Lincolnshire Votes for Nature
This vote did not need a recount. A confusingly worded referendum sought to eliminate culling as an option for controlling overpopulated deer in Florsheim Nature Preserve. The referendum was opposed by conservation groups, including National Audubon Society and the Sierra Club. By a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent, the voting public in Lincolnshire wisely rejected the measure.

This victory for good sense is due largely to the impressive educational efforts of the Friends of Florsheim, a grassroots group that organized to rally community support for their local preserve.

The referendum question was a complicated one for an election ballot and was worded in a way that suggested that a few fences could solve the problem. The group that sponsored the referendum also opposed brush control and prescribed burning. Lincolnshire resident and Friends member Jamie Godshalk described how the Friends were successful. "We asked Lincolnshire voters to choose wise management based on what was best for the whole ecosystem. We provided people with information on the effects of deer browsing and the current options for management. Armed with that knowledge, our community chose to protect the wealth of diversity in Florsheim rather than sacrifice all else for a single species."

Many conservationists saw this referendum as a test case for similar actions in other communities. The resounding victory should encourage other communities to support good management of their natural areas. —Steve Frankel

A Chicago Region "Virtual Herbarium"
In September, The Morton Arboretum received a $420,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop and launch an online herbarium — vPlants — of Chicago region plants. This database is being developed over the next two years in partnership with the Field Museum and the Chicago Botanic Garden. It will encompass data about, and high resolution color images of, plants in the herbaria of these three preeminent Chicago area botanical institutions. While the initial focus will be plants of the Chicago region, vPlants will readily allow future expansion and creation of a larger database of plants beyond our region.

vPlants will provide an immense, searchable database of plant information to anyone with an Internet connection and a Web browser. "Our project will revolutionize access to plant information and dramatically expand the number of potential herbarium users," says the project’s principal investigator, Dr. Christopher Dunn, director of research at The Morton Arboretum. The Web-based system will include a "portal" — hosted by The Morton Arboretum — and three separate databases housed and maintained by each of the three participating institutions. Ultimately, the entire collections of each institution, totaling more than 2,000,000 specimens, may be available online.

Botanical institutions maintain herbaria to assist in the identification of plants, to provide data necessary to document past incidence of plant species, map current species distributions, detect changes in the diversity and distribution of species, and forecast trends. vPlants will become a much needed research tool for Chicago Wilderness, and will significantly promote the plant information interests of schools, community groups, educators, and other plant professionals.

Route 47 Communities to Protect Kishwaukee River
Ten years ago, U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan recognized that governments had spent untold money on highways without paying attention to how transportation affects land use and the environment. Moynihan drafted legislation that for the first time made federal transportation funding sensitive to these issues. Recently, the Route 47 communities of Woodstock, Lake in the Hills, and Lakewood, along with the McHenry County Conservation District (MCCD), received a major grant from this funding (now called the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, or TEA-21) to develop best management practices that will guide development in ways that will protect the headwaters of the Kishwaukee River.

While much of this property is already annexed and zoned, it is still underdeveloped leaving a window of opportunity to achieve conservation goals. Conservation Research Institute (CRI) is administering the demonstration project that will give these communities the tools to achieve their goals.

"Since this is a pilot project, the process of involving the communities is very important. By making quality decisions now, we can not only forestall negative environmental impact but expensive and frustrating retrofitting later on," says Melinda Perrin of CRI. "If we can show that this process works, it will become a model for sustainability in other areas facing similar development pressures."

The Route 47 corridor includes streams that feed into the Kishwaukee River, a high quality stream. Partner municipalities, the MCCD, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources will work with the Openlands Project and CRI to develop a plan that includes giving people transportation alternatives while protecting the Kishwaukee and biodiversity.

Funds for the Route 47 project include the $198,000 TCSP grant, $12,000 from MCCD, and $26,000 from Woodstock, Lake-in-the-Hills, and Lakewood. The project is augmented by a $20,000 State of Illinois Conservation 2000 grant for a natural features study along the Kishwaukee River throughout the study corridor. —Alison Carney Brown

Enhancements to Come for Chicago River
The Chicago Department of Environment and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers teamed up in a $4 million project to improve four sites on the Chicago River to provide habitat enhancement and public access. The projects — at Chicago’s Von Steuben and North Side College Preparatory high schools, on Goose Island off Weed Street, and on the river’s South Branch at the former Cuneo Press at 18th Street — vary in scope and design. They include footpaths, a canoe landing, and still lunkers (hiding holes for fish) built into spots where no natural bank remains. The high schools will use the enhanced riverside as a living learning laboratory.

New plantings will include bur oak, willow, and linden trees, aquatic plants, wild onion, grasses, cow parsnip, prairie dock, and bee balm. Friends of the Chicago River, local government agencies, 17th District State Senator Lisa Madigan, and 33rd District State Rep. John Fritchey assisted in the plan’s development. —Michael Graff

Pauline Sato, program director of the Oahu chapter of The Nature Conservancy, had been watching the development of Chicago Wilderness for several years and believed it would be a good conservation strategy on the island of Oahu. That island has both a dense human population and critically important biodiversity to conserve. Sato brought in Debby Moskovits, director of environmental and conservation programs for the Field Museum, and Laurel Ross, area director for The Nature Conservancy of Illinois, for the 1999 Hawaii Conservation Conference to describe Chicago Wilderness efforts. A week of meetings followed to brainstorm a plan of action for the island. After about a year of organizing, more than 60 organizations signed an agreement and the Hawaiian group is a reality! The emphasis will be on public awareness that will support and inspire on-the-ground conservation work.

Illinois Rivers 2020 Initiative Brings Restoration and Water Quality Enhancements
On November 3, the U.S. House passed the final version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA 2000) that includes a $100 million, three-year authorization for the Illinois Rivers 2020 initiative, clearing the measure for President Clinton’s signature. "This is a tremendous victory for Illinois," Lt. Governor Corinne Wood said. "The Illinois Rivers 2020 program is the kind of comprehensive environmental initiative that will serve as a model for the nation."

The Illinois River and its watershed stretch across 55 counties and affect 90 percent of the state’s population. More than 900,000 people receive their drinking water from the river. Illinois Rivers 2020 moves beyond studies and begins implementation of restoration and prevention throughout the basin. This expanded voluntary, incentive-based program was developed by Lt. Governor Wood’s Illinois River Coordinating Council, which worked with members of the Illinois congressional delegation, agricultural, environmental, and natural resources agencies. The initiative will develop new technologies and innovative approaches to improve water quality within the entire Illinois River Basin; protect farmland and open space; restore, enhance, and preserve habitat for plants and wildlife; enhance the waterway as a vital transportation corridor; and provide for land treatment of storm water and best management practices for upland areas.

All 22 members of the Illinois congressional delegation, more than 65 environmental, conservation and agricultural groups, and more than 350 mayors endorsed the initiative. This was the first year Illinois Rivers 2020 was introduced in Congress.

Potential SWANCC Landfill in Bartlett is a New Threat
For 15 years, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), a consortium of 23 suburban Chicago municipalities, has been trying to build a solid waste landfill on a 533-acre site in Bartlett. The site contains woods, the remains of a gravel strip mine, 17.6 acres of wetlands used by migratory birds, and a heron rookery with 192 great blue heron nests.

In 1986, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) denied SWANCC a permit to fill lakes and ponds on the Bartlett land citing its authority to regulate "waters of the United States" under the federal Clean Water Act. Using its Migratory Bird Rule, the ACOE claimed jurisdiction over intrastate waters that are or would be used as habitat by birds. When the solid waste agency sued, both the district court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found for the ACOE. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and held its hearing on October 31. If the court turns the regulatory oversight to state and local governments, it could become harder to enforce the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.

For more information, contact the Sierra Club at (312) 251-1680 or illinois.chapter@sierraclub.org or the Environmental Law and Policy Center at (312) 673-6500 or www.elpc.org. —Gail Goldberger

IDOT Builds Walls to Protect Massasauga Rattlesnake
As part of a roadway construction project in northern Cook County, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will install an exclusionary wall to protect a population of the state-endangered massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus).

Slated for construction in the summer of 2002, the wall will be three feet high and run approximately 3,000 feet along a stretch of roadway adjacent to one of the last remaining massasauga populations in Illinois. During the project planning process, IDOT collaborated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and others. "We gave careful attention to the design of the wall," said Dr. Christopher Phillips, an ecologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. "The design and materials were chosen to minimize the project’s impact on the habitat, while maximizing the protection for the massasauga."

Studies conducted by the Ohio Division of Wildlife on mortality factors for the massasauga cited roadkill as a major cause for the decline of that state’s massasauga population. According to Tom Anton, a consultant and herpetologist hired by IDOT to study the Chicago Wilderness population, the snake’s genetics don’t help much either. "Because the body of a massasauga is short, fat, and stocky they are slower than most snakes," said Anton. "That makes it much harder for them to move quickly across a roadway."

Massasauga rattlesnakes were once known from 24 widely scattered populations in Illinois, but they are now only known to occur at six. This decrease prompted the state to list the snake as endangered in 1994. Once common from western New York and southern Ontario, south to eastern Iowa and eastern Missouri, the massasauga is now endangered throughout most of its range and is a candidate for listing as a federally endangered species. If the exclusionary wall proves to be successful, scientists hope this approach can be used elsewhere in the state and throughout the massasauga’s range. —Gian Galassi

Lights Out Downtown for Birds
This fall, night by night, the skyline dimmed in Chicago’s Loop. Thankfully this meant the survival of many migrating birds on their southward journey. For reasons that are not well understood, migratory birds are attracted to lights during their nighttime journeys, and it is estimated that thousands hit skyscrapers and die every migration season in Chicago.

As part of the Urban Bird Treaty signed by Mayor Daley and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in late March (CW Summer 2000), the Mayor’s Wildlife and Nature Committee and the City of Chicago Department of the Environment sent flyers this summer to the Building Owners and Managers Association encouraging them to turn out their lights at night during the spring and fall migrations. In addition to the buildings that observed the request last spring, many others joined in support this fall, including the Sears Tower, John Hancock, Tribune Tower, Leo Burnett, NBC Towers, R. R. Donnelley, Stone Container Building, and 55 W. Wacker.

"Thanks to Linda Day, volunteer chair of the Mayor’s committee, and the Building Owners and Managers Association we’ve had quite a response to this program," says Suzanne Malec, the city’s Deputy Commissioner for Natural Resources. "I think the most exciting part was looking at the skyline and visibly seeing the difference that was made and you could imagine the impact it was making during migration — potentially saving thousands of birds that were silently flying above."

"Many of these buildings are landmarks," says Day who has worked in the building management profession for 20 years. "It’s a huge sacrifice to darken their profile. It’s incredible that they’re doing it."

In addition to establishing a building lighting policy that strives for minimal lighting at night during migration seasons, the Mayor’s Wildlife and Nature Committee is also encouraging building managers to establish a "Bird-Friendly Building Program" by adding the responsibility and specifications for reduced lighting to the tenant operations manual and incorporating the same into tenants’ leases. Loop conservationists can be a part of this ongoing program and help monitor its success by contacting Judy Pollock, Bird Conservation Network representative to the Mayor’s Wildlife Committee, at jpollock@audubon.org or (847) 965-1150. —Alison Carney Brown

First Annual Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Given
On November 11, Chicago Wilderness and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored the five winners of the first annual Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards. The program recognizes park districts and municipalities that make extensive and creative use of natural landscaping to restore and support native plants and animals. The winners are:

• Village of Sugar Grove — Sugar Grove Detention Basin Prairie
• City of Chicago, Department of Environment — North Park Village Nature Center Native Plant Garden
• Roselle Public Works — Central Avenue Wetland
• City of Crystal Lake — Crystal Cove Pond Wetland Restoration
• St. Charles Park District — Campton Hills Natural Area and Pottawatomie Native Plant Education Area

Photo courtesy of St. Charles Park District

Voters Help Preserve and Restore Land in Lake County
On November 7, Lake County voters resoundingly approved a Forest Preserve District ballot issue, with 67 percent voting for $70 million worth of land preservation and $15 million worth of restoration and improvement projects. These new land acquisition funds will bring the district closer to its goal of preserving 40 acres for every 1,000 residents of Lake County.

With 1999 referendum funds, the district: acquired 403-acre Ray Lake Farm near Wauconda; combined two adjacent purchases to create a 356-acre refuge near Antioch; and added 213 acres to the Fox River Forest Preserve and 41 acres to Fourth Lake Fen.

Passage of the 2000 ballot issue allows the district to continue its acquisition efforts while land is still available and affordable.

Many Chicago Wilderness members assisted in the referendum campaign. Joyce O’Keefe, of the Openlands Project, chaired the Friends of the Forest Preserves efforts. The Friends of Ryerson Woods made major campaign donations, with additional assistance provided by the Nature Conservancy, Liberty Prairie Conservancy, Lake Forest Open Lands, Lake Bluff Open Lands, Citizens for Conservation, Sierra Club-Woods, and Wetlands Chapter, and others.

Nature Adds Value, While Over-development Lowers Residential Property Values
This past spring the Palos-Orland Conservation Committee (POCC) released a study on "The Economic Impact of Environmental Resources on the Palos-Orland Region." Conducted by Don L. Coursey, a professor at the Harris Graduate School at the University of Chicago, and Douglas Noonan, a doctoral candidate at the Harris School, the study found that if population density and traffic increase by 50 percent in that section of southwestern Cook County—a "degradation scenario" that has occurred in other suburban Chicago communities—then "the total effect on housing values in the region results in a loss of $225,000,000 in total residential property value. (This represents a loss of about 6.5 percent of an average home’s value)."

Southwest suburban Palos and Orland Park share seamless borders with large tracts of Cook County forest preserves— more than 15,000 contiguous acres in the Palos/Sag/Tinley areas. Palos Park was developed in the late 1800s as summer homes for Chicagoans, while Orland Park became a vibrant farming community. Over the past several years, much of the farmland has been developed and Palos’s larger properties have been subdivided, resulting in a significant loss of natural features and the fragmentation of interconnected ecosystems. The study shows that further development will result in lower residential property values.

On October 1, a cluster of citizens’ groups including the POCC, Concerned Property Owners in the Greenway, Des Plaines River Watershed Alliance, and the Sierra Club sponsored a Greenway Gathering to support completion of the proposed greenway between Tampier Lake and McGinnis Slough. The greenway connection was first proposed 10 years ago and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County has begun making acquisitions. The citizens groups are particularly interested in an undeveloped parcel (No. 12) that includes wetlands, a stand of oaks, and splendid views of Tampier Lake. The event included hayrides, refreshments, and speakers, and drew families and public officials from around the region including national Republican environmental leader (and Lake County Commissioner) Martha Marks.

Meanwhile, the Village of Palos Park is considering adopting an ordinance to ensure responsible construction practices that protect natural features. "This effort goes beyond a ‘tree ordinance,’" says Planning Commission and POCC member Dave Kibort. "It treats the greater natural community as an ecosystem that must not be fragmented." Numerous citizens and groups, including POCC and the Palos Park Tree Body, have commented at public forums. The planning commission will have a recommended final draft ordinance submitted to the village council for approval in January 2001.

In November, villagers celebrated the passage of a $20 million bond referendum by Orland Park to support land acquisition. Prior to the elections, the POCC sent out hundreds of postcards, distributed buttons and flyers, and wrote letters to the editor in support of the Orland Park Save Open Space Initiative that passed by 57 percent on November 7. "Nine hundred homes could potentially be built on the 300 acres the referendum money could purchase," said the Openlands Fund Commission chair Lou Mulé. Referendum supporters estimated that the resulting 9,000 new vehicle trips and 1,350 new school enrollments could cost the village an estimated $1,800,000 in services annually. Passage of this initiative, said Mulé, "demonstrates that residents understand that open lands are just as vital as roads and sewers and schools." —Alison Carney Brown

Sidney R. Yates, 1909-2000
Former U.S. Representative Sidney R. Yates of Chicago, 91, champion of national parks, forests and waterways and an early supporter of the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council, died on October 5. Congressman Yates represented Chicago’s 9th District, spanning the north lakefront and north suburbs, for 48 years. As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations, Congressman Yates brought "a strong interest in the environment and a strong interest in serving urban people," says John Dwyer, Evanston-based research forester for the U.S. Forest Service. "His perspective translated into support for a large number of urban conservation projects in Chicago and around the country."

"Congressman Yates knew how to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and accomplish some truly great things," remembers Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen, legislative assistant and the Congressman’s director of suburban operations for 26 years. "In our region, the Chicago lakeshore and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (IDNL) are prime examples of how he worked to protect the great treasures of our country." Yates sponsored appropriations that increased the size of IDNL and won approval for creating the environmental education center there.

According to Stephen Packard of National Audubon, Yates played the key role in Chicago Wilderness obtaining its initial funding from the USDA Forest Service and the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service.

Yates was also a renowned supporter of the arts, humanities, and museums. In 1998, Congress passed a $2 million direct appropriation to establish the Sidney and Addie Yates Exhibition Center at The Field Museum as a permanent tribute to Congressman Yates when he retired.

Chicago Wilderness Adds Ten New Member Organizations
The Chicago Wilderness consortium has now expanded to 124 members.

• The Butterfly Monitoring Network monitors changes in butterfly populations enlisting volunteer citizen scientists to collect field data. The Network’s data and analyses are made available to land managers and management agencies.
• The Chicago Herpetological Society enhances the education of members and public through society programs; promotes conservation of all wildlife in general and of herpetofauna in particular, whenever and wherever possible; and works to achieve a closer cooperation and understanding between amateur and professional herpetologists.
• The DuPage Birding Club provides opportunities for people to enjoy the diversity of bird life in the Chicago area with a specific focus on DuPage County. The group is active in Bird Conservation Network efforts to standardize bird monitoring in the Chicago area, provides small grants for bird research in the Chicago area, offers field trips, and participates in monitoring bird populations in DuPage County.
• The Garden Clubs of Illinois informs and educates members and the general public about the preservation of the natural resources of our state, the protection of endangered species and the recycling of waste materials. Members create beauty through the artistic use of plant material in the home and in the landscape.
• The Grand Calumet Task Force is a community environmental organization working cooperatively to improve the land, air, and water quality of the Grand Calumet River and the urban ecosystem that surrounds it and to achieve environmental justice for the people of northwest Indiana.
• The mission of the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District is to conserve the biodiversity of Lake County by educating the public on natural resource protection.
• The Natural Land Institute preserves natural areas and natural diversity through a comprehensive program of land protection, stewardship, research, education and advocacy.
• The Northeast Region of University of Illinois Extension offers practical, research-based programs that help people improve their lives and address critical community issues involving youth, families, economics, health, agriculture and natural resources.
• The Office of Continuing Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has established a new division in Chicago to offer environmental education to a variety of professional and non-professional audiences using an intensive, modular curriculum that combines online, face-to-face, and field-based instruction.
• The mission of the Waukegan Harbor Citizens’ Advisory Group is to ensure expeditious development and implementation of a remedial action plan for the Waukegan Harbor ‘Area of Concern’; to foster among the public a sense of responsibility for restoring and maintaining the ecological integrity of the Waukegan Harbor; and to promote a lakeshore environment for public use.

Openlands Project Honors Activist Marian Byrnes
On October 31, Openlands Project honored Marian Byrnes with its Conservation Leadership Award. Byrnes has led the Southeast Environmental Task Force in the Calumet region of Chicago since 1989. Under her leadership, the task force has become the leading citizen-based organization on the Southeast Side, advocating relentlessly to stem the deterioration of both residential neighborhoods and the natural landscapes of the Lake Calumet area.

Byrnes has also pursued and supported environmental justice issues on the Southeast Side. She is one of the key leaders of the Calumet Ecological Park Association (CEPA). Byrnes and CEPA are moving closer to achieving National Park Service designation of the Calumet area in Illinois and Indiana as a new National Heritage Corridor.

Byrnes was also the key neighborhood spokesperson, working with Citizens for a Better Environment, to prod the U.S. EPA into addressing the high toxic concentration at a cluster of abandoned waste facilities at 122nd and Stony Island.

Five years ago Byrnes led the initiative to define a series of sustainable development practices for a 150-acre brownfield site that is slated to be the CenterPoint Supplier Park to Ford Motor Company. The practices she identified remain a model for site design of the industrial park.

How to Protect Nature in Your Community
Would you like to see more natural landscaping in your community? More initiatives that protect the watershed? Protecting Nature in Your Community: A Guidebook for Preserving and Enhancing Biodiversity focuses on how local municipalities, counties, and park districts can play an active role in implementing the Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity Recovery Plan. The Guidebook covers topics ranging from land use planning to improved stormwater management to natural landscaping.

	Photo courtesy of St. Charles Park District

Written by Jason Navota and Dennis W. Dreher of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC), Protecting Nature includes numerous examples of local programs that support the Guidebook’s recommendations and can serve as models. For instance, the St. Charles Park District owns and manages approximately 500 acres of fens, marshes, upland swamps, woodlands, and prairies. In 1996, the District identified land acquisition as a major goal in its comprehensive master plan to protect wildlife and fragile ecosystems and provide a variety of recreational uses.

Olympia Fields Country Club in the Village of Olympia Fields has also taken a number of significant actions to provide habitat for plants and animals. These include controlling erosion of streambanks and pond edges with native plantings; re-establishing prairie and savanna vegetation; planting native trees and woody understory from locally collected seed; removing invasive nonnative species; conducting prescribed burns for prairie and savanna areas.

Prepared for the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council and funded in part by the USDA Forest Service, Protecting Nature was sent last spring to a wide variety of public officials in northeastern Illinois. Navota and Dreher have since developed a PowerPoint presentation and on-site training. Public officials can review the guidebook and follow up with the authors or begin to implement some of the recommended programs on their own. Often it doesn’t take much. Slight shifts in a community’s focus, minimal modifications of ordinances, and a general commitment to biodiversity protection can achieve critical results. Call Chicago WILDERNESS magazine at (847) 965-9275 for a complimentary copy of the guide. Navota and Dreher can be reached at NIPC: (312) 454-0400.

Open Land Trust Initiative Provides Grants for Open Space
In early November, Governor George H. Ryan announced $76.7 million in projects to protect open space and acquire and develop new hiking and bicycling trails throughout Illinois. The grants are funded through the Open Land Trust (OLT), the Department of Natural Resources’ Bicycle Path Grant program, and the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP).

"It is no secret that urbanization is consuming open space, farmland, wildlife habitat, recreational areas and natural land faster than we can preserve it," Ryan said. "That’s why my administration initiated the Illinois Open Land Trust Program—to preserve those dwindling resources while there is still time to do so." The governor announced a total of 92 projects through the OLT program (15 projects), Bike Path program (26), and ITEP program (51).

Governor Ryan’s Open Land Trust initiative, the largest land acquisition program in state history, is providing $160 million over four years for land purchases and improvements.

Grants awarded in the Chicago Wilderness region include:

• Chicago Park District: $2 million to acquire five acres along the North Branch of the Chicago River to connect Gompers and Eugene Field Parks, extend Gompers Park wetland, and fund restoration work.
• Forest Preserve District of Cook County: $2 million to acquire 65 acres of the former Klehm Nursery extending Spring Lake Preserve to the east and provide additional protection for the headwaters of Spring Creek. The project will preserve existing wetland habitat and allow for the restoration of former wetland areas.
• Dundee Township: $1,967,700 to acquire 248 acres which includes the former Elmhurst-Chicago Stone gravel mine and a portion of the Bright Farm, a critical component of the Jelkes Creek greenway. Restoration/recovery activities include the reestablishment of natural grades and contours, restoration of the dry gravel prairie vegetation and the establishment of native tallgrass prairie.
• Geneva Park District: $487,500 to acquire and enhance a 22-acre addition to Peck Farm, including prairie restoration and habitat demonstration plots.
• Kane County Forest Preserve District: $2 million to acquire the 121-acre Carson’s Slough, home to at least five state threatened or endangered bird species, and a 292-acre portion of the Thornton Farm, an integral part of the Blackberry Creek watershed. Site enhancement at Thornton Farm includes wetland restoration and the re-planting of an oak/hickory woods.
• Lake County Forest Preserve District: $2 million to acquire a 270-acre site, part of a larger 403-acre parcel, which will be called Ray Lake Farm. The 270 acres contain three wetlands, a large woodlands, and agricultural land that will be restored to prairie.
• McHenry County Conservation District: $1,467,500 to acquire two parcels of land totaling 180 acres of mixed hardwood and upland and wetland complex in the city of Woodstock. Ninety-four acres are at the headwaters of the Kishwaukee River, which contain the longest stretch of top quality stream in the state. Another 86 acres are at McConnell Woods, comprised of oak savanna and a wetland fen complex.
• Northbrook Park District: $2 million to acquire a 14-acre parcel south of Illinois Road. The 14 acres is part of a larger 60-acre parcel being acquired by the District. The District will renovate existing wetlands and a 1.2-acre mesic prairie planting area is planned.
• Village of Orland Park: $1,950,000 to acquire 28 parcels of property totaling 48 acres. The site contains several endangered bird species and an endangered sedge. The Village will restore the existing wetlands, a native oak/hickory savanna and three ponds.

The Open Land Trust grants are administered by the Department of Natural Resources and provide up to 50 percent state funding assistance for approved property acquisition projects. For more information on the Illinois Open Land Trust Fund, visit www.state.il.us.

Citizen Science for the Mayor
The City of Chicago plants thousands of trees each year. Millions of migratory birds search for food in them. City officials, led by Mayor Daley, take pride in these trees and would like birds to find what they need there. But what species of trees do the birds use? Many spring migrants are stocking up on protein—a.k.a. bugs—to fuel their long and difficult journeys. Others take the candy bar approach; they need nectar. Which trees will provide them? Which will flower just as the birds pass through? Which have the most sought-after insects? Cool weather along the lakefront means delayed flowering and leafing out compared to inland: are the birds using different tree species in each place? The Mayor wants to know, so that the right species will be planted in the right places.

This spring, the Chicago Department of the Environment and the National Audubon Society will let the birds "vote with their beaks." Teams of volunteer tree and bird enthusiasts will canvas the tree choices of foraging birds in parks and preserves across the Chicago Wilderness region. Other partners in the project are Openlands Treekeepers, the Field Museum, and the Bird Conservation Network.

Volunteers with basic bird or tree identification skills are needed. The more good data collected, the better our trees will be for migrating birds. Attend a one-hour training session to learn the methods. Three-hour brush-up sessions on bird and tree identification are also available. For details, call Audubon at (847) 965-1150. —Judy Pollock