What if the thing you’ve been missing is not another show to stream, another errand to run or another doomscroll on your phone, but a chance to do something that has real meaning in your community? Volunteering in the Forest Preserves of Cook County turns free time into impact, curiosity into connection and ordinary days […]
As burgeoning birdsong heralds the arc of winter into spring, we invite you to take a peek at the 2021 Forest Preserve Foundation Annual Report. In this review of a year with continued Covid-19 challenges, you’ll find hope and much to celebrate. We bring you photos from the field, thoughts from youth crew members, leadership news, […]
Brian Murphy and Karen Quasny were strangers when they met on a moonlit and extremely cold night in 2014. They had gone to Spears Woods for a snowshoeing class put on by REI, the outdoor recreation company. Both were separated and interested in activities that allowed them to enjoy the outdoors, which they each loved. They […]
As local birding destinations go, among the most popular are the forest preserves scattered throughout Cook County. Dedicated birders, you might say, flock there to catch sight of native and migratory species year round. Through the three-year-old program called Bird the Preserves, which receives funding from the Forest Preserve Foundation, everyone has an open invitation […]
Ted Stone Forest Preserve on a sunny October day in 2017. As we count down to midnight on Dec. 31 and 2017 comes to an end, we are happy to savor the good memories as we look ahead. This is a time for us to reflect on the ways the Forest Preserve Foundation has had […]
Birders are a close-knit community. They travel in their own flocks, binoculars and cameras around their necks, traipsing across prairies and through woods, looking to spot an elusive scarlet tanager or indigo bunting or rose-breasted grosbeak. They develop deep bonds around their shared affection for the feathered species. Among Chicago’s birding community, one birder soared […]
“Rose” sculpture at Forest Preserves of Cook County headquarters in River Forest. Thanks to the support of the Forest Preserve Foundation and CSX Transportation, there’s something new near the corner of Lake Street and Harlem Avenue in River Forest. It is a sculpture called “Rose.” Oak Park River and Forest High School students worked throughout […]
I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving, because it provides a long weekend to spend time with family laughing, eating and playing outside. We go out of town and stay at the same hotel every year. The hotel’s location is perfect, because it is across the street from a large park that includes museums and the city’s […]
#OptOutside this Thanksgiving weekend REI just released a report reminding us what we are seeing in our daily lives. The average American spends 95 percent of their life indoors. We are sitting too much. We are looking at screens instead of trees. We do not have moments to be bored and to daydream. We know […]
Bike ride participants gather at “The Bench” before the taking off to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Family pays tribute to a Chicago couple who loved the forest preserves Dave Simmons loves biking, especially through the forest preserves. The president of Friends of Cycling in Elk Grove grew up near the North Branch Trail and Thaddeus […]
