Openlands
Formation | 1963 |
---|---|
Type | Chicago, IL |
Region served | Chicago area |
President | Michael Davidson |
Main organ | Board of Directors |
Website | openlands.org |
Openlands is a
History
The organization was founded in 1963 as the Openlands Project, a project of the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago.
MacArthur Foundation has been a large supporter of Openlands. Between 1984 and 2018, MacArthur awarded $4,808,360 in grants to the organization.[2]
Projects
In 1970, the Lake Michigan Federation, now the Alliance for the Great Lakes, was founded as a project of Openlands before becoming an independent organization.
In 1980,
In 1991, Openlands launched TreeKeepers, a program that trains and certifies volunteers to care for trees on some public property in the Chicago region. Program trainers include tree experts, arborist, and Openlands staff.[4] TreeKeepers is part of Openland's Urban Forestry Program which has received $1.5 million from MacArthur Foundation since 2013 to increase the Chicago region's tree canopy and expand community outreach and engagement.[5] Since the program launched, the organization has trained more than 2,000 volunteers. More than 5,000 trees have been planted in Chicago by volunteers of the program since 2013.[4]
The Openlands Lakeshore Preserve in Fort Sheridan opened to the public in 2011. It encompasses 77 acres of ravines and bluffs along a mile of the shore of Lake Michigan.[6]
In 2012
In 2018 Conserve Lake County (serving Lake County, IL) merged into Openlands.[8]
References
- ^ "Chicago Wilderness members". Chicago Wilderness. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
- ^ "Openlands - MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
- ^ "Openlands Project". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
- ^ a b Vaisvilas, Frank (12 March 2019). "Openlands recruiting, training tree stewards to help increase Southland's urban canopy". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
- ^ "Openlands - MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
- ^ "Ravines, bluffs and art await". Huffingtion Post. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- ^ "Five years of Hackmatack NWR". US Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
- ^ "Merger will strengthen conservation efforts". Daily Herald. December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.