Congratulations to 2014 Green Region Grant Recipients

From Openlands:

ComEd and Openlands awarded $155,000 in Green Region grants to 22 municipalities, park districts, and forest preserve districts throughout northern Illinois to support their continuing efforts to conserve and protect improve public open spaces.

Openlands is partnering with ComEd to administer the ComEd Green Region Program. Recognizing that open space in our communities is a crucial element of the quality of our lives, the ComEd program awards grants for municipal efforts to plan for, protect, and improve open land in ComEd’s service area of northern Illinois.

The grants, which can go up to $10,000, will support existing open space projects that focus on conservation, preservation and improvements to local parks and recreation resources. Grant recipients can use Green Region grants in combination with other funding sources to cover a portion of the expenses associated with developing and/or supporting their open space programs.

Locally, the grants were awarded to:

1. Village of Lansing, Downtown Open Space Plan for Fox Pointe – This project will allow the Village of Lansing to sustainably redevelop and convert a key vacant site within the heart of the community’s downtown into a community park containing native plantings and trees.

2. Crete Park District, Peter Halligan Nature Park – This project will develop a 6.5 acre park with butterfly habitat, wild bird habitat, a reflection path, benches, signage and an overlook. Click here to read a related story in Eastern Will County News.

Click here to read more about the ComEd Green Region Program.