Cook County Passes New Land Policy

In early November, the Forest Preserve District Board in Cook County unanimously passed an ordinance reaffirming and expanding the district's longstanding policy of protecting and preserving natural lands. In particular, the new ordinance will prevent the district from selling any parcel of land larger than an acre and from relinquishing control of lands for purposes inconsistent with the district's primary conservation mandate. A number of conservation and advocacy groups, including Friends of the Forest Preserves, Friends of the Parks, Openlands Project, The Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club and Audubon-Chicago Region, worked with commissioners and district staff to draft the new ordinance and encourage its passage.

"We need to protect our important natural resources from becoming parking lots and private lawns," said Commissioner Mike Quigley, "and we need to serve notice to local governments and other users that the forest preserves are not surplus lands for the taking."

In 1999, the Forest Preserve District sold nearly three acres of non-surplus land along the Des Plaines River to the village of Rosemont to expand parking for the convention center there. This act sparked many conservation advocates to pursue a legislative remedy that would prevent the district from selling off its valuable natural assets in the future. With the recently enacted land policy ordinance, many hope those protections are now in place.