[BCNnet] FYI: Tribune article on Tri-County SP

[Randi Doeker - Chicago]

FYI - Randi Doeker, Chicago



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State park running on empty 
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Tri-County nearly out of operating funds

By John Biemer
Tribune staff reporter

September 9, 2005

With operational funding a few weeks from running dry for the only state park in the western
suburbs, a group of Democrats plans to rally this weekend to express their concern for its future.

Tri-County State Park, which recently was renamed James "Pate" Philip State Park for the former
state Senate president from Wood Dale, has 501 acres of open space at the intersection of DuPage,
Kane and Cook Counties. It was opened two years ago under an unusual agreement in which the Forest
Preserve District of DuPage County handles day-to-day operations--paid for initially with a $1
million state grant.

That funding, which also goes toward the restoration of the land as a native tallgrass prairie, is
expected to run out at the end of September. In June, the state and the district entered into
negotiations to continue operations--but a few months later, there still is no agreement.

Rob Bisceglie, vice chairman of the Bloomingdale Township Democratic Party, said his group is
rallying at the park Sunday to draw attention to the funding uncertainty for what he describes as
an affordable and valuable environmental resource for area families.

"[The funding] should be something that is planned rather than something that comes to a head at
the last moment and our state legislators scramble to try to find a solution for," Bisceglie said.

The district runs the visitors center for the park--which has interpretive exhibits and a film--and
provides naturalists who implement prairie and wetland restoration efforts. Three full-time and two
part-time employees work at Philip Park.

District Executive Director Brent Manning said Thursday that the district would continue to work
with the state to figure out options to keep open the visitors center and continue restoration--but
he ruled out the district's funding operations.

"We couldn't justify, I don't think, spending the money of the taxpayers of DuPage County to fully
fund a state park," he said.

If the state does not provide funding, Manning said, the district will "do everything we can to
maintain our very, very valuable staff." But those employees may be shifted to vacancies elsewhere
in the district, he said.

"We're working on it, and one way or another the park and visitors center will be open," pledged
Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

She did not provide details of how that would happen, but added that negotiations with the Forest
Preserve District were continuing.

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jbiemer at tribune.com


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