Forest Preserves of Cook County 2024 Fall Brochure

Image: Students from Eric Solorio Academy High School at Arie Crown Forest. “...volunteers play a crucial role” Rebecca Collings, Senior Ecologist 17 riding bikes, walking and enjoying nature. This generation, these kids, probably do not spend 10 minutes without their phones.” Greta Kringle, a science teacher and former volunteer coordinator at Eric Solorio Academy High School in Chicago, takes her students to the Forest Preserves for environmental stewardship. They spend a Saturday learning about invasive plant species and then helping to remove them. “It’s a great way to get students playing. They’re finding weird bugs; they’re making observations. Another big thing is not science-related at all—it’s students having to depend on each other, and work with each other in a way that’s hard to recreate in the classroom,” she says. The upcoming months are the best time of year to volunteer for ecological restoration, with opportunities for seed collecting in the fall and brush clearing all winter long. Spring brings wildflowers, migrating birds and wet soil, so the brush clearing ends for the season. Image: Stud nts from Eric Solorio Academy High School at Arie Crown Forest. ... l t ers play cr ci l role” ecca Collings, Senior Ecologist 17 riding bikes, walking and e j yi g nature. This generation, these kids, probably do not spend 10 inutes without their phones.” Greta Kringle, a science teacher and former volunteer coordinator at Eric Solorio Academy High School in Chicago, takes her students to the Forest Preserves for environmental stewardship. They spend a Saturday learning about invasive plant species and then helping to remove them. “It’s a great way to get students playing. They’re finding weird bugs; they’re making observations. Another big thing is not science-related at all—it’s students having to depend on each other, and work with each other i a ay that’s hard to recreate in the classroo ,” she says. The upcoming months are the best time of year to volunteer for ecological restoration, with opportunities for seed collecting in the fall and brush clearing all winter long. Spring brings wildflowers, migrating birds and wet soil, so the brush clearing ends for the season.