Update August 2023 - Many letters were sent in support of mitigating the effects on birds and wildlife, some clearly as a result of our posts. There were 428 pages of public comment, including excellent objections by several local environment organizations and authorities.
On April 17 - between two well-attended public meetings - Libby Hill, president of Evanston North Shore Bird Club, and CAS President Judy Pollock walked the site with the club’s contracted Landscape Architect, Nick Patera, who had gotten in touch with Libby due her concerns about drainage from the parking lot into the lake.
Nick showed us where the new development would be, and we described how the development would impact birds and the site’s hydrology, including light, sound, drainage of runoff into the lake and removal of mature trees. Stone under the parking lot will provide environmentally sound drainage. Lights will all be pointed downward. Balls will be of the slightly less noisy variety. We agreed that they should leave the nonnative plants on the slope that are providing habitat and preventing erosion.
We didn't make any sort of agreement or come to any understanding with him.
The most important positive that came from all the testimony and the visit is that Club ownership now understands that the Chicago River (in this spot, it has the disparaging name, “the Navy Ditch”), which runs through and along their property, is an important asset to the community and the larger environmental community. However, the decision not to require a serious study of the many environmental concerns raised because "Staff had previously clarified that the application was not within the purview of either the Village’s Environmental Review Committee or the Environment and Natural Resources Commission" was a deep disappointment.
Due to the combined efforts of neighbors, club members, other village residents and environmental organizations, some modifications to the plan were proposed. The village of Glenview imposed other restrictions after hearing the many objections presented at public meetings. Lighting was reduced and shielded. The amount of time that the lights will be on fits within the guidelines of the Lights Out program. More native landscaping will be added, the parking lot is moved a bit farther away from the riparian zone, and some trees were saved. Also pickle ball hours will be limited in the morning on weekends.
You can review the plans here and see the final plans at the link.
Chicago Audubon Society is disappointed with the result but appreciates that concerns about saving trees and reducing lights and noise were partially addressed through small modifications. Overall, we can say that this is another of the thousand cuts to our region’s bird habitats.
Death by a Thousand Cuts
That’s what many of our smaller migratory bird habitats are faced with - their value is reduced due to human development.
The Techny Basin Area (Google Maps)
Many different landowners are responsible for the health of the river and the wildlife habitat in this area.
The Techny Basin area contains some of the best natural areas in the highly developed north suburbs. The West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River threads though the landscape, which is a patchwork of ownership and leases - the villages of Glenview and Northbrook, The Society of the Divine Word and Loyola Academy, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and private owners such as Valley Lo, other golf clubs, and many others.
Old sand and gravel pits became landfills and then recreation areas to give the region its unique topography. Waterfowl and shorebirds find food and shelter in the many lakes and mudflats of the area, and a few nesting grassland birds use the area’s larger grasslands. Most migrating landbirds in the Chicago Region use wooded areas, particularly wooded riverbanks and lakeshores.
The area under threat is east of the West Fork. On the map below the river is barely visible as a dark north-south line separating the Valley Lo club from the Loyola Academy playing fields and habitat restoration area. The Navy Ditch trail which traverses this narrow woods is well known to birders and local residents. The Valley Lo Club is planning to construct 6 pickleball courts and 46 parking spaces next to the river. The parking lot will be on the light-colored rectangle west of the end of the words “Tanglewood Dr” and the pickleball courts will be just north, west of where the Drive curves.
Today, we visited the area with advocates including Ray Ostrowski and Margaret Sents (also a club member). Chorus frogs trilled from Loyola’s restored pond across the river from the club. The courts and parking are planned for the top of a very high, steep bluff descending into the river. Ray emphasized that the area is an important corridor for wildlife. It is one of the few spots in the Techny area with wooded banks. He has recorded near-daily use by the state-endangered black-crowned night heron (in season), great horned owls and coyotes, and frequent visits by mink, muskrats, snapping turtles and migratory birds. The steep slope, the river with its wealth of insects and the natural setting provides a rich habitat for migrating birds. Indeed, on our visit we saw flocks of kinglets and fox sparrows and a yellow-rumped warbler in the very spot where the development is planned.
As the migration season progresses, birds of conservation concern such as veery, blue-winged warbler, bay-breasted warbler, Canada Warbler and rare birds like the worm-eating warbler, Louisiana waterthrush, grasshopper sparrow, rusty blackbirds, and whip-poor-will pass through this spot. Jeff Bilsky, who birds there frequently, comments: “It's precious and rare habitat to be sure with the combo of moving water, marshland, riprarian and scrub.”
When breeding season arrives, Virginia rail, great horned owl, green heron, belted kingfisher, indigo buntings, and American woodcock are using the habitat to raise young. Many of these birds are across the river at the Loyola Academy restoration around the pond, which will be affected by the lights and noise. See the end of this article for a more comprehensive list of birds using the site.
The proposed development will threaten this important wildlife corridor.
The parking lot and pickleball courts will be lit, disrupting habitat for the owls and other wildlife that use the area.
The activity and noise of the pickleball courts will chase away the migratory birds who find shelter here.
The removal of trees, as many as 28, and the installation of turf grass will reduce the habitat and tree removal will promote erosion of the slopes. Although the woods are not high quality, they are an important refuge for migrating birds and provide shelter to other wildlife that use the river corridor.
Untreated runoff will be shunted to Valley Lo Lake and some may wind up in the river.
The Friends of the Chicago River recently analyzed the Chicago River Watershed and categorized this project area as “the highest regional priority for biodiversity protection and supporting at-risk species … as well as for water resiliency considerations related to its located within a FEMA flood zone.” We concur with their recommendations:
Involve the Glenview Environmental Review Committee
Require dark-sky rated lighting throughout this site, to reduce light pollution and protect wildlife from disturbance.
Reduce the expansion of parking areas to completely prevent encroachment into the existing riparian vegetation zone.
Require stormwater best management practices focused on green infrastructure, such as pervious paving for parking areas and bioswales to alleviate stormwater runoff and pollution from entering the river system.
Scale back or relocate the site for the pickle ball courts expansion to preserve important riparian habitat and vegetation.
Don’t remove mature existing trees which are key to river ecology and take decades to replace.
How You Can Help Protect This Habitat
Because this is a local project, your comments are likely to be read and considered - so please take a few minutes to make your thoughts known, either by email or by attending the meeting. Please let the Village of Glenview know that they need to take their responsibility to steward this valuable river corridor more seriously. Also, if you bird that area, it is particularly important that you send them your sightings, especially of BCN Birds of Concern.
Attend the Meeting of the Development Adjustments Commission on Monday, 4/03, at 7:00 p.m., Glenview Village Hall, 2500 East Lake. You can sign up for a 3-minute speaking slot when you arrive.
Email your comments and your sightings to: Mr. Tony Repp, Senior Planner for the Village of Glenview , arepp@glenview.il.us
Standing on the site of the proposed courts at the top of a steep slope, looking across the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River to the Loyola Academy habitat restoration area
This compilation of bird records seen along the Navy Ditch Trail was made by local birder Tamima Itani:
Black-crowned Night Herons, a state-endangered species, as well as Great Blue Herons and Green Herons
29 species of warblers have been recorded (out of a possible 36 species), including the declining Golden-winged Warbler and the seldom seen Worm-eating, Connecticut and Mourning Warblers. Many of these are birds of conservatin concern. Migrating warblers along with other migrants use the Loyola Academy wetland restoration area and the trees and brush on the Valley Lo Club hill that overlooks the wetland area
The state threatened Black-billed Cuckoo and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo have been observed during migration
Great Horned Owls are often spotted in the trees along the banks of the river, in the area where trees would be removed and lights would be added
All 7 species of Illinois woodpeckers, including a species of concern, the Red-headed Woodpecker
9 species of flycatchers
5 species of vireos
Chickadees, Kinglets, Nuthatches and wrens
Brown Thrashers and 5 species of Thrushes, including the declining Wood Thrush
Finches
A broad spectrum of new world sparrows
Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Eastern Bluebirds and Indigo Buntings
A broad array of more common birds