Protecting Our Natural Heritage

Our Midwest wild and natural areas are, too often, threatened by logging, mining, sprawl and other harmful activities. ELPC works with grassroots groups throughout the Midwest to protect special places that are our environmental heritage and to ensure that fragile ecosystems and habitat are preserved. Our advocacy work ranges from fighting to preserve the Driftless Area, one of the top biodiversity “hotspots” in the Midwest, to preventing a dam on Sugar Creek proposed by the City of Marion that would destroy more than six miles of one of the last free-flowing streams in Illinois. Blocking extensive timber harvesting efforts in Wisconsin, collaborating to protect and enhance water quality in the Mississippi River and its watershed, and working to maintain the health of the largest surface freshwater system on earth - the Great Lakes - are just a few of ELPC’s other active projects.

Protecting Clean Water

The Mississippi River Watershed is the second largest watershed in the world supporting an extensive variety of habitats including wetland, open-water, and floodplain, many of which are national wildlife refuges. Pollutants enter this system from agricultural, metropolitan and industrial areas and have a serious impact on all living creatures, and can negatively affect the use of water for drinking, household needs, recreation, fishing, transportation and commerce.

Learn more about our efforts around the Midwest to protect clean water.

Preserving Wisconsin’s Northwoods

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest was recently identified as one of the “10 most endangered national forests” in the nation. It is one of the most heavily-logged national forests in the Eastern region (which stretches from Minnesota to Maine). At the cutting rate employed over the last 10 years, every single log-able acre would be cut in 45 years. The harmful impacts of such extensive logging on waterways, habitat and related natural resources and conservation goals are significant. ELPC is working through federal courts to protect this treasured resource.

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) is a very special place. CNNF covers approximately 1.5 million acres in the northern part of Wisconsin, including numerous rivers and more than 300 species of animals. The CNNF consists primarily of northern hardwood, mixed conifer, and aspen trees, along with numerous rivers, lakes and other waterways. Its habitat include several endangered and threatened species, such as the Northern goshawk, Red-shouldered hawk and American pine marten.

We need to restore ecological balance to this very special place in the Midwest.

ELPC doesn’t want logging to stop—just to be more balanced with environmental considerations. In so doing, we can continue logging employment where it makes sense, while also preserving the outdoor environment for the growing tourism industry.

Learn more about ELPC’s efforts to protect the CNNF.

New Activist Tools to Protect the Northwoods