You, as an individual, organization, company or family may request stewardship of a section of riverfront along the Illinois or Mississippi Rivers. You may be able to adopt one or more miles, and you can decide if you will adopt one or both sides of the river shoreline. Any island shoreline that is in your adopted mile are also yours to clean.

Once you have adopted your river mile(s), you can clean as often as you would like. Together, all of our Adopt-a-River Mile participants are making a significant contribution to the river environment, which includes wildlife and all the people who use it. If you find items that you cannot remove, please document them and let us know, and we will get them removed the next time we are in your area.

You will receive your permanent outdoor sign for the Adopt-A-River Mile soon after you become registered with us. After deciding where you would like to place your sign, speak to the landowner. The landowner must give you permission to place the sign and to allow you to trespass on the land for your cleanup effort. If you do not know who owns the land, call the tax assessor’s office in your county. They have maps that show the area you will be cleaning and will be able to tell you who owns the land. If you would like more than one sign, you may purchase them for $30.00 each.