Will county board members aka forest perserve gone wild

Neighbors Angry Over Tree Preservation Program

Updated: Wednesday, 21 Oct 2009, 9:55 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 21 Oct 2009, 9:55 PM CDT
By Dane Placko, FOX Chicago News

Residents of southwest suburban Homer Glen say they couldn't believe what was happening to their beloved Messenger Woods Forest Preserve.
"It's just surreal to me. It looks very surreal and unnatural,” said Doris Hehl.
Another resident said it resembles a cemetery.
Chuck Phillips compares it to Stonehenge. "Like some pagans have set these things up to honor, I don't know what? The deer god?"
This isn't a Halloween prank that has residents upset. It's all part of an ambitious--and some say misguided $2.5 million dollar project by the Will Count Forest Preserve District to restore a prairie area to its original wooded state.
The project is being funded by money provided by the Illinois Toll Authority, as a repayment for clear-cutting trees when it built the I-355 extension through Will County.
"We look at this as a preservation program that is going to be here forever," said Cory Singer, President of the Will County Forest Preserve District.“It’s worth the money to do it right."
And to do it right, Will County paid nearly $50 dollars to purchase and plant more than 9000 trees and bushes. And to keep the deer from eating the plants, the District erected 12,000 wooden poles, each more than eight feet tall. They are arranged in giant circles and surrounded by black netting.
"These deer enclosures are necessary to give those trees and shrubs a few years head start so they can survive deer nibbling on them once winter comes," Singer said.
But residents who live near the preserve say deer don't cause many problems. Phillips says he has planted thousands of trees in the area and lost just a small number. And residents who live near the preserve say deer really aren't a problem.
"There's plenty of deer around. They come and nibble on the trees, but they don't kill them. And the amount of money they've spent on this is just so wasteful," a resident said.

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Altogether Will County built 1050 of the enclosures at a cost to taxpayers of more than $580 dollars apiece.
Will County Board member Kathleen Konicki, who lives near the Messenger Woods preserve, says she was blindsided when she saw the poles being erected last summer.
Konicki said Board members were not given any options and were never told how the project would look.
"There are other ways of doing this that would have cost a small fraction of the amount, wouldn't have been so unsightly." Konicki said.“Those ways weren't presented to commissioners as alternatives. And I think there's a strong argument, perhaps the strongest argument is that you don't need any enclosures there at all."
Homer Glen residents are also wondering why so many older, large trees were destroyed in order to plant the small, new trees. Construction crews were forced to chop down dozens of established trees that lined a trail through the preserve so they could drag heavy equipment to areas where the posts needed to be installed.
"They were cutting down a lot of trees to go to an open area to plant trees," said Georgene Karlow, who walks her dog in Messenger Woods. "It didn't even make sense to the dog," she laughed.
And Phillips questions the wisdom of using the giant wooden poles to protect tiny saplings. "How many trees had to give up their lives for these stakes? How many trees were cut down by somebody so the forest preserve could buy them and put them around the new trees? Does that make any sense at all?"
Singer responds to critic's of the project by saying they should withhold judgement until it's finished. "I would say enjoy this," Sinder said. "I would love to know that I'm living next door to property that will be preserved in perpetuity forever-- forever this will be open space. Forever this will be beautiful and there will be a short period of time when these enclosures are here."
Singer says it will cost about $500,000 to remove the posts when the trees are big established enough to be exposed to the deer. But Homer Glen resident Nora Sanderson says she doesn't want to wait that long. "Five years? I might be dead in five years," Sanderson said. "Nobody shouldn't have to look at that."

Yes even during times of tough economics, will county board members still wasting tax money...

its election time.. remember this ALL shows up on YOUR TAX BILL

what no takers

WOW in an economy like this with no jobs and people loosing their houses. No funding for proper coverage of the sheriff's office and we let the Forest Preserve spend 100's of thousand to put poles up! What are they thinking? Then another 500,000 to take them down. Why doesn't the Forest Preserve utilize labor from the jail and save the taxpayers some money? Waste, Waste, Waste!!!

andy wrote:

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Altogether Will County built 1050 of the enclosures at a cost to taxpayers of more than $580 dollars apiece.
Will County Board member Kathleen Konicki, who lives near the Messenger Woods preserve, says she was blindsided when she saw the poles being erected last summer.
Konicki said Board members were not given any options and were never told how the project would look.
"There are other ways of doing this that would have cost a small fraction of the amount, wouldn't have been so unsightly." Konicki said.“Those ways weren't presented to commissioners as alternatives. And I think there's a strong argument, perhaps the strongest argument is that you don't need any enclosures there at all."
Homer Glen residents are also wondering why so many older, large trees were destroyed in order to plant the small, new trees. Construction crews were forced to chop down dozens of established trees that lined a trail through the preserve so they could drag heavy equipment to areas where the posts needed to be installed.
"They were cutting down a lot of trees to go to an open area to plant trees," said Georgene Karlow, who walks her dog in Messenger Woods. "It didn't even make sense to the dog," she laughed.
And Phillips questions the wisdom of using the giant wooden poles to protect tiny saplings. "How many trees had to give up their lives for these stakes? How many trees were cut down by somebody so the forest preserve could buy them and put them around the new trees? Does that make any sense at all?"
Singer responds to critic's of the project by saying they should withhold judgement until it's finished. "I would say enjoy this," Sinder said. "I would love to know that I'm living next door to property that will be preserved in perpetuity forever-- forever this will be open space. Forever this will be beautiful and there will be a short period of time when these enclosures are here."
Singer says it will cost about $500,000 to remove the posts when the trees are big established enough to be exposed to the deer. But Homer Glen resident Nora Sanderson says she doesn't want to wait that long. "Five years? I might be dead in five years," Sanderson said. "Nobody shouldn't have to look at that."
Yes even during times of tough economics, will county board members still wasting tax money...
its election time.. remember this ALL shows up on YOUR TAX BILL

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 65-69% of your tax bill is SCHOOLS/EDUCATION
10-11% of your tax bill is Local City government
9-10% County ( NOT Forest Preserve)

Economic Crisis HA! When is the Rich going to quit getting Richer