Tour Stop #1
The tour began at the Evelyn Pease Tyner Interpretive Center in Glenview, IL. Bordered by a beautiful, 32-acre tallgrass prairie, the Tyner Center's landscaping reflects the neighboring prairie's diverse plant populations and natural style. The center itself is a LEED Platinum certified building featuring solar panels, permeable pavement, and a green roof planted with prairie grasses.

Robyn Flakne, Natural Resources Manager for the Village of Glenview, talked about the village's rain garden financing program. Learn more about the program.

Judy Ksiazek, Environmental Education Supervisor for the Glenview Park District, will talked about the Tyner Center's many green features. Visit the center online.

Making a surprise cameo appearance, Ev Tyner, for whom the center is named, talked about Air Station Prairie and the creation of the Tyner Center.

Tour Stop #2
The group boarded the bus and headed to the next tour stop: the College of Lake County's Southlake Educational Center in Vernon Hills. Completed in 2006, the center's new building boasts two green roofs - reported to be the first green roofs on a public building in Lake County.

Dee Abbate, Director of the Southlake Educational Center, talked about how the green roofs have become a centerpiece for a variety of new community events and programs.

All employees of the Southlake Educational Center are qualified to talk about the green roofs, since the Center provided each staff member with extensive training on green building design and green infrastructure – including field trips to the mature green roofs at the Center for Green Technology, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and the Skokie Public Library.

Thanks to the tremdous success of the center's green roofs, the college is now considering a much larger green roof installation at the Grayslake campus.

Tour Stop #3
The next stop on the tour was the Bare Foot Bay Family Aquatic Center in Mundelein. Barb Daudelin of the Mundelein Park District and Renee Wilde and Cory Horton of Bonestroo talked about the giant bioswale/rain garden in the center's parking lot. The group then toured the many smaller, more manicured native plant gardens inside the park.

After a tasty lunch, the group walked down to the banks of Bull Creek, an Upper Des Plaines River tributary which runs through the park district property.

Patty Werner of the Lake Co. Stormwater Management Commission talked about the watershed management planning process for Bull Creek. After several year's work by a stakeholder-driven planning committee, the final draft of the watershed management plan is nearly complete. Learn more…

Tour Stop #4
As the bus pulled up to the final tour stop—Grandwood Lake in Grandwood Park—the group was greeted by several people familiar with the volunteer-driven efforts to restore the lake and its shoreline.

Lake County Board member Steve Carlson and Park District Commissioner Al Oller talked about the six-year effort to replace turf grass with native plants using volunteer labor.

Thank you!
UDPREP is grateful to the following individuals and organizations for their help with the tour (in alphabetical order):

• Dee Abbate, Southlake Educational Center, College of Lake County

• Steve Carlson, Lake County Board

• Alison Cook, UDPREP Coordinator

• Barb Daudelin, Mundelein Park District

• Robyn Flakne, Village of Glenview

• Cory Horton, Bonestroo

• Judy Ksiazek, Glenview Park District

• Scott Oldham, Graphic Designer

• Al Oller, Commissioner, Grandwood Park Park District

• Tom Palansky, Bonestroo

• Margaret Resnick, Mundelein Park District

• Lydia Scott, Village of Lincolnshire

• UDPREP Planning Committee

• Susan Vancil, Lake Co. Stormwater Management Commission

• Patty Werner, Lake Co. Stormwater Management Commission

• Larry Widmer, Northwest Municipal Conference

• Renee Wilde, Bonestroo

Coach services donated by the Lake Co. Stormwater Management Commission.

Additional financial assistance provided by the Lake Co. Stormwater Management Commission.