The lands stretching south and west from the shores of Lake Michigan hold one of North America's great metropolises. More than nine million people live in northwestern Indiana, northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. Living among them, on islands of green, are thousands of species of native plants and animals —; species that make up some of the rarest natural communities on earth. We call these communities, and the lands and waters that are their homes, Chicago Wilderness. The Chicago Wilderness coalition is an alliance of more than 140 public and private organizations working together to protect, restore, study and manage the precious natural ecosystems of the Chicago region for the benefit of the public.

Chicago Wilderness - Biodiversity Recovery Plan
September 1999