The February meeting of the CCFP was the most well attended and the shortest meeting ever! There was agreement on the Finance Agenda. There were no issues to discuss. The supplemental agenda honored Ralph Freese on his induction into the National Rivers Hall of Fame and Ralph undoubtedly deserves this honor as he has worked tirelessly to promote paddling on the Chicago River for many many years.
One of the most interesting items on the agenda, which was agreed upon and not discussed, is the ongoing agreement that the Forest Preserve has with the Audubon Society of the Chicago Region. Since 2006, the two organizations have had a collaborative arrangement where the Audubon uses volunteers, interns and staff to manage and restore rare habitat and the Forest Preserve reimburses some of the expenses using funds previously allocated for land management. This appears to be a good collaboration because the Audubon staff specialize in environmental science, they have a good network for recruiting qualified interns, and they make extensive use of citizen volunteers both to do the work and to measure impact through their frog, plant, and bird monitoring programs. Being a nonprofit organization, they also supplement the County funding with contribution monies raised. Overall it seems to be a program that is very well-managed and works in the interest of the taxpayers and citizens of Cook County.
