Useless Staff - a kinda funny, true story by Pete Leki

about Forest Preserve "patronage" staff in the dim, dark 40 years ago

with some ecosystem photos and comments at the end 

Way back in the last century! ....

The North Branch volunteers had a seed production garden 
(to raise seed of rare plants for ecosystem restoration)
at the Forest Preserve division headquarters 

on Willow Road and the Edens.

It was a time when I was full of fire, 

more youthful,

inspired, 

willing to devote that much less time to my kids and partner, 

my mom and dad,  

because I was driven by this inspiration, 

by the power of this idea, 

and maybe the calm, zen, quiet of garden work (by the Edens!)

For a year or so I made regular trips up there, 

and organized some family groups to help. 

It was... 

what it was. 

Precious, 

not large, 

not overly tended (no Botanic Gardens there).

The funny thing was that this was the "public works" HQ for this northern region, 

in the era of Stroger the Elder,

and the license that we obtained through the CCFPD was...

tentative....

tepid...

our position unsure.

So, 

when I would drive up there to check things out,

on a week day 

(I worked shift work and a revolving schedule, then)

the thing I saw, 

and this I swear is true as far as my wits remember,

was that, 

during the day, 

during working hours,

the "HQ" was full of workers. 

Of "guys" (all guys, as far as I could see)

hanging out.

Yes. 

Hanging out. 

The more sedentary hung out in the "lounge"?

watching television,

legs over couches, 

snoozing, 

smoking?

I don't know. 

It was a no-go zone. 

But other, 

more industrious workers 

were in the bays, 

doing oil changes on their cars or trucks, 

or washing and waxing them. 

It was a bizarre scene. 

These were County public workers, 

during their work time.

And our ecosystem sites, 

mine, I know,

Sauganash and LaBagh

were a maintenance disaster. 

The "bathrooms"

were totally beyond use except for drug dealers 

and desperate homeless.

Nothing was done, 

nothing!

Anyway,

these were patronage workers, 

political jobs, 

reward jobs for loyal supporters.

This was not a workforce;

it was a political force. 

And they felt it. 

Once, I went-a-looking for someone to show me how to turn on the faucet, 

for to water our seed garden. 

I asked a few "workers" who looked dazed, 

and uncomprehending. 

"Water".

"Water for the outside spigot on the west side of the bay. 

For the garden out there."

Humped shoulders, 

off with a bucket of soapy water for the SUV.

I went into the Superintendent's Office, 

and asked for some help.

He raised his eyebrows and sighed.

He got up and walked me into the employee "lounge,"

TV's on LOUD.

"Hey! HEY! Can somebody turn on the water spigot for the south side of the building? 

HEY! HEY!!"

Absolutely no one paid attention. 

He looked at me, 

embarrassed, flushed. 

"Come on."

He walked me through the facility, 

bustling with car maintenance activity, 

found the valve. 

found a long hose, 

and got me set up. 

Man. 

I was not naive about patronage, 

and corruption. 

But seeing this supervisor, 

so ashamed, 

and these working class "brothers"

so without shame, 

and the needs of the preserves so intense, 

and the complete dysfunction of this corrupt, 

corrupt system.

The garden eventually was sent packing, 

and our comrades came to dig up plants for home gardens and transplants for the preserves. 

Our most needed plants, carefully tended, and easy to harvest.

Today? Things have changed so much. 

There is such a different feel in the FPD -  

so much real work going on by dedicated and qualified staff. 

Just good to remember from where we came, 

so … we do all we can to never let it go back to that way again. 

ABOVE: TRUE STORY BY STEWARD, PETE LEKI
BELOW: PHOTOS AND COMMENTS BY STEWARD, STEPHEN PACKARD

Our forest preserves grace a county where the politics tended to be rough-and-tumble. When he became board president, Dan Ryan did not seem wanting to project a “kinder, gentler” image in his photo for the preserves’ report book. 

When volunteer stewardship started, Forest Preserve staff in the Maintenance Department (as colorfully described by Pete Leki) were very different from the staff of the Conservation Department. The few Conservation staff struggled valiantly, but the massive Maintenance staff had most of the muscle. Below is a view of the Miami Woods Prairie, the year after we appealed to the Conservation Department to stop the mowing. They agreed. We started caring for it. But apparently Maintenance was not “with the program.” 

The next photo shows the same scene a bit later, after Maintenance took a whack at it …

Part of the problem may have been that the well-connected Maintenance folks guessed that we stewards might include “good government” types, who would blow whistles on stuff. In fact, we had not the remotest hope or interest in fighting “the Machine.” We stayed far away from anything that might seem political. We just worked to take care of nature. 

The North Branch Restoration Project was 100% positive, as much as we could be. The shocking mow-down of our recovering prairies was an exception. But still, none of us attacked anyone. A great many advocates and supporters deluged the staff and board with concerns for the ecosystem – and the sites were never mowed again. 

Another fond memory: Above is the center of one of the floristically richest areas of Somme Prairie Grove, believe it or not, when volunteer stewardship started.  

The next rare time volunteers protested was when the board was poised to turn 500 acres of the Poplar Creek preserves into a landfill (as DuPage Forest Preserves had done). We organized well-informed letters and meeting testimony – to be capped by a huge rally at the site. As it turned out, our opposition was sufficiently muscular that the board pulled the plug on that bad project before the event. President George Dunne showed up to speak – although the rally, on a very cold day, with the issue already resolved, drew few. But Dunne knew he was speaking to some effective people, and we organizers celebrated. In the photo, from left, Dunne, Steve Packard, and the Sierra Club’s Sue Lannin. I wish I could credit this photo, but I have no idea who took it. 

What’s the current state of Forest Preserve staff? Well, no government agency, company, university, or family for that matter is ever perfect. We can always do better. But the improvements are night to day. What was the “Conservation Department” is today the “Department of Resource Management.” Thanks to support from President Toni Preckwinkle and Superintendent Arnold Randall, and thanks to leadership from Director John McCabe, Resource Management thrives. Pete Leki summarized it well: “There is such a different feel in the FPD - so much real work going on by dedicated and qualified staff.” Thanks, everyone. And Happy Holidays!