Cook County passes $179 million forest preserve budget

The Cook County Board unanimously approved a $179 million 2014 budget for its forest preserves Wednesday that includes $7 million for construction, development and capital improvements, and funding for a new transportation program to provide more county residents, particularly those from Chicago, access to the Brookfield Zoo.

“This budget achieves our critical goals of protecting the diversity of plants and animals that depend on the preserves, and introducing new educational and recreational opportunities for County residents,” board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a news release. “I want to thank my colleagues on the county board, separately elected officials, and the public for their input in this budget process.”

In 2014, the preserves will increase its landscape restoration budget by $1 million. This $6 million line item is the largest expenditure in the forest preserve’s corporate budget.

“Habitat restoration is at the heart of the forest preserves and this budget matches spending with our policy priorities,” forest preserves General Superintendent Arnold Randall said.

The budget also creates a new department — the Department of Conservation and Experiential Programming. This department will oversee education, outreach, recreation and special events programming. Previously, employees who did this work were housed in separate departments.

“By putting all of our programming under one umbrella, I am confident we can achieve more cohesive education and outreach plans and will welcome even more people to the preserves next year,” Randall said.