News

Lake County Votes for Historic Land Funds

The election of Barack Obama wasn’t the only historic vote in the Chicago area on November 4. In record numbers, voters in Lake County, Illinois, approved one of the largest open space referenda in the nation’s history. Despite the country’s economic woes, 66 percent of voters approved a bond issue that gives the Lake County Forest Preserves $148 million to buy land and $37 million to restore wildlife habitat, create trails, and provide more public access. Remarkably, residents won’t see a tax increase because old bonds are being retired and new ones will simply replace them.

In its endorsement of the measure, the Chicago Tribune called for other counties to follow suit: “The preserves are our buffer zones, the quieter places that paradoxically let us escape without leaving....A fortunate alignment of depressed real estate values, low interest rates, and willing sellers makes this an ideal time for county forest districts to be growing their footprints. The only question here is why all Chicagoland counties aren’t taking advantage of the same economic trends — talk about a buyer’s market — to increase their holdings too.”

The Lake County Forest Preserve District hopes to buy as many as 3,000 additional acres with the new funds. In the county that is home to more threatened and endangered species than any other in Illinois, passage of this referendum is especially good news.

“The people who live here really value open space,” said forest preserve district president Bonnie Thomson Carter. “They know it’s important to have somewhere peaceful to go, and refuges for our native plant and animal communities.”

— Alison Carney Brown