title
PROPOSED PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT AMENDMENT
Department(s): Resource Management
Vendor: Friends of the Forest Preserves, Chicago, Illinois
Request: Authorization for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County to extend contract
Good(s) or Service(s): Northwest Conservation Corps internship program
Original Contract Period: 2/15/2017 - 2/14/2018
Proposed Contract Period Extension: 2/15/2018 - 12/31/2022
Total Current Contract Amount Authority: $35,000.00
Original Approval: 1/17/2017
Previous Increase(s): N/A
This Increase Requested: N/A
Estimated Fiscal Impact: N/A
Accounts: Intern Programs 51009.521525, Habitat Enhancement 51009.521452, Habitat Restoration 51009.521444, Grant and Mitigation Accounts: 51010.29982 and 51010.22522
Contract Number(s): N/A
Concurrences:
The Chief Financial Officer and Chief Attorney have approved this item.
District(s): 15
Summary: The Forest Preserves of Cook County (the “Preserves”) would like to extend the Northwest Conservation Corps internship program for an additional five (5) years. Total project costs are $232,307.00 annually, of which $155,000.00 is being directly contributed towards work within the Preserves. Funds are being contributed by the Bobolink Foundation in conjunction with Friends of the Forest Preserves (“FOTFP”), at no added cost to the Preserves.
The Preserves previously entered into an agreement with FOTFP, following FOTFP’s receipt of a grant from the Bobolink Foundation to support Northwest Conservation Corps. The Northwest Conservation Corps engages four (4) participants, one (1) Crew Manager, and one (1) Assistant Crew Manager in hands-on ecological restoration activities including chainsaw operation, herbicide application, prescribed fire, native seed collection, and invasive species removal.
Ecological restoration is conducted in partnership with the Preserves, the Lake County Forest Preserves, Citizens for Conservation, and Audubon Great Lakes to advance joint goals in support of volunteer stewardship projects and invasive species management in the region. In the Preserves, the crew works at Spring Creek Preserve, Poplar Creek Preserve, and Schaumburg Road Grassland in Northwest Cook County. The crew also works on preserves owned and managed by the Lake County Forest Preserves, as well as at various Citizen’s for Conservation holdings in the Barrington area.
This project will leverage the volunteer stewardship expertise of the participating partner organizations and advance the Preserve’s Next Century Conservation Plan goal to mobilize people to heal and nurture the land.
end