In addition to allowing other organizations to take over use of forest preserve land, the Kane County Forest Preserve District has been generous with taxpayer supplied funds.  In January 2013, a Finance Committee agenda item from Executive Director Monica Meyers and Finance Director Ken Stanish caught our attention.  It requested approval of a $2,000,000 transfer from the Land Acquisition Fund to the Construction and Development Fund for the City of Aurora's River Edge Park Pedestrian Bridge Construction Project.  The memorandum explained that the District had entered into an agreement with the City of Aurora in 2010 to assist with construction [...]

After seeing the list of forest preserves developed as athletic fields, gardens, and parks, a second FOIA request was submitted in January 2013 requesting the total acreage of land owned by the KCFPD broken down  into: Preserved natural areas; Developed recreational areas (athletic fields, ice arena, golf courses, etc.); Historic or cultural areas (Durant House, Fabyan Villa site, Japanese garden, museums, etc.); Utilitarian uses (roadways, maintenance yards, storage, nursery, parking, etc.) The document supplied in response, an October 2012 Agency Overview, included the following: a)      Total number of sites: 92 preserves; Total Acreage: 19,932 b)      Number of conservation easements: 5 [...]

Intergovernmental agreements and licensing agreements between the KCFPD and other legal entities and organizations have sanctioned the use of "preserved" land for the construction of maintenance and storage facilities, athletic fields, Frisbee golf courses, a model railroad club, community gardens, and a radio-controlled model airplane field, among others.  A 2011 Freedom of Information request for all long-term intergovernmental agreements, license agreements, or leases for use of KCFPD land revealed a surprisingly generous relationship between the District and the municipalities, townships and park districts within the county.  While the records obtained were incomplete, examples include: A 50 year IGA with the [...]

Forest Preserves were initiated by a 1913 statute authorizing the establishment of taxing districts, "To acquire … and hold lands … containing one or more natural forests or lands connecting such forests or parts thereof, for the purpose of protecting and preserving the flora, fauna and scenic beauties within such district, and to restore, restock, protect, and preserve the natural forests and said lands together with their flora and fauna, as nearly as may be, in their natural state and condition, for the purpose of the education, pleasure, and recreation of the public." This visionary statement was largely the work [...]