruchi Avasthi
Peter J. Barack
Stephanie Barba
Stephen Barratt
Robert and Nancy Baumrucker
Robert Beck
Jeff Bowen
Beverly J. Bronowski
Alex Bryden
Vic Bucossi
Denise Burr
Sarah Carr
Amelia Cassady
Arthur Charles-Pierre
J. Dakota Cimo
Ryan Clark and Amanda Shevokas
Mary Clinkert
Gail B. Cohen
Ann S. Cole
John and Peggy Coon
Jeremy Coyle
Nick Cramer
April C
Jim and Nancy Daly
Kirk Davidson
Lisa Dhyani
Claudia Dunagan
Maximilian Dyrek
Patrick Engler
Christine Favilla
Marilyn B. Ferdinand
Carol L. Fessenden
Diane Fite
Orman Fixsen
Ted Fleming
Paul Francuch
Hector Fuster
Jeff Gall
Lydia Garvey
John Gillio
Chris and Mark Golden
Carrie and Tom Grote
Beth Gunzel
Lucia Haase
Bethanie Hathaway
Peter Hurd
Robert J. Hurd
Nathanael Johns
Susan Kaley
Jeffrey Kapostasy
Michael Kegler
Ellen Kellner
Mary Kelly
Brieann Kinsey
Gilbert Klapper and Judy Kamin
Beth and Joe Klein
Nancy R. Kovitz
Jennifer Lach
Susan Malkowski
Duane C. Marchus
Abigail Mattson
Dottie McComas
Curt McCracken
Diane Meiborg
Lucille Montplaisir
Daniel Needham
Kara Nielsen
Stephanie Noack
Susan Noel
Kathy Noerenberg
Lesley Ofenloch
Kathy C. Oppenhuizen
Stephen Parshall
Steve Pasechnick
Sneha Patel
Cory Peterson
Steve Petrakis
Becky Phillips
Doug Puskar
Aleta Ring
Janet Sahm
Nathan Sanders
Sonoko Setaishi
Cristi Sheye-Grover
Frederick Shoaff
Kent E. Sims
Gail Staunton
Cindy Stearns
Joseph R. Stoneking
Brad Suster and Tom Hernandez
Gerald Swarzman
Rose Tilley
Eleanor Tischler
Gil and Diane Tonozzi
Emily Toops
Marilyn Van Ausdall
Janica VanAmburgh Farren
Stefan Vlahov
Mark Westcott
Dolph Williams
Judith L. Williams
Carolyn Workman
R. Wright
Laura Yanchick
Christopher Michael Yates
William and Dorothy Zales
Margarita Zamora
2023 Tribute Gifts
In memory of Don Axt
Carla Axt-Pilon
In memory of Roxanne Barbeau
Nicole Barbeau
In memory of Barbara E. Brown
IGRB Foundation
In honor of my Clients and Homeowners
Andrea Raisfeld Locations
In honor of Rachel Cramer
Nick Cramer
In memory of Cronchy the mouse, who died in our window well
Tadpole Buddy
In memory of Alice Cruikshank
Robert and Patricia Wheeler
In memory of Pete Cruikshank
Doug Stotz
In honor of Sarah Earhart and Ross Bruhnke
April C
Emily Earhart
In memory of Karen Fisher
Susan Kaley
Kathy Noerenberg
William and Dorothy Zales
In honor of HIVE
Terracon ERG
Lucio Nunez
In memory of Toshiko Ito
James Colvin Davies
In honor of Karen Kalsbeek
Colin Kalsbeek
In honor of Brad King and Stefanie D’Amico
Thomas and Robin King
In honor of Jill Kostel
Ken Kostel and Anne-Marie Runfola
In honor of Linda Kurtz
Debra Kurtz
In memory of Dr. Frank Lupton
Virginia Plaster
In memory of Nicholas McCarney
Phil and Deanne McCarney
In memory of Withrow W. Meeker
Elisabeth C. Meeker
In memory of Elizabeth Pyott
Marianne Pyott
In memory of Dr. John Raffenspurger
Harry Richter
In honor of Caroline Repenning
John and Tobey Taylor
In memory of Tom Rodhouse
Jim and Karen Truettner
Clark Wagner
Nanette Wollack
In honor of Hannah Safiran
Barbara and Edward Safiran
In memory of Francis J. Sazama Jr.
Edward and Karen Rogan
In memory of Tim Stapleton
Edward and Karen Rogan
In memory of James Teaford
Laura Clough
In memory of Louann Van Zelst
Edward and Karen Rogan
In honor of Clark and Joan Wagner
Jim Hollensteiner
In memory of Suzanne L. Wagner
Bruce and Patty Becker
Mary Anne Benden
David and Martha Bloom
James Cohen
Bob and Chie Curley
Madelon Clymo
Jim and Nancy Daly
Diane Fite
Anne Gardner
Jan Gerenstein
Allen and Carolyn Grosboll
Junia Gratiot Hedberg
Jim Hollensteiner
Daniel Jackman and Jonathan Seletyn
John and Carol Jansson
Ann Kaizerman
Julie Kaufman and Beth Wright
Ellen Kellner
Gilbert Klapper and Judy Kamin
Alma Koppedraijer
Paul and Eileen LeFort
Nancy Nazarian
Kara Nielsen
Susan Noel
Charlie and Jackie Pick
Jane Pleli
Caroline R. Repenning
Steve and Ann Ryan
Rebeccah Sanders and James Cullen
Cathy and Thomas Taylor
Laura and Dave Urban
Clark Wagner
We the People
Wild Flower Honey
Suzanne and Carl Yudell
Michael and Judy Zeddies
In memory of Mary Eileen Wehmhoefer
Mark Wehmhoefer
In honor of Carl Yudell
Randy and Lorraine Barba
In honor of Mike Zeddies
Melba Rodriguez
In memory of Mike Zeddies, Sr.
Edward and Karen Rogan
TWI’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS VOTED IN a completely new slate of officers early in 2024 to usher the organization through a period of strategic growth. Charlie Pick now leads the board as Chair, bringing with him over a decade of experience with TWI. Pick is a real estate developer with deep civic service experience in conservation and food security issues. Rebeccah Sanders, an environmental consultant with extensive NGO experience in Chicago and nationally, now serves as Vice Chair. Linda Kurtz, a leader in the field of corporate sustainability, is Treasurer/Secretary. This new leadership team’s focus in the near term is on ushering TWI toward the successful completion in 2025 of its 5-year strategic plan and expanding the diversity and expertise of the organization’s directors.
Representation and connection to geographic areas and communities in which TWI works is a top recruitment priority. The organization is focusing on candidates located in Central Illinois and the bistate Calumet Region, particularly Northwest Indiana, who have a deep understanding and knowledge of the conservation needs and assets in these areas.
TWI Directors
Charles T. Pick
Chair
Rebeccah A. Sanders
Vice-Chair
Linda M. Kurtz
Secretary & Treasurer
Paul Botts
President
Christopher B. Burke, Ph.D.
Edward K. Chandler
George M. Covington
William F. Dooley
Wendy Freyer
Anne Gardner
Byron Goulding
Allen D. Grosboll
Mark D. Maffei, Ph.D.
Caroline Repenning
John W. Robinson
Chinmay Soman, Ph.D.
Douglas F. Stotz, Ph.D.
Carl R. Yudell
Michael B. Zeddies, Jr.
TWI Staff
Paul Botts
President & Executive Director
Brendon de Rosario
Water Resources Engineer
Nina Darner
Development & Communications Coordinator
Amanda “Rhys” Cook
Restoration Technician – Midewin
Nicholas Hall-Skank
Restoration Technician – Refuge
Katee Johnson
Restoration Technician – Refuge
Jacob Karkowski
Restoration Technician – Refuge
Jill Kostel, Ph.D.
Water Resources Program Director
Katie Kucera
Ecologist
Harry Kuttner
Calumet Project Manager
Alicia Larrieu-Ward
Finance & Operations Manager
Vera Leopold
Grants Manager & Development
Associate
Abby Mattson
Director of Development & Communications
Jean McGuire
Field Outreach Specialist
EMERITUS
Steven M. Ryan
Richard T. Schroeder
Clark L. Wagner
IN MEMORIAM
Albert E. Pyott
Jim Monchak
Geospatial Analyst & Developer
Jason Pettit
Midewin Project Manager
Mike Richolson
Engineering Consultant
Marwah Saleh
Calumet Coordinator
Justin Seibert
Dixon Refuge Site Manager
Gary Sullivan, Ph.D.
Restoration Program Director
Hannah “Harvi” Taylor
Restoration Technician – Midewin
Annual Report Credits
Design & Artwork: Jenny Boehme
Printing: M&G Graphics
Text: Abby Mattson/TWI
Photos: TWI staff (throughout); Lindsay Olson (throughout); Cindy Trim (throughout); Preston Keres, U.S. Forest Service (6).
Wetlands leave an enduring mark on our landscapes.
Join us in restoring our region’s wetlands now and into the future by including TWI in your estate plans.
TWI is deeply grateful for bequests of all sizes. If you have already made provisions for TWI in your will, kindly inform us so that we may express our gratitude to you for protecting our region’s wetlands now and into the future.
CONTACT: Abby Mattson
This annual report is printed on Cougar® Smooth paper, which is FSC® certified.
The Process of an Artist-in-residence
THE ARTIST
THE INSPIRATION
Lindsay Olson is an Oak Park-based textile artist fascinated with the scientific world. After 20 years teaching in the Fashion Studies Department at Columbia College Chicago, she forged a new path for herself that wove together her two muses: fabric and our natural world. Lindsay has since worked with an intriguing variety of entities in her capacity as an artist-in-residence. Her past collaborators include the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the Field Museum, Fermi National Accelerator, and the Chicago Botanic Garden.
“Working with TWI made me so much more hopeful about finding solutions to big problems. I felt such a strong connection to the people, and the issues, and the land itself with this project that was really important.”
Outside of her home state, Lindsay has also collaborated with the CERN laboratory in Switzerland and the Center for Acoustics Research and Education at the University of New Hampshire.
Lindsay’s work merges science, field work, and artistic inspiration. She drew her inspiration for this project from the 3,000 year old floral burial collar of King Tut which she stumbled upon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. To Egyptian tomb builders, the collar was a representation of the birth, death, and rebirth of the recently deceased. This resonated with her journey about wetlands: “The format of my textile collars represents two symbolic ideas: the idea that wetland restoration is also a form of birth, death, and rebirth. And the collar (a broken circle) is also a stand-in for the ways we humans have broken the cycles of nature.”
THE SCIENCE
When first getting acquainted with TWI’s work, Lindsay spent days in the field with our ecologists and engineers to immerse herself in the world of wetland restoration. She waded through marshes with Dr. Gary Sullivan and weaved through farmland with Dr. Jill Kostel, learning about their technical skillsets and drawing connections to her own.
Lindsay is up-front about the fact that before this collaboration, she had virtually no knowledge in the subject of wetland restoration. In fact, she walked into the project embracing a purposeful state of ignorance: “this state of ignorance is really important because it is the effort of learning about TWI as an organization, about the science, about what art to use – it’s that effort that goes into learning something I know nothing about that is a really foundational part of my practice”.
“They work in four dimensions: the usual three, plus time” – Lindsay on Gary and Jill as ‘landscape artists’
