What's new...

[YAWN!] At the kind suggestion of a Forest Preserve District employee, woke up and removed some incorrect information from the Nature Centers pages. Added links to the official CCFPD nature centers page to replace possibly inaccurate information about hours and phone numbers, 9/23/03.
Added work-in-progress version of Chicago Bicyling Map to maps page, 06/06/02.
Added Willowbrook Park District to list of Illinois Park Districts, 06/05/02.
New Cook County Forest Preserve District official web site announced, 6/3/02.
Added Lisle Park District to the list of Illinois Park Districts, 5/11/02.
Updated list of Illinois Park Districts, 03/13/02.
Updated list of Illinois Forest Preserve Districts, 03/13/02.
Corrections to the downtown address for Picnic Permits, 7/24/01.
Chicago pedway map added and several links corrected on the Chicago Maps page, 7/24/01.
Major updates to the Hammond Chord Organ pages, 6/29/01.
Added Butterfly Gardening tips, 6/8/01.
Added web site navigation info to items on The Unofficial Cook County Forest Preserve Page, 8/14/00.
Updated The Unofficial Cook County Forest Preserve Page, with a new look for the Picnic Maps section and a few new links under Other People's Pages, 8/8/00.
A few updates and links added to the Picnic Maps and Nature Centers, 7/27/00.
The CCFPD page is done? Kind of. CLONK has run out of official Cook County Forest Preserve maps and brochures! Don't worry, there must be some more. All the big preserves in the northwestern part of the county (the part that sticks out over Du Page County) have yet to make it online. (The Spring Lake, Crabtree, Deer Grove, Poplar Creek, and Paul Douglas Preserves are mostly uncharted, as far as this site is concerned, except for the Beverly Lake Ski Trail in one corner of the Spring Lake Preserve and the Crabtree Nature Center. Also, see the Other People's Pages section for some Deer Grove links.)
Arie Crown Ski Trails (85KB) and Swallow Cliff Ski Trails (106KB) added to the Mini Map, page 7/24/00.
Bemis Woods Ski Trails (56KB) added to the Mini Map, page 7/21/00.
A few items added to the News Watch, 7/19/00.
Added the hypertext Key to Numbered Facilties to the Cook County Forest Preserve Recreation Map page. This page is the text version of the key found on the map, with each entry linking to a more detailed picnic map or trail map for the facility, where available. Added 7/19/00.
Updated several with links to related information, and converted them to use style sheets, 7/13/00. (Updates to Des Plaines, Indian Boundary, Salt Creek, Skokie and North Branch division pages.)
The Sand Ridge Nature Center added to the list of
The story of the "Mysterious Island" in the Skokie Lagoons, added 7/10/00.
Chicago Portage National Historic Site, added 07/08/00.
Chicago Portage Canoe Trails (77KB) added to the Mini Map, page 7/7/00.
Deer Grove Ski Trails (141KB) added to the Mini Map, page 7/6/00.
I & M Canal Bike Trail (100KB) added to the Mini Map, page 07/5/00.
July 1st is "Three Creeks Day"., with Salt Creek Bike Trail (88KB), Thorn Creek Bike Trail (59KB), and Tinley Creek Bike Trail (92KB) added to the Mini Map, page 6/30/00.
A technical update as CLONK begins to use "cascading style sheets" to simplify life a little. Users of older browsers may see some of these pages without the fancy font and nice colors as result. (Time to upgrade if you care.) All the updated pages should load just a little faster, however....
The Crabtree Nature Center added to the list of Cook County Nature Centers, 6/28/00.
Camp Sagawau ski trail map (109KB) added to the list of cross-country ski trails on the Mini Map, page 6/27/00. Although not very "mini", this map includes topographic contours (who says Chicago is flat?).
The Trailside Museum added to the list of Cook County Nature Centers, 6/26/00.
Updated the Hammond Chord Organ page with a couple of long overdue links, 6/23/00.
Info on all six "Nature Interpretive Facilities" added to the Cook County Forest Preserve page page, 6/23/00.
Two of the six Nature Centers added to the Cook County Forest Preserve page page, 6/22/00.
North Branch Bike Trail Map added to the Mini Maps page, 6/20/00.
The Mini Maps for Beverly Lake and Arie Crown Woods added to Cook County Forest Preserve page, 6/19/00.
The Newswatch Page added for interesting tidbits, 6/16/00.
Busse Lake/Ned Brown Preserve Map added to the Forest Preserve pages, 6/14/00.
Tinley Creek Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map added to the Forest Preserve pages, 5/23/00.
Thorn Creek Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map added to the Forest Preserve pages, 5/17/00.
Salt Creek Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map added to the Forest Preserve pages, 5/12/00.
Des Plaines Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map added to the Forest Preserve pages, 4/27/00.
Updated the Cook County Recreation Map with clickable picnic map links; added a link to the North Branch Restoration Project to the Natural Areas Restoration and Forest Preserve pages.
Added Swallow Cliff Woods Restoration to the Forest Preserve page, 4/21/00.
Added links to Northern Illinois Forest Preserve Districts, 4/21/00.
Added Cook County Forest Preserve picnic permit info and links to Northern Illinois Park Districts, 4/20/00.
Added Natural Areas Restoration to the Forest Preserve page, 4/19/00.
Added Maps page, 4/18/00. Also revised main page, water resources page, and "plumbing" page to remove dead links, add a few new ones.
Added Origins of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County to the Forest Preserve pages, 4/17/00.
Long overdue updates to the Forest Preserve page added 4/14/00, including:
- Calumet Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map
- Indian Boundary Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map
- North Branch Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map
- Palos and Sag Valley Divisions Picnic Areas and Trail Map
- Skokie Division Picnic Areas and Trail Map
The Cook County Forest Preserve District page added 08/23/98, with the county-wide Recreation Map as its first link.
The Hammond Chord Organ page added January, 1998. The surprisingly popular guide to this obscure instrument. Nothing to do with the great outdoors, but that's never stopped me.

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Last updated 9/23/03.