Calumet Region
Located along the southern edge of Lake Michigan, this unique landscape is where globally rare dunes, marshes, prairies, and black-oak savannas thread through the Midwest’s premier industrial corridor that shaped Chicago and the nation. It’s also home to resilient communities—Indigenous, Black, Latinx, European, and immigrant—whose labor, culture, and stewardship continue to define the landscape.
With residents, Tribal nations, and local partners, the Keller Science Action Center co-designs restoration and monitoring, uses Field Museum collections and research to guide decisions (from seed sourcing to historical baselines), and grows nature-based learning and youth pathways. We support community leadership, elevate stories of work and place, and reconnect green corridors across parks, preserves, and former industrial sites—so everyday access to nearby nature, cultural heritage, and biodiversity all advance together.
We ground our work in this dual reality: ecology and culture together, restoring habitat and guiding placemaking that honors industrial and community heritage.
Calumet Heritage Area Leadership
From leading the creation of the Calumet Voices, National Stories exhibitions to coordinating the monthly Calumet Outdoors Series, the Field Museum is a leader in the bi-state, regional effort to connect and showcase the region’s ecological, historical, and inspirational assets.
Little Calumet River Corridor Community Stewardship
Along the Illinois stretch of the Little Calumet River, we convene and collaborate with stakeholders, from community members to landowners and conservation organizations to strengthen networks, restore local ecosystems, and build capacity to care for the natural and cultural heritage of the area.
Quality of Life at Gary, Indiana
Through partnership and guided by community, we advance quality-of-life improvements for Gary’s wider west side that build on the area’s existing cultural and ecological assets: from enhancing our focus location at Brunswick Park to supporting nature-based efforts at other locations such as Rees Park, Ivanhoe South Preserve, and nearby neighborhoods and natural areas.
