RESOLUTION FOR BOARD MEETING OF MAY 19, 2016
Title
RESOLUTION sponsored by the Board of Commissioners recognizing the 20th Anniversary of Chicago Wilderness
Body
Whereas, Chicago is the largest city in the country whose name links it to the native landscape - Che-ca-gou being the Pottawatomi word for the nodding wild onion that grew in profusion along the riverbanks and grows here still; and
Whereas, the retreat of the Wisconsonian glacier more than 14,000 years ago left an enormously rich mix of soils, a varied topography, and a very great lake; and
Whereas, Chicago lies at the convergence of three major biomes, situated at the easternmost edge of the tallgrass prairies, at the southern edge of the pine woods and at the western edge of the oak-hickory hardwood forest; and
Whereas, wherever major biomes converge, rich biological diversity evolves, such that the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has more native plant species than all of the island of Great Britain though it is much smaller in size; and
Whereas, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County was established 100 years ago to protect, preserve, restore and restock the natural areas of the Chicago region and the Forest Preserve District began purchasing tracts of land for that purpose, resulting in more than 69,000 acres of protected natural lands in Cook County today; and
Whereas, following the invention of the steel moldboard plow by the blacksmith John Deere of Ogle County and John Lane of Will County in the 1830s, the vast prairies and oak woods west and south of the great metropolis were plowed for corn and soybean fields which, while essential for human sustenance, have become depauperate in terms of biological diversity; and
Whereas, in contrast, the protected natural areas in Cook County and in neighboring counties harbor the best remnants of our original Midwestern “wilderness” - globally significant communities of plants and animals - remaining on Earth; and
Whereas, by the 1960s and ‘70s, scientists, recreational users, preserve managers and many others began to realize that protection from development was not sufficient to ensure ecological health for oak woods, wetlands, prairies and other areas due to urban sprawl, fragmentation of habitat, fire suppression, changes in hydrology, invasive species, and other forms of neglect; and
Whereas, prairies and oak savannas are rarer than rain forests and less than one-tenth of one percent of Illinois’ prairie remains today; and
Whereas, the Chicago region was the birthplace in the late 1970s of a citizen stewardship movement, enlisting dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of volunteers in efforts to restore health to the rare natural areas of the region, fostering a growing constituency of care for these places; and
Whereas, conservation leaders began to recognize that in order to preserve, protect and restore the biological diversity of the region, landowners, managers, and agencies needed to work on a regional scale (since both water and animals migrate across political boundaries); and
Whereas, on April 10, 1996, with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago as one of 34 founding members, a new and unprecedented partnership of public and private organizations was launched, called Chicago Wilderness; and
Whereas, the Chicago Wilderness consortium has since grown to more than 200 member organizations and a Corporate Council working in an archipelago of land encompassing areas of four states around the southern tip of Lake Michigan to protect, restore, study and manage the precious natural ecosystems on the more than 545,000 acres of protected lands for the benefit of people and nature; and
Whereas, the protection and restoration of biological diversity and ecosystem health is essential to a resilient region, healthy people and a robust economy; and
Whereas, a combination of enlightened action and historical accident has thus far prevented the extinction of the natural wonders of Chicago Wilderness, yet they will survive into the next century only if the people of this region act to ensure that survival; and
Whereas, the lands owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago include vital habitat for terrestrial and aquatic species, including bald eagles, osprey, and other rare plants and animals and offer opportunities for restoration and recreation; and
Whereas, over the last 20 years, the Chicago Wilderness alliance has produced many valuable resources and tools, including an Atlas of Biodiversity, a Biodiversity Recovery Plan, Chicago WILDERNESS Magazine, the Chicago Wilderness Climate Action Plan for Nature, a Green Infrastructure Vision for the Region, and a Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights, among others, while engaging citizen scientists, increasing funds and staff devoted to restoration and stewardship, and making the practice of ecological restoration widely accepted by land management agencies; and
Whereas, Chicago Wilderness has become a model for conservation leadership in an urban/suburban matrix, resulting in national and international recognition; and
Whereas, an enormous amount of worthy work remains to restore biological diversity and to foster a culture of stewardship and care; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, on behalf of ourselves and staff, do hereby congratulate Chicago Wilderness on 20 years of visionary leadership and stewardship and, as a founding member of this remarkable initiative, pledge to continue our efforts to provide leadership in managing water and land resources; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution be spread upon the permanent Record of Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and that a copy of same, suitably engrossed, be presented to Chicago Wilderness.
Dated: May 19, 2016
Approved: MARIYANA T. SPYROPOULOS, President; BARBARA J. MCGOWAN, Vice President; FRANK AVILA, Chairman, Committee on Finance; MICHAEL A. ALVAREZ; TIMOTHY BRADFORD; CYNTHIA M. SANTOS; DEBRA SHORE; KARI K. STEELE; DAVID J. WALSH; Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Approved as to Form and Legality: Ronald M. Hill, General Counsel