ComEd and Openlands Provide Grants to Illinois Communities to Advance Clean-Green Environmental Projects
July 16 2015 - 12:43PM
Business Wire
Green Region environmental grant program to
fund 23 projects throughout ComEd service territory
ComEd and Openlands today announced they are awarding almost
$200,000 in Green Region grants to 23 municipalities throughout
northern Illinois to support their continuing efforts to conserve
and protect open spaces. These grants help local municipalities
facilitate environmental initiatives that otherwise would be
sacrificed due to budget constraints.
This is the third year of the Green Region program in Illinois,
a joint effort by ComEd and Openlands to fund municipal
conservation and environmental projects. The Green Region grants
are one of the ways ComEd and Openlands partner to give back to our
communities and help them improve their green footprints. The
grants subsidize existing open space projects at the municipal
level focusing on conservation, preservation, protecting endangered
species, and improvements to local parks and recreation resources.
Each grant applicant was eligible for a maximum of $10,000 per
project.
“At ComEd, we are committed to doing all that we can to advance
clean and green initiatives that help to protect the environment
and communities now and into the future. Supporting our local
communities who are doing great work to preserve and enhance our
resources is a natural fit,” said Fidel Marquez, senior vice
president of Governmental and External Affairs, ComEd. “We’re proud
to partner with Openlands on this program and we congratulate the
winning communities on their Green Region grants awards.”
Openlands, a Chicago-based nonprofit focused on land
conservation, is administering the Green Region program.
Municipalities throughout northern Illinois submitted their
applications for a Green Region grant earlier this year. The
applications were reviewed by an advisory committee of local
environmental leaders selected by ComEd and Openlands.
“Working closely with partners like ComEd is vital to the work
Openlands does to ensure that everyone in our region has access to
nature,” said Openlands President and CEO Jerry Adelmann. “The
grants that are part of the Green Region program make it possible
for projects throughout northern Illinois to move forward
immediately, benefiting neighborhoods, communities, and ultimately
all of us.”
The grants will be distributed by ComEd over the next two years.
Openlands will monitor the 23 projects by developing reports,
guidelines and a scorecard to track and measure the impact of each
project.
The 23 Green Region grant recipients for 2015 are:
- City of Lake Forest This is a
collaborative restoration project to remove invasive plants along a
popular, heavily-traveled 2.5-mile section of the Robert McClory
Bike Bath in Lake Forest.
- City of Sycamore This project
will connect the Peace Road Trail extension from the South Prairie
Elementary School to the main trail next to Peace Road. This new
connecting trail will allow safer access to the trail north of
Prairie Drive on Peace Road, increasing the enjoyment of all who
use the trail.
- DeKalb County Forest Preserve
District This grant will assist the City of Genoa to connect
Russell Woods Forest Preserve with a multi-use trail.
- Forest Preserves of Cook County
This grant will allow the expansion of Hermitage Street Community
Gardens so that more families can use allotment beds, and that a
wide cross section of the community will be invested in the use of
this open green space that employs environmental best
practices.
- Frankfort Square Park District
This project will allow the Frankfort Square Park District to
expand public access into the Island Prairie Park wetlands by
creating a boardwalk extension.
- Homewood Flossmoor Park District
This project will provide funding for the planning, designing,
surveying and permitting necessary to determine the best course of
action to restore water filtration and quality to the Irons Oaks
pond.
- Kendall County Forest Preserve
District This project will establish approved management plans
for Maramech Forest Preserve and Tucker-Millington Fen to implement
enhanced natural area monitoring and restoration activities, with
primary focus on removal of non-native species from core habitat
areas.
- Lee County This project includes
the design, fabrication and installation of one kiosk and 15 signs
to help potential visitors find the 80-acre Headwaters property,
orient themselves, and learn about its key natural and historic
features.
- Lockport Township Park District
Dellwood Park West and the adjacent Lockport Prairie East contain
rare dolomite prairie and sage meadow. The Lockport Township Park
District and the Will County Forest Preserve District plan to
collectively manage the site in an attempt to save the rare and
Federally Endangered Species located at the site.
- Richard Burton High School District
– 157 This project will include the restoration of a 20-acre
oak woodland complex that connects two fragmented woodlands,
restoring a 160-acre oak woodland community.
- Village of Diamond The Village
of Diamond is installing an 8-foot asphalt multi-use path with an
8-foot pre-fabricated bridge, lighting, and signage. A Boy Scout is
doing his Eagle Scout Project which will include 2 wooden benches
that will be installed adjacent to the bridge.
- Village of Grant Park This
project will create a hill prairie and a natural playground
learning environment that is safe, cognitively challenging, and
utilizes native plants and natural elements to create a beautiful,
sustainable, wildlife area with a low carbon footprint.
- Village of Lemont Heritage
Quarries Recreation Area, situated along the historic I & M
Canal in Lemont, offers visitors 100+ acres of nature to explore.
This project will include installation of a boat dock on one of the
Great Lakes Quarries as part of an ongoing effort to increase
passive recreation opportunities.
- Village of Midlothian This
project is a green infrastructure implementation project to
increase community awareness of water quality Best Management
Practices, providing water quality and aesthetic improvements along
Midlothian Creek.
- Village of Oakwood Hills This
project is part of a larger, 2-year project that will stabilize
severe ecosystem degradation at the Oakwood Hills Fed Illinois
State Nature Preserve.
- Village of Villa Park This
project will allow the Village of Villa Park and its partners in
the Grow Healthy Villa Park coalition to create a community garden
on a vacant site and engage partners and residents in establishing
an edible, teaching garden.
- Channahon Park District This
grant will allow the Channahon Park District to develop the 56-acre
wetland located adjacent to an existing park. Development will
include trails, an interpretive boardwalk at a Native American
Mound, an interpretive kiosk adjacent to a parking lot, and
interpretive signage and benches.
- City of Woodstock This grant
will fund new wetlands walkways, will ensure the William C. Donato
Conservation Area is a safe and accessible outdoor learning lab for
Woodstock High School students, and is enjoyable for all park
visitors.
- Village of Wayne This project
will include the preservation of 38+ acres of undeveloped meadow
for walking, horseback riding, bird watching and exercise of
unleashed dogs, traversed by two creeks which for Norton Creek, a
tributary to the Fox River.
- Village of Orangeville This
project will involve the construction of an observation deck to
enhance community interaction with the Village’s restored wetland
along the Jane Addams Trail.
- Village of Poplar Grove This
project is a part of an ongoing effort to develop an accessible,
passive-use park shelter adjacent to Long Prairie Trail. The
shelter and path will be enjoyed by residents, cyclists, and
recreational enthusiasts, and it will be used as a space for
organized events, scouting, and community wide activities.
- Village of Green Oaks The Dennis
A. Dorsey Conservation Area is a new restoration project focusing
on a rare habitat that is globally imperiled – 12 acres of northern
Flatwoods, oak savanna and vernal ponds to be restored by volunteer
stewards and adjacent homeowners as a citizen model.
- Chicago Park District – Independence
Park The Independence Park Teaching Garden is an applied
approach to nutritional and biological sciences, reinforcing
education for children enrolled in the summer day camp.
The Green Region grants will be presented to the 23
municipalities during a reception in Chicago this fall.
To date, ComEd has distributed nearly a half million dollars to
open space projects in the Chicagoland area.
Additional information on the Green Region program can be found
at www.openlands.org/greenregion.
About Openlands
Founded in 1963, Openlands is one of the nation’s oldest and
most successful metropolitan conservation organizations, having
helped secure, protect, and provide public access to more than
55,000 acres of land for parks, forest preserves, wildlife refuges,
land and water greenway corridors, and urban gardens. For more
information, visit www.openlands.org.
About ComEd
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive
energy provider, with approximately 7.8 million customers. ComEd
provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across
northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For
more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150716006218/en/
OpenlandsBrandon Hayes(312)
863-6260bhayes@openlands.orgorComEdLinsey Godbey(312)
394-3500linsey.godbey@comed.com
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