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To Protect and Preserve: An Early History of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois, 1900-1930

What is a Forest?

Not all the land the Forest Preserve District wanted was readily available. Much of it was owned by farmers and others who had to be compensated for it. Many chose to sell their land, but some declined to do so. When landowners did not want to sell their property, the FPD initiated what are known as “condemnation proceedings.” Condemnation proceedings are court trials in which a government agency exercises its prerogative to seize property for public use, provided that it provide “just compensation” to the owners. Sometimes the defendants in these proceedings were simply contesting the FPD’s definition of “just compensation.” At other times, however, they and their lawyers challenged the FPD’s right to seize their lands. In particular, they raised two questions: Who gets to decide whether a parcel of land contains a “forest”? And are there any meaningful limits on the kind of land the FPD is allowed to requisition?

In raising those questions, the litigants referred back to the law that governed forest preserves. The district was authorized to acquire only land that contained “one or more natural forests or parts thereof” or land that connected two properties that contained “one or more natural forests.”

It was unclear what qualified as a forest. As a general rule, the district relied on “expert” testimony and life-long residents of the area to determine the value of the land. These eyewitness accounts called into question several pieces of property the FPD wanted, especially when the testimony about plant and animal life was inconsistent with what was expected of a forest.
The courts placed limits on what lands the FPD could acquire. According to one trial judge, “It was not for the purpose of merely acquiring land to plant trees on, it was to preserve and protect forests in their natural state.” In 1924, the Illinois Supreme Court endorsed the same reasoning. The FPD, it said, had to demonstrate that whatever land it desired to purchase or condemn actually contained forests.

Even so, the courts sided with the district in most cases. While dozens of lawsuits were filed in the 1920s and 1930s, the Forest Preserve District continued to grow, acquiring more than 30,000 acres of land by 1940.

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Forest Slope, circa 1904 Debate over what constituted a forest confounded some efforts for the Cook County Forest Preserve to acquire lands. This image shows a mix of trees and open land. The distinction between "forests" and non-forested open land, and what that distinction meant for the district's authority to procure land, were often points of controversy. Forest Preserve District of Cook County records (MSFPDC09), FPDCC_00_01_0003_04, box 0-1-3, item 43, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Illinois Chicago Library.