Chicago Wilderness Launches Corporate Council

On April 6, approximately seventy people — business leaders of a dozen companies constituting the founding members of the brand-new Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council, and conservation leaders from the Chicago Wilderness Steering Committee — gathered at a reception to introduce a new chapter in this unprecedented regional conservation narrative called Chicago Wilderness.

"We're here today because we recognize that a healthy economy and a healthy ecology depend fundamentally on each other," said Field Museum President John McCarter, in welcoming guests to the launch. "The people and organizations of Chicago Wilderness will not be able to achieve the goal of enhancing and restoring the rare nature of this region without reaching out to and engaging the people and corporations of the business community."

Principally through membership dues, but also with some in-kind and project support, the Corporate Council will support the work of Chicago Wilderness, offer employees opportunities to participate in local conservation programs, promote sustainable development, and create opportunities for professionals to network and share expertise.

"The development of the Corporate Council brings a new dimension to Chicago Wilderness," said BP President Ross Pillari. "It adds new partners to what is already an internationally recognized model of collaboration. It enhances the diverse coalition of organizations bound by a common commitment to the preservation of regional biodiversity. And very importantly, it adds new opportunities for us to engage our employees in meaningful volunteer activities." BP made a generous financial contribution to help launch the Chicago Wilderness Corporate Council and BP Senior Vice President Steve Elbert was chosen by the founding members as the first chair of the Council.

Members of the Corporate Council plan to participate in Chicago Wilderness teams and projects, thus bringing the resources and expertise from the business community to the many restoration, education, research and outreach efforts underway. One early initiative will be — through the Corporatelands Program developed by the Openlands Project — to provide outreach and technical assistance to corporations interested in natural landscaping and natural stormwater management techniques on corporate campuses. At BP's Naperville center, for instance, the company has recently replaced more than 40 percent of the roughly one hundred acres of turf with prairie grasses.

To the assembled corporate and conservation agency guests, Frank Boren, former president of The Nature Conservancy and a former board member of the Atlantic Richfield Company, offered a seasoned mix of advice and praise (see complete text of his remarks).

Speaker Frank Boren and John Rogner of Chicago Wilderness at the launch of the Corporate Council. Photo by Kimberly Mazanek, courtesy of The Field Museum.

"You have the vision, and you have put together all the right pieces," Boren said. What you are engaged in is spiritual work, and hopefully, enduring. You have learned a lot and will learn a lot more. Your leadership is infectious. I hope to follow your journey."