BP Leader Awards Go to Conservation Organizations

In December, energy company BP awarded $200,000 to organizations in the Chicago region for progressive conservation programs as part of grants to area educational and environmental efforts.

Lincoln Park Zoo received $35,000 for a program to engage varied organizations, including the Chicago Public Schools, in the restoration of Lincoln Park’s South Pond. The program would create “a hands-on, educational nature center right in the heart of the city.”

Oakton Community College, in Des Plaines, received $30,000 to develop a habitat restoration plan for 50 acres of wetland, prairie, and woodland on its campus. Biologists have identified three endangered or threatened species there.

The Southwest Environmental Task Force in the Calumet region of Chicago has been working with many disparate groups to piece together the 4,000-acre Calumet Open Space Reserve. A BP grant of $50,000 supports research on the role of Indian Ridge Marsh as part of the “Calumet Corridor,” an important migratory route. The study will also investigate the effect of human visitors on wildlife.

The Nature Conservancy received $45,000 to expand its “Early Warning and Rapid Response Program” for exotic invasive species.

Plainfield Academy received $15,000 for its Tree and Perennial Farm Educational Program, which seeks to engage Plainfield’s at-risk youth with gardening and cultivation projects.

The recently opened Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake received $25,000 for its seventh grade class to begin a watershed study of nearby Bull Creek. The students would “measure water quality, determine the effect of salt…and measure the size and age of species living in the creek.”