April’s flooding seemed as though it would never end, but Forest Preserve District staff members rose to the challenge. On May 7, The District Board of Commissioners acknowledged several staff members for their extraordinary efforts to protect life and property during the flood.   When high water levels trapped many Des Plaines residents in their homes, Fisheries staff Steve Silic, Jim Phillips and Dan Fiorenza piloted boats to rescue residents from the flooding homes. The trio worked with the Des Plaines Fire and Police Departments in their response to 911 calls, systematically checking on residents up and down the flooded streets. Silic, Phillips and Fiorenza were on duty 30 hours straight.

See the Aqueducts at Dan Ryan Woods   One of the few forest preserves within city limits on the south side of Chicago, Dan Ryan Woods sits atop Blue Island, an ancient geological feature and one of the highest points in the city. Originally purchased in 1937, this preserve has grown into a fine place for a peaceful stroll, bike ride, picnic or birding adventure.

Perkins Woods Stewards   Site steward Libby Hill and apprentice steward Jancy Jerome know they’re helping to look after a unique parcel of land.   At 7.5 acres (tiny in comparison to other Forest Preserve District holdings, many of which are hundreds of acres), Perkins Woods is an outlier, one of the District’s smallest parcels, and the most isolated from other District holdings. It’s also the only preserve named after one of the District’s founders, Dwight Perkins, who once lived nearby. And yet Perkins Woods is a real surviving remnant of Evanston’s Big Woods, a swamp morainic woodland that once stretched west all the way to Harms Woods in Glenview.  

The origins of our forest preserves are at your fingertips.   In April’s Did You Know? segment, we shared how Beaubien Woods got its name. But did you know that you can learn the origins of hundreds of other forest preserve names in Origins of Names and Histories of Places, a fascinating publication from 1964-65 by FPDCC Conservation Editor Roberts Mann? You can download the entire scanned document online from the Forest Preserve District archives, housed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Thanks to Mary Wilson for asking us about this on our Facebook page.