This meeting almost always begins with a meeting of the Finance Committee, and today was no exception. There were a number of contracts approved. Nothing controversial. The good news is that quite a bit of money is coming in from federal funds in the context of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. It comes thanks to the involvement of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Friends of the Forest Preserve. Monies come from grants from the federal government, there are no explicit outlays from local governmental untis, but the grants are"matched" by staff and volunteer time organized through the FP and the FOTFP. People are put to work doing restoration activities in areas where the need is greatest. A number of these sites are down in the wetlands in the Calumet area.
For the general meeting, there was an announcement of upcoming Public Lands Day Sep 24, 2011. Also, Benjamin Cox of Friends of the Forest Preserves spoke as an invited guest about the improvements in care and relations with regard to ecosystem care.
There is an ongoing mess in regard to Journals of Proceedings of the Forest Preserve Commission for meetings held between 2005 and 2010. Records were not kept properly and omissions were made. This is being dealt with in the Rules Committee but it looks like we will never have perfect records from that time period and the Board cannot guarantee the "accuracy, legality, reliability or content of any of the information contained herein...."
There has also been some activity, which is in conformance with FP guidelines, toward acquiring contiguous land. This is ongoing and was one of the initiatives that President Preckwinkle put in her budget to take strategic advantage of the current low land-price environment.
The meeting ended about one hour after it started.
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