William J. M. Wald IPRA Chief Executive Officer

EYE ON THE PROFESSION A CLOSER LOOK AT TRENDS AND ISSUES IN THE PARK AND RECREATION PROFESSION On Solid Turf IPRA Members Mix Conservation With Innovation

People who build careers in conservation management roles are the unsung heroes of our profession. They protect the soil, promote ways to keep our air and water clean, toil in fields to return indigenous plants to their rightful places in Illinois and they always make sure our facilities are pleasing to the eye.

What many of you may not know is that conservation and forestry professionals are also innovators, helping to deal with critical issues that threaten our very existence on this planet.

Consider a recent Daily Herald newspaper article about the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County that showcased the agency's cutting-edge efforts to reduce global warming. The FPDDC is tackling global warming by exploring a new market in which industries responsible for the warming trend would pay conservation entities for creating new forests and grasslands. In turn, the new plantings would literally absorb destructive gases created by industry waste into plant tissues.

IPRA member John Oldenburg is at the forefront of this effort as manager of grounds and resources for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. He's working on no fewer than three pilot programs, each running on a virtual shoestring. Oldenburg hopes his efforts will build upon the natural ability of plants to absorb carbon dioxide - the chief culprit in the pollution drama - through photosynthesis. Plants naturally absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants and store them in roots and other tissues. Industrial waste need never see the light of day with a successful waste "storage" program like this.

Conservation and forestry professionals are also innovators, helping to deal with critical issues that threaten our very existence on this planet.

Most of you already know that planting natural forests and prairies is an ideal way to fight global warming because mature, deep-rooted indigenous plants seem to have an infinite ability to trap and store harmful agents. "The creation of new forestry - underwritten by polluting industries - would most certainly make a huge difference in protecting and preserving our environment," says John Oldenburg. Planting agricultural fields to forests or prairies could result in the conversion of 200 to 300 tons of carbon dioxide in just the first year, according to experts.

Now, imagine the huge numbers of private industries that must comply with stricter environmental laws in the years ahead, many of whom are desperate to offset the costs of mitigating the damage they're doing to nature. They need storage. These are the folks Oldenburg wants to hook up with. Few of us could find a more "win-win" situation, since our conservationists would literally have a field day planting more trees to store more toxins to save the planet from global warming.

The excitement Oldenburg and his colleagues are experiencing is contagious, but they're not the only innovators working to reverse damage to our landscape. Take IPRA member Alice Eastman. The dedicated manager of natural resources and interpretive services at the Downers Grove Park District is working with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County on "a multi-part project to stabilize the nearly one mile of eroded stream banks at Lyman Woods," Eastman reports.

8 ¦ Illinois Parks and Recreation

Damage to tributaries of Lacey Creek within the wooded area has done serious harm to the area's water quality because the erosion, in some cases, is nine feet deep. Eastman is working to remediate the area over several phases and as this magazine goes to print, phase one has already begun.

Turning to grant sources to help underwrite this project, Eastman points with pride to the fact that this remediation was written into the Wetlands Education Program that took 2003 Outstanding Conservation Honors in Division IV at that year's IAPD/IPRA conference. We're anxious to hear updates on how the project is going in the months ahead.

Happily, not all innovation seems to be radiating from DuPage County! In Cook County - Glenview, specifically - Mike Sullivan, maintenance supervisor at the northwest suburban agency, should be declared king of recycling. Mike is knee deep in a recycling program that has deep roots. But for him, it's a labor of love, not just a job.

"We participated in the first and only Clean Sweep Program put together by the EPA in 1993," Sullivan says. That experience gave him and his co-workers a taste of recycling that has influenced the way they view and dispose of waste. Not content to make sure lamps and ballasts (fluoro, HID, Mercury Vapor) have a second life, Glenview is also recycling old pesticides through another EPA agency; and its scrap metal, used batteries and other items deemed no longer useful go to retail stores willing to accept them for recycling.

But, there's more. Sullivan says Glenview has cut a deal with a company to dispose of outdated concrete, and it shouldn't surprise you that every scrap of paper and cardboard at the facility are on their way to new lives, as well.

"My real quixotic journey started when I began pursuing the recycling of five gallon plastic field lining buckets. We were generating 300 to 400 a year along with chlorine buckets for our two pools and assorted plastics from playground renovations," recalls Sullivan. "This has been the most difficult task imaginable, but I've found a way to responsibly recycle these items." As long as he chops everything up, a plastics company in Chicago takes the material for recycling.

And let's not forget Lake County. Craig Bruska, superintendent of the construction operations division of the Lake County Forest Preserve District, says LCFPD staffers survive nippy northern Illinois winters by using waste oil to heat the agency's mechanics shop. "This has worked very well for us," Bruska says, "and it's reduced our energy costs."

While these pioneers are but a few of the folks on the front lines of conservation innovation, we're proud to claim them as our own. IPRA members everywhere owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who have gone above and beyond to sleuth out answers to questions that threaten our very survival. We're proud to shine a spotlight on all of you.

May/ June 2004 9