CONGRATULATIONS PLEASANT DALE PARK DISTRICT
Tributary A to Flagg Creek in Walker Park, Burr Ridge, Illinois, where funds from the ComEd Green Region Grant will be used to complete streambank naturalization and pollinator habitat enhancements.
Congratulations to Pleasant Dale Park District, one of 23 northern Illinois communities awarded the ComEd Green Region Grant, supporting habitats and open-space projects to help fight the impacts of climate change.
Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick, Inc. (HLR) recently assisted Pleasant Dale Park District, in western Cook County, Illinois, with their grant application for the ComEd Green Region Grant Program. This grant serves municipalities, park districts, forest preserve districts, and municipal entities within ComEd’s service territory and supports them in the planning, acquisition, or improvements to local parks, natural areas, and recreation sites. Grantees can receive up to $10,000 or 15% of the total project budget.
Since the ComEd Green Region Grant Program began in 2013, nearly one million people have benefited from the program’s open space improvements. Over 850 acres of land have been protected and restored, and 6,380 trees have been planted. Through the Program, $1.5 million and counting has been awarded to nearly two hundred conservation projects in Northern Illinois. (“Apply for the ComEd Green Region Grant”)
The 2021 grant cycle placed an emphasis on climate resiliency, nature-based solutions to climate change, and pollinator conservation, supporting pollinator habitat and pollinator-dependent plants and food crops. Pleasant Dale Park District is currently updating various sections of its Walker Park in Burr Ridge. A portion of the next phase of improvements includes pollinator enhancements and streambank stabilization of Tributary A to Flagg Creek, which runs through the center of Walker Park. Habitat will be created by converting the eroded turf grass banks into a pollinator floodplain and upland areas in an otherwise turf grass park. HLR is currently compiling a pollinator seed mix to be used along Tributary A and will be maintaining this area after construction to ensure a successful conversion.
Congratulations to Pleasant Dale Park District!
Works Cited:
“Apply for the ComEd Green Region Grant.” Openlands, 3 May 2021, www.openlands.org/get-involved/greenregion/.