Friends of the Kankakee

About the group: Established in 2000. Member of National Wildlife Refuge Association. Organized to promote a federal government property for a national wildlife refuge. Members hail from Illinois and Indiana. Meets regularly. Nonprofit organization.

Mission: To educate the public and enlist its support in the restoration of the Kankakee River and Grand Kankakee Marsh, to restore the wildlife native to the area, to work with and guide the agencies involved in the restoration and to protect the rural character of the Kankakee Basin.

Special events: Friends of the Kankakee organized to promote the national wildlife refuge proposed by the federal government in 1996 consisting of 20,000 acres straddling the river in Indiana and 8,000 acres in Iroquois County in Illinois. When the refuge becomes a reality, the group would like to have a state-of-the-art visitor center like the one at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Des Moines, Iowa, that draws 200,000 people a year. It has already purchased 140 acres in Iroquois County bordering Willow-Slough and is involved in cleanups to remove exotic plants, collect seeds and encourage growth of native prairie and wetland plants. The group is supported by Illinois Clean Energy Foundation, individual benefactors and Iroquois County government.

Advice: "We want to prevent along the Kankakee River what happened along the Little Calumet River. We would like to see it managed for its natural resources, provide for wildlife, water quality, recreation and education in a way to attract tourists," said founding board member and current secretary Jim Sweeney.

How to get involved: For more information on Friends of the Kankakee, call Jim Sweeney at (219) 322-7239.

People might be surprised to know: "That we're still around."

-SUE BERO, TIMES CORRESPONDENT

To nominate a group for this feature, e-mail slbero@hotmail.com