Friends Of The Forest Preserves

Friends of the Forest Preserves (Friends) unites people to protect, promote, and care for the forest preserves in Cook County. As the only independent nonprofit organization focused solely on the forest preserves in Cook County, we work tirelessly to safeguard and improve the 70,000 acres of forest preserves for all of us and generations to come. Healthy natural areas are resilient to climate change, do a better job of cleaning and cooling our air and water, and provide high quality habitat for native plants and animals. Friends engages people directly in environmental stewardship and restoration most notably through its award-winning Conservation Corps workforce development program, which breaks down barriers to accessing technical training and employment in the environmental sector and to date has employed, trained, and mentored thousands of participants, a majority of whom are people of color and/or women. People play a critical role in conservation, particularly in urban areas. The more people actively engaged with this public land, the more voices will contribute solutions and advocate for public funding, mobilize against negative impacts to the preserves, recruit private resources to augment limited public funds, and donate time and energy to volunteer stewardship. Friends engages people in habitat restoration and nature programming through its Volunteer and Engagement Programs. Many attendees of community engagement events or volunteer workdays go on to become regular volunteers, either as environmental stewards or as nature walk leaders through the Trailblazer program, which trains volunteers to lead nature or wellness-themed walks in their local preserves. This is a result of long-term dedication by Friends staff to cultivating relationships and laying the groundwork to establish ourselves as a true community partner. These critical efforts can take years to build and translate into a collective, sustained action, to which Friends is committed.