News

Natural Lands Defended from Encroachment

Cook County

A steel company proposal to trade 31 acres of land along the Little Calumet River in the suburban Cook County village of Riverdale for 21 acres of forest preserve land located adjacent to its plant met with stiff resistance from members of the Board of Commissioners of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and many conservation advocates. Mittal Steel USA sought the forest preserve land for a possible expansion of its operations at the Riverdale site. Local officials hailed the plan saying it might have created up to 75 new jobs and increased tax revenues.

However, the parcel sought by the steel company is part of a larger preserve holding including Whistler Woods Golf Course, whereas the 31-acre site the company sought to trade is completely fragmented and surrounded by railroad tracks and industrial development.

But conservation advocates and some commissioners also pointed out that the land swap would not have been permitted in any event under a new land policy adopted by the Board last year that prohibits the sale, swap or lease of non-surplus forest preserve property.

By early July, the steel company announced that it was shelving plans to expand its plant and withdrew its request to swap land with the Forest Preserve District.

Lake County

Dozens of conservation advocates opposed plans to build a Costco store in Lake Forest on a site adjacent to Middlefork Savanna, a 700-acre preserve harboring more than 300 plant species and breeding grassland birds. Neighbors voiced concerns that runoff from the proposed development would threaten the delicate ecosystems at Middlefork Savanna and that traffic congestion would increase substantially.

In mid-August, the Army Corps of Engineers released preliminary findings that 40 percent of the site — about 40 acres of wetlands — was not suitable for construction. The Costco developers subsequently dropped their proposal and the Lake Forest City Council voted unanimously to acquire the property. “In my 12 years of service, no single issue has generated more passion,” Alderman Roger Mohr said in the Chicago Tribune.

The city intends to build a municipal services facility on a section of the land and sell the remaining portion to the Lake County Forest Preserves and three corporations at the nearby Conway Office Park. As a result, 20 to 25 acres would be kept as open space.

DuPage County

In June, officials from Wheaton-Warrenville Unit School District 200 sought to pressure the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County to sell approximately 30 acres of natural land at the southwest corner of Herrick and Butterfield Roads to be used as a re-build site for the Hubble Middle School. In exchange, the school district offered a larger parcel of agricultural land located at the northeast corner of Herrick and Warrenville Roads.

Ironically, the parcel the school sought for expansion purposes has been the site of a Land Ethic and Partnership program developed to involve students from the high school in stewardship activities since 1994. Since the program’s inception, more than 1,500 students had worked on the nearby forest preserve parcel clearing invasives, planting plugs, distributing seed, and learning about soils. The area has a stand of six-to-eight-inch oaks planted nearly 20 years ago and contains wetland, wet prairie, re-forested oak savanna, and mesic prairie plant communities. It is also a contiguous land parcel to the recent purchase by the district of the St. James Farm.

In 2003, students from Wheaton-Warrenville High School became the regional and state champions in the Illinois Envirothon, the first time a team from northeastern Illinois had won in the history of the nine-year competition. (At the nationals, the Wheaton-Warrenville team placed 9th.) The Envirothon tests a team’s knowledge in aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and analysis of a current issue. It encourages students to explore environmental careers and helps them to gain field experience.

Officials with the Forest Preserve District and nature advocates throughout DuPage County registered their strong objections to the school district’s proposal. “This parcel should remain as District land for all DuPage County residents,” said John Oldenburg, district director of natural resources. Click here for more information.