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Conservation News in Brief
In her role as the community stewardship program leader for the Chicago Park District, a joint position between the Park District and The Nature Conservancy, Lucy Gomez-Feliciano is dedicated to connecting the people of Chicago to its natural areas. In 2021, her efforts earned her a Chicago Wilderness Dr. George B. Rabb Force of Nature Award. This honor recognizes residents of the region whose novel approaches, big ideas, extraordinary collaborations and bold leadership set an inspiring example for others.
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Lucy was recognized for her efforts to connect with community partners on Chicago’s South and West Side to jointly engage more diverse residents from the neighborhoods closest to Ping Tom, McKinley, Humboldt, Garfield and Palmisano Parks. Much of her work has focused on building new relationships with anchor institutions like the Coalition
Located at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, the Calumet region is known for being one of the largest steel producers in the world. But among its residential and industrial corridors, nature thrives, providing for a Better Chinese American Community and LUCHA. In partnership with Carol Johnson, Garfield Park community steward, and Keith Kelley, longtime Garfield Park leader, she helped design a storytelling docent program at Garfield Park. To engage individuals with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, Lucy has been working closely with Envision Unlimited. Together, they created three videos: “Cutting Buckthorn,” “Mulching Paths” and “Testimonials From a Workday,” all available on YouTube. In addition, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Chicago Park District’s natural areas and community stewardship programs, Lucy identified 20 community partners to create whimsical fairy houses to engage children and families in the natural areas. The fairy houses were on display in 20 natural areas across the city in 2021.
habitat for a range of species, including least bitterns, common gallinules, piedbilled grebes and black-crowned nightherons. TNC and partner organizations are working to restore these important habitats through the Calumet Conservation Compact. In the fall of 2021, the Compact received notice from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation that the Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) program will provide $543,448 for the fifth phase of the restoration work of the Calumet Conservation Compact partnership.
Previous SOGL grants allowed the Compact to treat wetlands and other natural areas in the Calumet for invasive species, and the new award funding will continue that work. Through the funding, the partners will treat a total of 486 acres at Marian R. Byrnes Park, Park 566, Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve, Powderhorn Prairie and TNC’s own Indian Boundary Prairies. The funding will also enable the partners to continue vegetation cover monitoring and breeding marsh bird monitoring to serve as metrics of restoration success.
The grant brings the total of SOGL funds awarded to restoration of natural areas in the Calumet region to more than $3 million since 2015.
