By Steve Patterson
Chicago Sun Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
A decade-old ban on controlled burns at Cook County forest preserves on the Northwest Side was lifted Tuesday.
The move by County Board President Bobbie Steele at Tuesday’s Forest Preserve District board meeting was applauded by environmentalists.
They say the lack of burns has allowed invasive brush to grow and woods to appear disheveled.
But Northwest Side residents criticized the return of fires, saying they raised environmental concerns and nuisance issues.
“It’s a sad day for trees in our forest,” resident Paula Fitzgerald said, contending that environmental logic supporting burns is “faulty” and “flawed.”
‘THE RIGHT THING TO DO’
But Steele, who issued her first forest preserve executive order with this move, said the return of managed burns to woods in the Sauganash and Edgebrook areas “was the right thing to do.”
“I understand the ramifications of not taking care of the soil,” she said, noting that the forest preserve district will increase its efforts to alert residents of plans for burns.
Resident Mary Lee Paoletti said she’s concerned about whether elderly residents in nursing homes would be protected from smoke.
All commissioners said it was time to bring back controlled burns at Miami, Bunker Hill and Indian Road woods, Sidney Yates Flatwoods and Sauganash Prairie.
The lifting of the ban means controlled burns can now be done at all district preserves.
The candidates for County Board president, Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica, both support Steele’s decision.