Planning for 300+ Square Miles of the Kickapoo Creek Watershed Register

Date and Time:
Wed, May 15, 2024; 6:30 PM (Central)

Organized By: Heart Of Illinois Group

Location: Forest Park Nature Center, 5809 N Forest Park Dr, Peoria Heights

Map | Directions

Event Organizers:
Robert Rowe
   rowe@bradley.edu
   (309) 370-2575

Kickapoo Creek

Reema Abi-Akar, Senior Planner for the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, will walk through the initial phases of the newly started Kickapoo Creek watershed-based planning process.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 with a meet-and-greet, with the program starting at 7:00 p.m. This meeting is both in-person and virtual. Registration is required for the virtual meeting. When you register, you will receive an email with a link for the program starting at 7 p.m.

While Kickapoo Creek community advocates have conducted informal, on-the-ground work on this watershed for years, this upcoming project from the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission seeks to formalize their efforts. Along with local groups and consultant Baxter and Woodman, the project team hopes to gather data in the watershed, pinpoint key issues to address, lay out recommendations for future improvements, and explore funding options to do so. 

The Kickapoo Creek Watershed is an invaluable environmental landmark in our region, spanning 307 square miles in Peoria County, with parts in Knox and Fulton counties. About half of the total nonpoint pollution of Kickapoo Creek comes from rural sources, and the other half from urban. This creates a unique situation, necessitating different pollution management approaches simultaneously.

About the Speaker

Reema Abi-Akar is a Senior Planner for the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission in Peoria. She holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's degree in Environment and Sustainability from the University of Michigan. She has worked on a range of regional projects such as hazard mitigation and 2020 Census marketing, though her current focus is transit planning for older adults and people with disabilities. She also serves as the de-facto editor-in-chief of her office, and last year, she was selected as one of Peoria Magazines' Forty Leaders under 40. In her spare time, she skates with the Peoria Prowlers Roller Derby team and serves as their Treasurer.


Kickapoo Creek Watershed - Map: Baxter & Woodman