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Volunteers are critical to maintaining the health and vitality of the Forest Preserves. Without them, the professional staff just doesn’t have the capacity required to reach all 70,000 acres that make up the Forest Preserves of Cook County. At the Forest Preserve Foundation, we are always happy to give volunteers their proper due and recognition. […]
By Clarmarie Keenan If you’re into nature—and even if you’re not—the daylong biennial Wild Things Conference was bound to offer something for you. I got my chance to experience this mingling of conservation change-makers, experts and enthusiasts at this year’s conference. And it was one wildly engrossing day. The conference took place Feb. 23 at […]
After successfully completing a nine-month green industry training program, 13 participants were ready to step out and apply what they had learned. Nov. 30 was their graduation day and I was there to watch it all unfold. Started in 1994, Greencorps Chicago is a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps program that offers job opportunities to […]
While the air is filled with the roar of chainsaws and the smell of burning wood, a Conservation Corps team was hard at work clearing brush in Wentworth Woods Forest Preserve. This was the scene on a mid-December morning, when my fellow intern, Sam, and I ventured out to work in the field. We were […]
The subject line of the email I received from a colleague at the Forest Preserves of Cook County was certainly intriguing… “You’re Invited to a Guided Forest Therapy Walk.” Born and raised in the Northwest Suburbs, I’m no stranger to the Forest Preserves. They’re woven into the fabric of my life in memories of picnics, trips with […]
By Shelley A. Davis “Do I have time for this?” As the executive director the Forest Preserve Foundation, a small public-private organization in partnership with a government agency, that question often runs through my mind. In early September, I attended the National Recreation Foundation’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership program. I am always eager to take part […]
On a sunny morning in late July, a stream of bright orange T-shirts makes its way to the Wampum Lake Woods pavilion in Thornton, Ill. This is the day that more than 80 Chicago teens will celebrate the end of their summer of work in the Forest Preserve Experience Program. Launched in 2016, the program […]
Forest Preserve Experience crew members cut buckthorn. By Madelyn Wilson and Rachel Urich, Forest Preserve Foundation interns It’s late July, a mild and sunny morning. A crew of teenagers is cutting and piling buckthorn near the entrance of Possum Hollow Woods. They are part of the Forest Preserve Experience, a five-week summer internship program. The […]
By Rachel Urich Forest therapy, also called forest bathing, is the ancient meditation technique of slowing down, calming your mind, and “bathing” in the forest and the energy that surrounds you. The Forest Preserves of Cook County is a perfect place to practice forest bathing techniques. Recently I tried them out myself as part of […]
