Chicago Wilderness, a regional alliance dedicated to protecting nature and enriching lives, has been selected by The National Forum on Children and Nature as one of 30 projects nationwide that successfully demonstrate new and creative ways to reconnect kids with nature.

Specifically, the alliance was honored for its Green Infrastructure Vision - a comprehensive action plan for the Chicago region to bring nature into communities, promote sustainable development and economic vitality, and restore local nature. The vision identifies ways to incorporate nature into the built environment at the regional level, community level, neighborhood level and site level, and calls on the 230 member organizations of Chicago Wilderness to work with policymakers and community leaders across the region. Additionally, Chicago Wilderness will partner with the Global Alliance of Artists, who will manage the Art & Nature youth program to foster creativity and appreciation for the environment throughout the region.

As an endorsed project, The National Forum on Children and Nature -- a project of The Conservation Fund -- pledges to help Chicago Wilderness raise visibility and financial support for its Green Infrastructure Vision.

"This honor confirms Chicago Wilderness as a national model for how communities can connect children and nature," said Melinda Pruett-Jones, Executive Director of Chicago Wilderness. "As the metro region continues to expand, we know it's increasingly important to plan and develop in a way that ensures children's ready access to nature to explore, discover, and enjoy for their healthy development. Implementing our Green Infrastructure Vision for the region will bring nature and open space into communities, promote environmental sustainability and economic vitality in our region, and improve human health and quality of life for everyone."

The Vision identifies areas that can be protected and restored, and offers creative ways to incorporate nature into the built environment by greening schoolyards and community spaces, and by incorporating open space into developing communities. It also identifies ways that individuals can live more sustainably by using tools such as rain gardens, rain barrels, and native landscaping. In doing so, the Vision creates greater exposure and access for children to experience and discover the nature around them.

Implementing the Green Infrastructure Vision involves reaching key local and regional decision-makers, coordinating hundreds of diverse organizations and launching a massive effort to encourage the region's 10 million residents to discover, appreciate and enjoy nature in their neighborhoods. To do so, each of the Chicago Wilderness member organizations -- consisting of grassroots community groups, park districts, governmental agencies, nonprofit environmental organizations, and educational institutions -- will work to implement the Vision at one of four distinct levels:

- Regional level: Chicago Wilderness members will work with regional planning agencies to integrate the Green Infrastructure Vision into new comprehensive land use and transportation plans to guide future growth for the four-state region;

- Community level: Member organizations will engage counties, cities, and towns to use sustainable, child-friendly design in local land use plans and ordinances, and promote community participation in interconnected greenways;

- Neighborhood level: Chicago Wilderness members will develop guidelines and model ordinances for conservation design, and;

- Site level: Members will continue to successfully promote natural landscaping and rain gardens on residential lots, corporate campuses, and hundreds of parks and school grounds.

Recognizing an urgent need to reconnect kids with nature, The Conservation Fund launched the National Forum on Children and Nature in 2007. The Forum includes 51 dynamic public and private leaders and is chaired by Governors M. Jodi Rell (Conn.), Edward Rendell (Penn.), Mark Sanford (S.C.) and Brian Schweitzer (Mont.), with honorary co-chair Richard Louv, bestselling author of "Last Child in the Woods." The mayors of Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago are also Forum members, as are the CEOs of The North Face, REI, and the National Audubon Society, among other organizations.

"The Forum celebrates these projects for demonstrating how to get kids back outdoors," said Larry Selzer, president and CEO of The Conservation Fund, which hosts the Forum. "This is critical for children's health - and for the future of our environment. Saving a generation is not a spectator sport. These ideas invite corporate leaders, educators, community planners, government officials and others into the game."

Chicago Wilderness' leadership in this area is reflected in the success of its Leave No Child Inside initiative, which encourages unstructured outdoor play to promote children's health and foster generations of children that will care about nature and protect it. Camp outs, community gardening, and outdoor hiking adventures are just a few of the activities taking place around the region.

About Chicago Wilderness

Chicago Wilderness is a collaborative regional conservation alliance that connects people and nature. More than 230 diverse member organizations work together on programs and scientific study to protect and restore natural areas within this urban region that spans four states. Chicago Wilderness acts with one voice to improve the quality of life for all living things by protecting the lands and waters on which we all depend. To learn more, visit www.chicagowilderness.org.

About Global Alliance of Artists

Global Alliance of Artists (GAA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to utilize artists and creativity inherent in communities to help solve social and environmental challenges on a local, national and international level.

The Art & Nature program is organized by Global Alliance of Artists and led by Program Director and visual artist, Andrea Harris. The program enlists the arts as an educational, technical and media conduit while encouraging fitness and outdoor play in children. The two-year program includes multimedia nature/art projects coordinated with Round Lake School District #116, a media/video project created by KidTek (a non-profit youth development organization) to educate their peers, and an educational alliance with The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Chicago Inner City Outings. An additional alliance with Swedish Covenant Hospital offers venue support for Art & Nature projects, lectures and public education.

For more information about Art & Nature, please contact Andrea Harris, asharris9@comcast.net or 847-830-4084.

About the National Forum on Children and Nature

Recognizing an urgent need to reconnect kids with nature, The Conservation Fund launched the National Forum on Children and Nature in 2007. The Forum's mission is to: elevate the issue of reconnecting children with nature to the highest levels of our national consciousness; connect the fast-growing grass-roots side of this movement to some of the most powerful engines of American society - public, private and nonprofit; and make real for every American-through nationally significant demonstration projects-ways that each of us can help reconnect children with nature. To learn more, visit www.forumonchildrenandnature.org.