“Our nation may be divided on a lot of issues, but one thing we can all agree upon is that clean water is a human right and a basic need. No matter who you are or where you live, we all need clean, safe, reliable drinking water. And most of our water comes from rivers.”
American Rivers 2025

Who Drinks the Fox River?

Of the 1.2 million residents of the Fox River Watershed, 300,000 (Elgin & Aurora) draw Fox River water for their drinking supply. And they supply some neighboring communities. You may not realize what a benefit we have, but for the past two years, the 70,000 residents of Waukesha have transitioned their drinking water source from depleting, radium contaminated groundwater wells to Lake Michigan water. Project costs were $300,000,000. Clearly, the Fox River is a very valuable resource justifying a high level of protection.

Recovering From Setbacks

Nationally, 2025 was not a great year for environmental protection.  In the past year, flooding, fire, and drought events have taken big tolls, dramatically demonstrating that the climate is changing. In addition, the current administration is bringing significant changes in environmental policies. Many of those are directly and indirectly impacting our watershed. Reductions in force of experienced and knowledgeable staff have further disrupted programs and research important for resource management decisions. These impacts can be as devastating as those seen during natural disasters. When the catastrophic damage is over, we can reverse some harms, but some are a permanent loss, and some can create new opportunities.  Whichever way the political winds blow, at Friends of the Fox River (FOTFR), we are committed to Keep on Fixin’ the Fox. Protection and restoration efforts by FOTFR and our partners are having increasing impacts as we work to build a watershed community of caretakers.

Our 2025 Work

The graphic depicts our work this past year as we maintained a robust schedule of activities, including spring and fall in-stream experiences, a wide variety of outreach education, cleanups, restoration planting, Fox River Summit (planning & presenting), and monthly water sampling. We continued fundraising through the boat raffle, calendar sales, the No Clean Water No Good Beer event, and several more efforts. In addition, we offered community presentations, regular communication to our Friends with our weekly newsletter (1800+ subscribers), daily social media posts (9000 followers), our lively website with many resources (100,000 visits), while maintaining active participation with many partner organizations, and more.

Visioning 2025

This past year was also a year of trying new approaches. The annual February board retreat for strategic planning began literally on our backs for a session of sound therapy in preparation. It was a productive visioning session that concluded with the group assembling a flower mandala. The group traveled to the site of the former Carpenter Dam for a water blessing, capped with a flyover of a Bald Eagle. Some river magic was in the air.

New Work in 2025

• Our education experiences were able to expand through the winter via an after-school program in School District 131 in Aurora.
• Our classic tie-dye t-shirt made a comeback. As before, each shirt has a standard but unique design. Shirts are still available.
• In celebration of the removal of the Carpenter Dam, the EL CARDUNAL paddle was born. Birthed as a small group excursion, it grew rapidly into a major event. Nearly 100 traveled in their boats under the direction of dozens of volunteers, and full support of three village’s staffs.
• New Board member, Suzanne Morrison jumped right in by teaming with active board member (photo contest, calendar, and much more) Bob Sutton as leads on EL CARDUNAL.
• Our broken down van was replaced through generous Giving Tuesday donations, a board match, and a grant from the American Beverage Association. A donation from the Monacos for the application of a vinyl design was added.
• Another grant was obtained to produce an updated brochure for distribution at events.
• March was our first presentation at the Chicago area’s Wild Things conference. Also, that month, the State of the Fox address was added to the Fox River Summit program.
• In April, the 32^nd annual Clean Water Celebration took place in Peoria, an event that we attended for many of those years. FOTFR received a prestigious Making Waves Award.
• Board member Art Malm opened his home on the Fox River in South Elgin for a private fundraiser featuring exceptional music from a talented trio. Beautiful music with a view.
• Dam removal advocacy continued with new restoration activities (4 cleanups and plantings with Kane County Forest Preserve and the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance), along with an open house in August to see the revegetation progress at the Carpenter Dam site.

As the year comes to a close, we reflect upon our 2025 successes and challenges, and look forward to a fun 2026. Among our objectives are to increase our geographic influence and connect with new Friends. We welcome your support from wherever YOU are.

Together, WE keep on fixin’ the Fox.