Discarded fishing gear can trap wildlife, causing death or severe injuries to thousands of birds and mammals each year.

If you fish or spend time on the Forest Preserves’ many waterways, remember to pick up and properly discard fishing line, hooks and weights, even if they don’t belong to you. After removing hooks and weights and placing them in a trash can, anglers should dispose of line in provided monofilament recycling bins.

Among other measures, the Forest Preserves of Cook County has installed more than 100 monofilament recycling bins at 20 lakes and organizes cleanups at key times each year, but we rely on the public to do their part, too.