Willowbrook Environmental Club helps Forest Preserve District of DuPage County

This spring, the Willowbrook Environmental Club will team up with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County to remove invasive species from local preserves.

And that won’t be the first time the club has helped. This past October, 20 students picked up litter at the preserve west of Willowbrook, called York/High Ridge.

“Rangers perform an essential function as land managers at the forest preserves,” said Daniel Hebreard, Senior Ranger with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. “Rangers check areas for safety daily and open the gates once the inspections are complete. We clean and maintain our high-use areas – shelters, parking lots and bathrooms. The job encompasses a variety of duties, from plowing, leading prescribed fires, teaching archery and checking in on campers and picnic groups to using heavy equipment to trim back invasive species and applying herbicide to those areas. We work with several local groups to complete cleanup projects at preserves, and with Willowbrook as our neighbor, it seemed a natural fit to have a workday. As with many groups, we hope this relationship can continue for several years and are currently looking to expand the ways in which we interact.”