"It’s Basking Season for Turtles, But on an Armchair? Here’s How to Report Junk in the Chicago River," WTTW
WTTW: It's basking season for turtles, who've raised sunbathing to an art form.
This time of year, you'll find our hard- and soft-shelled friends soaking up rays — it’s how they regulate their body temperature — perched on logs, rocks and quite often each other.
You don't expect to see them reclining in an armchair. And yet, we witnessed just such a thing with our very own eyes.
On the one hand, adorable. Maybe not as cool as “Chonkasaurus” but still adorable.
On the other hand, it's not great to have an abandoned chair lodged in the middle of the North Shore Channel, just a couple hundred yards from its confluence with the North Branch of the Chicago River.
Significant effort has gone into restoring habitat along this stretch of the river, and it's paid off for wildlife. The area is popular not just with turtles but also ducks and geese, and it's full of fish, which attracts great blue herons, cormorants and black-crowned night herons.
That got us wondering: How do you report something like an armchair in the Chicago River?
We asked the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) and Friends of the Chicago River, and here’s what we learned.
The best place to start is with the MWRD, which operates skimmer boats.
“If our boat can reach debris in or around the water, we’ll grab it,” said Allison Fore, MWRD spokesperson.
People can notify the agency by clicking on the “Report an issue” link at the bottom of the page on the MWRD website.
If the object is located in an area that doesn’t fall under MWRD’s jurisdiction, the agency will forward the information to the property owner or responsible party, Fore said, such as the Chicago Park District or Cook County Forest Preserve District.
Friends of the Chicago River also welcomes emails about litter, said Margaret Frisbie, the organization’s executive director.
Send the info to friends@chicagoriver.org, with the subject heading “Litter Report,” she said, and Friends will follow up as part of its Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River program.
Even if an object doesn’t pose a direct threat to wildlife or people, litter in the river sends the message that the water is more polluted than is actually the case, according to Frisbie.