Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy public meeting

Celebrating urban nature and the coming of spring

Monday, March 10, 2008 - 6:30 p.m.

Daley Bicentennial Plaza - 337 E. Randolph ( just east of Columbus Drive across from the BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois Building and in the park)

Urban nature and open green space along Chicago's lakefront: nearly 20 years of creating positive, environmentally-friendly change with thousands of trees planted and hundreds of acres of new green space created by Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District with the help from corporations, individual citizens and other organizations through public/private partnerships.

and...Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation - Northerly Island Bird Hospital: we are entering the spring bird migration season. Come see beautiful raptors: a Red-Tailed Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, an Eastern Screech-Owl and an American Kestrel live and up close and learn about these wonderful, majestic birds of prey. Many people have never seen these birds this close. Grant Park rabbits beware! We think it is a wise idea to give a hoot about these birds. Unfortunately, we will not be able to see any cuckoo birds. Some say we have too many already.

Come see an extensive PowerPoint presentation on the nearly 20 years of history-making, green space creation in Chicago. Grant Park projects, the Museum Campus, Northerly Island, acres of Soldier Field asphalt, surface parking lots removed, Jane Addams Park parking lot removed, Navy Pier headlands, Lake Shore Drive Medians, Lakeshore East Park, many new parks in Central Station and the South Loop, removal of many asphalt parking lots east of LSD, Millennium Park, soon-to-be DuSable Park, Sir Georg Solti Garden, Hutchinson Field, and the Green at Grant Park are just a few of the hundreds of acres of new green space created and/or thousands of trees that have been planted on Chicago's lakefront, a lakefront for all of Chicago and for the world. There have also been all sorts of green initiatives like the removal of the enormous, asphalt parking lot at the Museum of Science Industry on the south lakefront and the landscaping along south Lake Shore Drive and many projects in Lincoln Park and these will be discussed but we will concentrate on the downtown lakefront.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation at Northerly Island Bird hospital - We are entering the beginning of the famous international migratory bird season where millions of migrants fly through Chicago in the spring time. Dawn Keller will give a presentation that will blow you away. Her work has really taken flight. The Grant Park Conservancy and Chicago Park District have partnered with her to create a bird hospital at Northerly Island to be closer to the injured wildlife in downtown Chicago and avoid lengthy commutes to the suburbs with injured wildlife. What she does there and her education outreach and scientific data collection are truly remarkable. Come hear it first hand and meet some of the raptors.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is a state and federally licensed facility dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife with the goal of returning fully rehabilitated wildlife to its natural habitat. Flint Creek promotes respect for wildlife and wildlife habitats through public education programs. Flint Creek also supports efforts to repopulate endangered and threatened wildlife species.
Thank you for your interest and participation!

Please contact: Bob O'Neill, 312-829-8015.