title
PROPOSED GRANT AWARD
Department: Department of Resource Management
Grantee: Forest Preserves of Cook County (the “Forest Preserves”)
Grantor: The Nature Conservancy (“TNC”) via the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Request: Authorization to accept grant
Purpose: Authorization is sought for the Forest Preserves to accept grant and enter into an agreement with The Nature Conservancy to restore and enhance 281 acres of habitat at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve and Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve, utilizing grant funding received through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Sustain Our Great Lakes Program.
Grant Amount: $153,660.86
Grant Period: Date of execution - 12/31/2023
Fiscal Impact: Not to exceed $190,000.00 in direct match
Accounts: Professional Services 51030.520840; Grant and Mitigation 51010.521314 and 51010.521444; and all future Professional Services accounts
Concurrences:
The Chief Financial Officer has approved this item. Final grant agreement is subject to legal review and approval.
District(s): 4, 6
Summary: The Forest Preserves has been sub-awarded funds from The Nature Conservancy via the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Sustain Our Great Lakes Program in support of habitat restoration at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve and Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve.
Restoration activities will include invasive species control across 35 new acres at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve, as well as follow-up treatments across 16 acres at Powderhorn Prairie and 230 acres at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve. A portion of this work will engage participants in the Forest Preserves’ Greencorps Chicago conservation corps workforce training programs, who will assist with the removal of invasive brush and trees at Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve. This project will bolster previous restoration efforts at these sites to ensure their long-term ecological integrity and expand high-quality habitat by preventing the spread of invasive species that threaten to re-invade recovering areas.
Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve, located in the Village of Thornton, contains sand prairie, sedge meadow and oak savanna that provide valuable habitat for many rare species. Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve, located in the City of Chicago and the Village of Burnham, contains some of the last globally rare dune-and-swale remnant in Illinois. This project advances the goals of the Next Century Conservation Plan and the Natural and Cultural Resources Master Plan, which identified Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve and Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve as two (2) of the highest priority landscapes for conservation and ecological restoration.
Total project costs are $343,660.86, of which the Forest Preserves will contribute $190,000.00 or approximately 55% in direct match. The grant award will require the execution of a subrecipient agreement with The Nature Conservancy. end