Northwest River Valleys Group is committed to the protection of wild places, natural resources, and environmental education in northern and northwest Illinois.  The Group covers a major portion of Illinois from East Dubuque to Harvard on the northern Illinois border to Sandwich to Serena to Mendota to Amboy to Sterling to Savanna.  The region touches the Mississippi on the western edge, the Fox on eastern edge, and encompasses much of the Illinois portion of the Rock.

In addition to numerous state parks, including Lowden State Park, home of The Black Hawk Statue, four counties also contain the highest capacity Canadian tar sands pipeline in the United States.