They’re menaced by mountain bikers tearing up hillsides, vandals tagging trees and picnickers treating groves like garbage dumps.
Yet the forest preserves are also Cook County’s necklace of emerald green. It's a place where the city landscape turns from gray to green, where the high-rises have branches not stories, where urban sprawl stops dead in its tracks.
So are these precious acres to be sylvan escapes ... or bastions for bad behavior? It's a problem that vexes public managers everywhere.
From forest preserves to city parks, from municipal golf courses to schoolyards, public green spaces in heavily urbanized regions pose a multi-dimensional challenge: How to protect their lands and resources from the very people they are there to serve.
It’s true that much of the debate in recent years has been over invasive species, from gypsy moths to garlic mustard weeds, and over methods of restoration, from controlled burns to selective culling. But the Cook County forest preserves have also been busy fending off a more familiar animal – and perhaps the most invasive species of all - homo irresponsibilius.
“Our biggest challenge is quite frankly helping the forest preserve survive the people it’s there for,” said Steve Mayberry of the Cook County Forest Preserve District. “Some trash is distributed by animals … but piles of trash come from different types of animals – the two-legged variety.”
Human threats include poachers, reckless yet naive patrons, and outright criminals. As the county’s largest landowner, the Forest Preserve District must protect 68,000 acres of woodland, prairie and savanna while still keeping them open to the public.
Now generally considered on a path to recovery after years of mismanagement and neglect, the forest preserves have pieced together strategies from management playbooks around the country. And they’ve created a few of their own involving infrastructure, public safety and community involvement.
Sprucing Up
Cherry Hill Woods in Palos Township would seem an idyllic place to film a promotional video for the forest preserves, complete with swooping herons and tranquil blue waters. But the image was marred by some unexpected water features.
"It looks like a painting until you get to the lake, where somehow magically and majestically eleven picnic tables have walked themselves into a pond,” Mayberry said.
That was in 2004. Vandals would have a difficult time recreating the stunt now, as all picnic tables were replaced with heavier, metal-legged models this year. These tables also last longer and require less maintenance than the wooden ones, Mayberry said.
Whether it's benches or bathrooms, park planners at the forest preserves and other public areas increasingly favor indestructibility – materials that can stand up to everyday wear-and-tear … and vandalism.
Ceramic urinals and toilets are likely to get smashed, so stainless-steel mirrors and "prison-quality" bathroom fixtures are preferred, explained Ted Wolff, principal at Wolff Landscape Architecture.
The Chicago Park District switched from metal trash drums to plastic garbage containers this year, partially due to thieves stealing the drums for scrap according to Adam Schwerner, director of the Department of Natural Resources for the Park District.
Schwerner said he spends about 80 percent of his staffing budget on garbage clean-up.
"If even just a small percentage of the kids who were throwing garbage on the ground threw it in the cans," he said, "that would free up a whole bunch of time for us.”
Littering is one of the most frustrating problems for the Forest Preserve District, Mayberry said.
“It has a horrible effect on our reputation,” he said, explaining that the preserves have switched to a seven-day-a-week garbage collection schedule so as to corral the weekend buildup.
"Monday mornings were a disaster in any woods that you went to,” said Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri (R-9th). “There was garbage all over. People, they just abused it. Now, you won’t see that.”
A well-maintained landscape discourages would-be litterbugs, said Benjamin Cox, executive director of Friends of the Forest Preserves, who agreed that the preserves have improved.
"People don't want to be the first ones to litter," he said. "But if there is already a bunch of stuff there then it's like 'why not?'"
His sentiments echo the "broken window theory" coined by urban sociologists, who argue that keeping up with seemingly small fixes, such as smashed windows and bathroom maintenance, can prevent more serious crimes.
You can also prevent crime and misuse through careful planning of walkways and sightlines, said landscape architect Terry Ryan of Jacobs/Ryan Associates.
For instance, walkways should not have right angles, she said. Turning 90 degrees goes against human behavior and can lead to trampled vegetation.
"Keep a clear line of sight from a person's knees to a person's head so that people feel safe," she said. Shrubs alongside walkways can give the perception that somebody is lurking behind it, Wolff agreed.
Yet, some forest preserve visitors say the county's management approach has been less than enlightened.
Sherri McCall, a frequent picnicker at Forest Glen Woods, said that the preserves deal with vandalism by removing things that can be vandalized. She said that benches have been removed and newly remodeled bathrooms locked in response to abuse.
“[Management] is far from perfect,” said Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-10th), “but it is better on all issues."
Policing off the beaten path
If well-maintained space doesn’t deter vandalism, a Cook County forest preserve officer in a bullet-proof vest might.
Forest preserve police deal with more than bathroom graffiti, however. They face poaching, marijuana gardens and dead-body dumping. And their coverage zones are daunting - around 112 total officers for what amounts to about 11 percent of Cook County’s land.
The woods do provide cover for some criminals, but the list of murders and high-profile crimes in the Cook County forest preserves is short. Less than 1 percent of Cook County’s 2006 FBI index crimes – crimes such as murder, criminal sexual assault, theft and arson that are tracked by the state – were reported as having occurred in the forest preserves.
Many of the citations issued by forest preserve police since 2005 fall into three categories: after-hours trespass, possession of glass bottles and driving on trails or woodland.
But not all infractions are minor. In July 2007, Cook County forest preserve officers destroyed 11 cannabis fields with a street value of about $4 million. Last year, 18 bodies were dumped in preserves.
“Our areas are big, they are vast, they are remote,” Waszak said.
Since his arrival more than five years ago, Waszak has ramped up use of alternative patrols – by snowmobiles, ATVs, bicycles, and even a Segway-like electric vehicle called a T-3, new this month.
Solar-powered call boxes were installed in popular spots as a response to a drowning in Busse Lake. A man fell in the lake while ice fishing, and his friend was unable to flag down passing motorists for help.
Waszak said he also hopes to boost the number of surveillance cameras. He doesn’t disclose the number of cameras, but said some are in permanent locations while others are moved around based on citizen complaints, such as a string of burglaries in a parking lot. One camera in the Dan Ryan Woods actually talks -- a verbal warning triggered by a motion-detector is designed to prevent graffiti.
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“Cameras won’t replace any police officers,” Waszak said.
His officers get conservation-related training by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. All officers are educated in topics like tree identification and endangered animals. Some have gone beyond minimum requirements and become certified arborists, Waszak said.
Cox, of the Friends group, said that not enough officers make use of their conservation training and leave their cars.
“You can say what you want but actually getting the staff to do it is a whole other battle,” he said, adding that he has seen bikes mounted on the backs of police cars but rarely seen bicycles on the trails.
Even with technology and training upgrades, the forest preserves still need public watchdogs, Waszak said.
Citizens are encouraged to email Chief Waszak directly with crime tips or participate in a new trail watch program, in which volunteers don fluorescent vests while traversing nearly 300 miles of trails. Trail watchers are armed with radios to report any disturbances.
“We need the public to help us,” he said. “We want to continue being friends with our neighbors. It’s that simple.”
Putting the U back in Forest Preserves
The Forest Preserve District embarked on a half-million dollar push for volunteers this year, a kind of coming-out party for its new and improved management tactics. Green and yellow billboards advertising the campaign have sprung up at CTA stops and along expressways around the county.
“Become a Cook County Forest Preserve Vol_nteer. All we need is U,” they read. “Cook County Forest Preserves, Our Natural Heirloom: Preserve them, protect them, pass them down.”
Yet, the campaign’s mantra, “So Close to U,” reveals a deeper aim, preserve officials say. Volunteerism isn’t just about picking up litter and hugging trees. It’s a way to reintroduce urban residents to nature, educate them and get them back in the forest preserves in general.
The Forest Preserve District wants to build upon its current roster of about 7,000 volunteers, who range from dedicated environmental stewards to church groups cleaning up groves before their annual picnics, Mayberry said.
It’s a smart move, experts say.
Whether it’s a national park or a neighborhood playground, community involvement is key to public green space management. Not only does volunteerism heighten safety by bringing more eyes and ears, it also encourages a sense of pride and ownership in the land that improves overall maintenance.
“How can you appreciate something if you can’t see it, you can’t touch it?” said Lauren Umek, an urban ecologist at DePaul University and forest preserve volunteer. “This is your space so you become a part of making it beautiful … You’re partially responsible for keeping it clean and keeping it healthy and happy.”
Volunteerism also increases manpower on wide expanses of natural land with decreasing operating budgets, said Lynn McClure, Midwest Regional Director at the National Parks Conservation Association.
When recreational speedboaters were ripping through Everglades National Park and destroying natural areas, she said, it was the NPCA and its volunteers who funded a successful boater education program, paid for signage and manned outreach efforts.
Organized “friends” groups – local examples include Friends of the Forest Preserves and Friends of the Parks – can be vital allies. If they have enough membership, money and muscle, they can mobilize people and get things done, she said.
“They’ve [The Forest Preserve District] got less than 500 employees for 68,000 acres,” Cox said. “So, they need help. Civic-minded people founded the forest preserves. Civic-minded people need to maintain the forest preserves for future generations.”
Despite recent management overhauls and public safety initiatives, some misperceptions about crime and neglect in the forest preserve have stubborn roots.
“You can police all day long, but the more public education that you have – kind of elevating the status of these natural areas in people’s minds – that’s what’s really going to make a difference for the preserves.” Cox said. “Even if people don’t go out and volunteer, but if they understand why the forest preserves are important, that’s a huge step.”
“The forest preserves are it in Illinois,” said County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-10th). “The vast majority of people, especially kids, who live in Cook County are never going to see the Grand Canyon or Yosemite. This is it, and we haven’t gotten that message out … You can get to certain areas in the forest preserve and forget you’re in an urban area.”