"For the first time in a long time, it is not the budget of an agency in a holding pattern, keeping long-term, pressing needs at bay," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. "For Fiscal Year 2024, we are moving forward."

When people veer off designated trails, they damage vegetation, compact soil, contribute to erosion and also create pathways for new invasive plant species.

Created back in 1994, the day is meant to celebrate the connection between people and the green space in their community. 

The coyote’s new home is 10 times larger than his old one, but animal rights activists still want Rocky transferred to an animal sanctuary.

Forest Preserve District officials presented a proposal to increase fines and to add a provision that would allow the district to collect restitution from people caught trashing the preserves.

It will be up to the next mayor to decide how to respond to Chicagoans’ growing frustration with these mega-events.

“There are places you walk where you see sky touching the earth, and you can imagine this as the gateway to the Grand Prairie,” site steward Pat Hayes said of Orland Grassland.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, animal rights advocates are asking the Cook County Forest Preserve District to have a heart and release “Rocky” the coyote.

A GPS collar allowed researchers to track the wolf from Michigan all the way to Manitoba, Canada. That's just one of the wild stories we followed this week.

Nearly 70% of voters approved an additional .025% increase in property taxes, which would bring in $40 million dollars in new revenue annually to the preserves.

A proposed tax increase to benefit the Forest Preserve District of Cook County met with little opposition. Will voters respond with support at the ballot box?

More than 50 fencing cages erected to protect plantings of native shrubs have been systematically destroyed, leaving the plants vulnerable to grazing by deer. Within days, tender seedlines were eaten to nubs.

It's rare when newspaper editorial boards and fiscal watchdog groups recommend that residents vote to increase their property taxes. But that's exactly the case as Cook County voters face a binding question on their election ballot: Do you want to pay a little more to help fund the Cook County Forest Preserves?

His alter ego, Ron Swanson, may have been an anti-government government employee, but in real life, actor Nick Offerman has thrown his support behind a referendum that would increase the property tax levy for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Like any good host, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County has done its best to make sure the guests feel welcome.

While federal legislation to create a modern-day Civilian Conservation Corps inches its way through Congress, the Cook County Forest Preserve is moving full steam ahead with programs that deploy crews of youth and adults to tackle restoration and maintenance projects across the district’s acreage.