Friends of the Parks

Last updated

Friends of the Parks (FOTP) is a group in Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1975, it acts as a watchdog group and environmental advocate for the Chicago area. Specifically, it monitors the condition and safety of the Chicago Park District and the forest preserves of Cook County.

FOTP's office is in downtown Chicago. Its staff of approximately eight people relies on volunteer efforts for many of its activities.

Annual events organized by FOTP include the Earth Day Parks and Preserves Clean-up, mobilizing several thousand volunteers on a single day in April to beautify and clean over 100 Chicago area locations; and a black tie ball which features a charity auction.

FOTP provides environmental education programs for Chicago students through two programs: Nature Along the Lake (NAL) for elementary students, and the Earth Team, an after-school apprenticeship program for high school students.

FOTP encourages grassroots efforts to organize local park organizations and acts as a liaison for organizing volunteer events to maintain and improve Chicago area parks, forest preserves, and other greenspace.

On May 3, 2016, a statement released by Melody Hobson stated that the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art would seek a location outside Chicago after a protracted confrontation with FOTP over plans that would have erected a private museum with public greenspace in place of a lakefront parking lot. [1]

In May 2018, Juanita Irizarry, Executive Director, said that Friends of the Parks "disagree with the choice to locate [the Obama Center] on public parkland rather than vacant land across the street from Washington Park." [2] Nonetheless, Friends of the Parks did not join the lawsuit initiated by Protect our Parks against the Obama Center. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National monument (United States)</span> Monuments assigned protected status by presidents of the US

In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the president of the United States or an act of Congress. National monuments protect a wide variety of natural and historic resources, including sites of geologic, marine, archaeological, and cultural importance. In contrast, national parks in the U.S. must be created by Congressional legislation. Some national monuments were first created by presidential action and later designated as national parks by congressional approval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallgrass prairie</span> Ecosystem native to central North America

The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachment of trees, recycling soil nutrients, and facilitating seed dispersal and germination. Prior to widespread use of the steel plow, which enabled large scale conversion to agricultural land use, tallgrass prairies extended throughout the American Midwest and smaller portions of southern central Canada, from the transitional ecotones out of eastern North American forests, west to a climatic threshold based on precipitation and soils, to the southern reaches of the Flint Hills in Oklahoma, to a transition into forest in Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area</span> Protected area in Southern California, US

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. The SMMNRA is in the greater Los Angeles region, with two thirds of the parklands in northwest Los Angeles County, and the remaining third, including a Simi Hills extension, in southeastern Ventura County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Park</span> Park in Texas, United States of America, United States of America

Hermann Park is a 445-acre (180-hectare) urban park in Houston, Texas, situated at the southern end of the Museum District. The park is located immediately north of the Texas Medical Center and Brays Bayou, east of Rice University, and slightly west of the Third Ward. Hermann Park is home to numerous cultural institutions including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Hermann Park Golf Course, which became one of the first desegregated public golf courses in the United States in 1954. The park also features the Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool, numerous gardens, picnic areas, and McGovern Lake, an 8-acre (32,000 m2) recreational lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macombs Dam Park</span> Public park in the Bronx, New York

Macombs Dam Park is a park in the Concourse section of the Bronx, New York City. The park lay in the shadow of the old Yankee Stadium when it stood, between Jerome Avenue and the Major Deegan Expressway, near the Harlem River and the Macombs Dam Bridge. The park is administered and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The majority of Macombs Dam Park was not open to the public from August 2006, when construction began on the new Yankee Stadium, to April 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature Center at Shaker Lakes</span>

The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes is a nonprofit organization in Shaker Heights, Ohio, that works to conserve a natural area, educate visitors about nature, and promote better environmental stewardship. It was founded in 1966 as the result of a volunteer effort to preserve the Shaker Parklands from becoming the route for a new freeway connecting Cleveland's east side to Downtown Cleveland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan Department of Natural Resources</span> Government agency of Michigan

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan fo9unded in 1921, charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor and accepted by the Natural Resources Commission. Since 2023, the Director is Scott Bowen. The DNR has about 1,400 permanent employees, and over 1,600 seasonal employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Biological Diversity</span> Nonprofit organization that works to protect endangered species

The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit membership organization known for its work protecting endangered species through legal action, scientific petitions, creative media and grassroots activism. It was founded in 1989 by Kieran Suckling, Peter Galvin, Todd Schulke and Robin Silver. The center is based in Tucson, Arizona, with its headquarters in the historic Owls club building, and has offices and staff in New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota, Alaska, Vermont, Florida and Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve</span>

Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve is located near the city of Buffalo in the Town of Cheektowaga in Erie County, New York, USA. Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve is a 292-acre (118 ha) forested complex that also includes wetlands and ponds, located within a developed suburban area. The nature preserve also features an environmental education center.

Elklick Woodlands Natural Area Preserve is a 226-acre (91 ha) Natural Area Preserve located in Fairfax County, Virginia. Owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority, it is protected with a local conservation easement, and preserves a globally rare natural community known as a "northern hardpan basic oak-hickory forest". This kind of forest occurs on diabase soil with an underlay of dense plastic clay; such terrain is called "shrink-swell soil" due to extreme variations in moisture availability exhibited throughout the year. Trees which grow in such an environment are stunted, and their relatively open canopies encourage the growth of a wide variety of grasses and herbs in the understory. Such forests were once common around northern Virginia, but many have been lost due to increasing suburbanization of the area.

Alliance for the Great Lakes is the largest and oldest citizens' environmental organization focused on protecting North America's Great Lakes. Its mission is to conserve and restore the freshwater resources using policy, education, and local efforts to ensure the health of the Great Lakes and clean water for future generations and wildlife. Throughout its history, the integration of both public engagement and policy have been the primary methods of the organization's approach to achieve restoration and protection of the Great Lakes.

Forterra, based in Seattle, Washington, US, is the state of Washington's largest land conservation, stewardship and community building organization dedicated solely to the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chosewood Park</span> Neighborhoods of Atlanta in Fulton County, Georgia, United States

Chosewood Park is a neighborhood in southeast Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. It is located south of Peoplestown and Grant Park, west of Boulevard Heights and Benteen Park, northwest of Thomasville Heights and the Atlanta federal penitentiary, and northeast of South Atlanta and Lakewood Heights. It is situated directly on the path of the Atlanta Beltline, which has begun to acquire and develop properties along the rail lines in the Chosewood corridor, including the Boulevard Crossing Park.

Atlanta Georgia includes over 3,000 acres of parkland managed by Parks and Recreation. The 343 Atlanta parks range in scope from formal gardens at Atlanta Botanical Garden to pocket parks in neighborhoods. Additionally, there are six miles of paved pedestrian and bike trails in the Atlanta Beltline as well as the PATH Foundation network of 150 miles of off road trails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barack Obama Presidential Center</span> Planned library in Chicago, Illinois

The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a planned museum, library and education project in Chicago to commemorate the presidency of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. The center will also include community and conference facilities and will house the nonprofit Obama Foundation. Construction on the 19.3 acre campus is expected to top out in April 2024, and the center to open in the first half of 2026.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucas Museum of Narrative Art</span> Museum of visual storytelling in Los Angeles, United States

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a museum founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. Once completed, the museum will hold all forms of visual storytelling, including painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, comic art, performance, and video. It is under construction in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California. The museum is expected to open in 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration</span> Environmental policy as enforced by the Donald Trump administration

The environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations, the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. By the end of Trump's term, his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations, leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress. As of early 2021, the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.

Twin Metals LLC is seeking approval to create and operate a copper sulfide mine near Ely, Minnesota, on Superior National Forest land. There has been significant opposition to the proposed mine, most notably because of its proximity to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, location within a watershed that drains into the BWCA, and the air, water, light and noise pollution and traffic effects of converting a forested area bordering the BWCA into a substantial industrial mining facility. Twin Metals is a subsidiary of the Chilean conglomerate Antofagasta, which is controlled by billionaire Andrónico Luksic. The original lease is a 1966 lease to the International Nickel Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frog Park (Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt)</span>

The Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt also commonly known as Frog Park is a public park and greenway that connects the neighborhoods of Temescal and Rockridge in Oakland, California.

Friends of the Chicago River is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1979 to improve and protect the 156-mile Chicago River and Calumet River system for people, plants, and animals. Friends of the Chicago River works through education and outreach, on the ground projects, and public policy and planning to achieve their vision that the Chicago-Calumet River system and its watershed are a healthy, climate resilient, biologically rich ecosystem with equitable, open access to the river and natural areas for generations to come.


References

  1. "Lucas Museum's Chicago Plan Now Appears Dead". CBS Chicago. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  2. Lynn Sweet (14 May 2018). "Federal lawsuit filed to block Obama Center in Jackson Park". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 7 June 2018. Juanita Irizarry, executive director Friends of the Parks, also released a statement, saying officials with the group welcome the Obama Center to the South Side "but disagree with the choice to locate it on public parkland rather than vacant land across the street from Washington Park."
  3. Tony Briscoe (15 May 2018). "Federal lawsuit accuses Obama center organizers of pulling an 'institutional bait and switch'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 7 June 2018. we welcome the Obama Presidential Center to Chicago's South Side but disagree with the choice to locate it on public parkland rather than vacant land across the street from Washington Park," Juanita Irizarry, executive director of Friends of the Parks, said in a statement Monday. "While we are not involved with this lawsuit in any way, it is an indication of the fact the Friends of the Parks is not alone in our concern about Chicago's parks being seen as sites for real estate development."