Waukegan Harbor Aoc Citizens Advisory Group

Public education - remediation and restoration of contaminated sites in the Waukegan area of concern and extended area of concern, and of the Waukegan river watershed, is the primary focus of the organization. The organization has sponsored and coordinated numerous educational projects and site tours within the above areas. Through hands-on learning experiences, the organization has provided water research training aboard several different great lakes research vessels, plants of concern training through the chicago botanic garden, environmental conferences for area 5th grade students, assisted the Waukegan park district with high quality environmental programing, and partnered with the geographic society of chicago to provide local students with gps training and mapping skills which they use to track data for the usgs swallow monitoring project in the Harbor. A wide range of activities in the ravines, parks and lakefront help Citizens of all ages become good stewards of their local land and water resources. The organization is working with the bowen park neighbors to improve the quality of their portions of the glen flora ravine through Citizens' science, especially through improved hydrological flow and nonpoint pollution reduction.

Bowen park - a 61-acre urban park made up of a very high quality mowed oak savannah and restored natural woodlands on the glen flora ravine. The park contains excellent urban hiking trails, the Waukegan historical society, the jane addams building, the jack benny center for the cultural arts, the bowen residence, a large nature themed playground and exercise area, formal gardens, lighted baseball diamond, skateboarding facility, and numerous picnic areas. 30 acres of this urban park is an extremely high-quality ravine ecological system within the lake Michigan watershed. This is the area where restoration has been focused.