Vote YES

by Edward Warden

It’s not every day that with a stroke of a pen we can have a dramatic impact on local conservation. But such a rare opportunity has presented itself. On election day, November 8th (or even sooner if early voting or voting by mail), the voters of Cook County can vote on a referendum that would greatly expanding the funding available to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC). Here’s why this matters.

Occupying more than 10% of one of the most densely populated counties in the county, it’s honestly a miracle the FPDCC exists in the form that it does or at all. It’s a testament to the foresight of many now legendary leaders, planners, and conservationists that came together to establish and continuously expand the nation’s now oldest forest preserve system. Today the district employs a small but mighty army of educators, scientists, and restoration crews to run several nature centers, manage countless public spaces, and care for an incredibly diverse array of ecosystems. The preserves and the staff that care for them are needless to say, a very critical part of protecting birds in our region with hundreds of species (many of them threatened or endangered) relying on them for migration, breeding, and overwintering.

As you can imagine though, caring for 70,000 acres of habitat and public space is a very resource intensive job, resources that the FPDCC has been short on for a very long time now. The district staff work admirably with what they have but they can only cover so much ground and many areas simply don’t get the attention they need and deserve.

This is why they’re turning to you, the voters, to get the resources they so badly need. COS is a proud partner and supporter of the Vote Yes for Clean Air, Clean Water, and Wildlife campaign and we are excited about the tremendous opportunities for bird conservation if this ballot measure passes. We are asking you and the entire birding community to flip to the last item on your ballot and consider voting yes.

And if you need more more reasons than just happy birds to convince you or sway your friends, check out this editorial from the Chicago Tribune. There has been a lot of wonderful coverage of this issue, but the Trib lays out beautifully the sound economic and social logic for passing this referendum.

To learn more about this ballot measure, visit the campaign website: https://www.voteyesforestpreserves.org/

P.S. If you’d like to learn more about one of the key ways COS works directly with the forest preserves to restore bird habitat, visit the LaBagh Project page.