Friends of the Forest Preserves (Friends)

411 S. Wells Street, Suite 300
IL 60607 Chicago
United States

Contact person: Benjamin Cox

+1 3123569990
info@fotfp.org
benjamin@fotfp.org
http://www.fotfp.org/
https://www.facebook.com/forestpreserves/?ref=page_internal

Topics

• Environmental organization
• Environmental project

• Volunteers are welcome.

About us

Friends of the Forest Preserves (Friends) is an independent nonprofit organization solely focused on the forest preserves in Cook County, Illinois, United States. We work tirelessly to safeguard and improve the 70,000 acres of forest preserves for all of us and generations to come.

Founded in 1998 by a small group of concerned citizens, the Friends community is now a force of thousands working together to ensure that land, water, and life will always thrive in the forest preserves.

Mission
Friends of the Forest Preserves unites people to protect, promote, and care for the forest preserves in Cook County.

What we do
• Advocacy: The members of Friends formed the organization to help solve serious problems in the forest preserves of Cook County. As an independent non-profit, Friends provides oversight by attending all Forest Preserve District board meetings, making policy and budget recommendations, and fending off land grabs. We also believe that in order for the Forest Preserve District to be properly governed, it needs an independent board of forest preserve commissioners.
• Ecological Restoration: Invasive brush has turned thousands of acres of the forest preserves into impassible thorn thickets. Through government contracts, foundation funding, and private donors, we hire contractors for large-scale, on-the-ground restoration projects that include removing invasive species, restoring hydrology, and conducting prescribed burns. We also coordinate, support and promote volunteer workdays year-round to maintain the progress we’ve made and move forward in restoring native species. And finally, our Conservation Corps programs teach valuable restoration skills and helps return the forest preserves to nature.
• Volunteer Organizing: Volunteers are out every week throughout the forest preserves in Cook County. Volunteers help care for nature by getting outside and doing the physical work of removing invasive trees, weeding, planting, seed collecting, trail fixing, and more. All of these activities help nature thrive and provide volunteers with numerous benefits, such as quality time outdoors, a sense of community, and new discoveries into the lives of animals and plants.
• Conservation Corps: Our Conservation Corps programs are among the most important work we do. We recruit high school students, young adults, and adults, often from low-income or underserved neighborhoods, to learn about conservation while gaining vital leadership and teamwork skills that can be used in future careers. All corps members are paid for their work restoring woods and prairies, creating meaningful jobs in their communities. Friends’ corps members remove the invasive species that are the cancer of our ecosystems as well as plant seeds and prepare the earth for rejuvenation. They also gain essential skills like job readiness and financial literacy. And, maybe most importantly, they become the next generation of front line advocates for the forest preserves and nature.

Benjamin Cox is the Executive Director of Friends of the Forest Preserves (Friends).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance.