Openlands Project, founded in 1963, is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing public open space in northeastern Illinois.



We fulfill our mission through four interrelated programs: Urban Greening, Greenways, Policy, and CorLands.





Openlands Project's Urban Greening program supports community- and school-based greening within the City of Chicago.



Openlands Project’s policy division promotes the organization’s mission through research, policy development, and advocacy. It works for systemic changes that will protect and enhance natural resources throughout northeastern Illinois.



Native plants are hardier than many of their non-native, cultivated cousins. They have natural defenses to many diseases and insect pests. Native plants also provide food and meet the functional habitat needs for our native wildlife such as birds, butterflies and mammals. Additionally, native plants have deeper root systems than typical turf and ornamental plants.