The most recent appropriations for the Department of War expired at 11:59 p.m. EST on September 30, 2025. Military personnel will continue in a normal duty status without pay until such time as a continuing resolution or appropriations are passed by Congress and signed into law. Civilian personnel not engaged in exempted or excepted activities will be placed in a non-work, non-pay status.

A living laboratory along the shores of Lake Michigan

Published July 17, 2014
Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a press conference at the Corps' Northerly Island Ecosystem Restoration Project site, Chicago, June 17, 2014. At right, Gina McCarthy, Environmental Protection Agency administrator; Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works); Michael Kelly, Chicago Park District superintendent. (U.S. Army Photo by Sarah Gross/Released)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a press conference at the Corps' Northerly Island Ecosystem Restoration Project site, Chicago, June 17, 2014. At right, Gina McCarthy, Environmental Protection Agency administrator; Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works); Michael Kelly, Chicago Park District superintendent. (U.S. Army Photo by Sarah Gross/Released)

Northerly Island will act as a living educational spot as part of the world-renowned Museum Campus - also home to attractions like the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. The Corps leads the 40-acre habitat restoration project on land home to Chicago’s second World’s Fair, but more recently used for an airport.