Cook County Forest Preserve District Board Meeting
October 22, 2019

The Forest Preserve Board meeting spent 40 minutes of the hour on the consent agenda thanking various employees for their time served.

The IL Nature Preserve Commission thanked the Forest Preserve District (FPD) for preserving species and habitat in many spots throughout Cook County.  Harms Woods is just the most recent designation in the FPD as a nature preserve.

Superintendent Randall reported that attendance is up, that fall is a lovely time to visit the forest preserve because there are fall colors and no insects.  Permits go on sale November 15 and on-line use should make it especially easy.

He thanked an employee for almost single-handedly updating the website, particularly with regard to mobile-friendly access.  He mentioned Ryan Lothian by name and said that otherwise it would have cost the FPD more than $100k to update and improve the website. Check out the updated website.

Observer:  Amy Little

Cook County Forest Preserve District Board Meeting - May 21, 2019 

What did the Board Decide?

• Approved the issuance of (not to exceed) $8,500,000.00 General Obligation Limited Tax Bonds of the Forest Preserve District. Passed unanimously.
• Approved replacement of sixteen vehicles due to age and condition. Two will be outfitted with hybrid electric engines and fourteen will have dual fuel tank capability (propane/unleaded gas). This purchase will support the Forest Preserves sustainability goals and reduce greenhouse gas production. Eight Police Utility Interceptor vehicles were also approved for replacement. 

Three Intergovernmental Agreements were approved:

1. An agreement to share stream and detention basin data collected in the North Branch Chicago             River Watershed for use in an update of the North Branch Chicago River Watershed-Based Plan.
2. An agreement  with the University of Illinois for professional services to assist Forest Preserves in implementation of Climate Resiliency Plan and the Net Zero GHG Emissions goal. 
3. An agreement with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to accept an Open Space Land Acquisition & Development grant  of $673,900.00 with a local match of $673,900.00 for improvements at the Sand Ridge/Shabbona/Green Lake Nature Campus. This grant will fund nature-based building and site improvements to support development of a cohesive campus that will welcome and orient new visitors.

General Superintendent Arnold Randall shared the Summer 2019 Proposed Calendar of Events with the Board.       

Meeting Length: 90 minutes (including meetings of Rules, Finance, Real Estate & Law Enforcement Comm.)

Observer - Georgia Gephardt

Cook County Forest Preserve District Board Of Commissioners Meeting
February 19, 2019 

What did the Board decide?

• The Board welcomed the Boy Scouts of America back to the Forest Preserves after some years of being denied usage due to the exclusionary nature of their membership some years ago.  Commissioners Sims and Suffredin heartily commended them for becoming inclusive and welcoming.

What else did the Board discuss? 
Most of the meeting consisted of two presentations.  

• The first topic was the refurbishment and renovation of the Major Taylor trail, connecting the south suburbs to the city.  Major Taylor was the first African American cyclist to win the Cycling World championship in 1899.  He was active from 1895 to 1910 and spent most of his later years in Chicago.  The trail runs from Dan Ryan Woods to the Cal-Sag trail.  The surface has been refurbished and viaduct murals will be restored by the springtime.
• The second presentation was by Superintendent Randall about his trip to Beijing (the Chinese paid for the trip) where he talked about how to manage nature preserves in urban areas.  The Chinese invited Cook County to teach Beijing about how to encourage participation and education, and create healthy eco-systems.  Beijing is home to 30 million people and they have just one nature center and one campground.  The eco-system is not healthy.  Supt. Randall described seeing no wildlife except for one squirrel and a few birds.  The climate is much drier than Chicago’s and they were very concerned about using controlled burns to manage underbrush.

Other Items of Interest

• The FP signed an agreement with Bike and Roll to allow for bike rentals this year.
  
• The County is hoping the State will allocate funds for a capital budget for the Forest Preserve this year.

Observer - Amy Little                                                                    Meeting Length: 53 minutes