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PROPOSED MISCELLANEOUS ITEM OF BUSINESS
REQUEST TO REGISTER BOBOLINK MEADOW AS AN ILLINOIS LAND AND WATER RESERVE (“ILWR”)
Department: Resource Management
Summary: Requesting authority, pursuant to Section 9 of the Cook County Forest Preserve District Act (70 ILCS810/9), to register Bobolink Meadow as an Illinois Land and Water Reserve ("ILWR") with the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission (“INPC”).
This dedication contributes to one of the key goals set forward in the Next Century Conservation Plan to dedicate and register twenty thousand (20,000) acres with the INPC by 2025. Dedication of a site as an ILWR provides a high level of protection for land in Illinois, and is granted only to natural areas of important ecological quality.
The proposed Bobolink Meadow ILWR is an approximately nine hundred and eighteen (918) acre portion of the preserves located in Tinley Park in south central Cook County. The site currently supports four hundred and sixty eight (468) plant species and one hundred and forty two (142) bird species, five (5) of which are threatened or endangered in Illinois. The site also provides critical breeding habitat for declining grassland birds, including the second largest population of Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) in the state of Illinois.
The Forest Preserves of Cook County (“FPCC”) currently has twenty three (23) dedicated Nature Preserves and three (3) Land and Water Reserves. The addition of Bobolink Meadow ILWR would bring the FPCC's total INPC protected lands to approximately 8,800 acres.
It is respectfully requested that authority be granted to the FPCC to submit Bobolink Meadow to the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission for review and formal dedication as an Illinois Land and Water Reserve.
District(s): 6
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